Four Canes Named to Preseason All-ACC Football Team

CORAL GABLES, Fla.– Ray-Ray Armstrong, Tyler Horn, Sean Spence and Brandon Washington give the University of Miami a conference-high tying four representatives on the 2011 Preseason All-ACC Football Team, as announced by the conference office on Wednesday.

Miami’s four student-athletes tied the Canes with rival Florida State for the best representation on the 25-man roster. UM is also the only team in the conference to place multiple players on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Horn and Washington were both listed on the team’s offensive line, while Spence and Armstrong were chosen as two of the team’s 11 defenders.

Armstrong enters his junior season after finishing the 2010 campaign ranked third on the team in tackles (79) and tied for first on the team in interceptions (3). The Sanford, Fla. native also recorded 4.5 tackles for loss – a team-high for defensive backs – and was chosen as a 2010 All-ACC Second Team selection.

Horn enters his senior season after finishing 2010 with 39 pancake blocks and seven lumberjacks, both third-best on the team. He started all 13 games last season and was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Offensive Lineman of the Week following the Hurricanes’ win over North Carolina on Oct. 23.

Spence returns for senior season as the second-leading tackler in the ACC after recording 111 total tackles a season ago. The second-team All-ACC performer led the Canes with 16 tackles for a loss in 2010 en route to being named the team’s defensive MVP. In his career, Spence has recorded 212 tackles in 36 games.

Washington started all 13 games for the Canes at right guard as a sophomore last season. He recorded 56 pancakes, 11 lumberjacks and was named ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week on two occasions (at Duke, 10/16; vs. Virginia Tech, 11/20). His best performance – and the best performance of any UM offensive lineman all season – came at Pittsburgh on Sept. 23, when he graded out at 99 percent in a 31-3 victory for the Hurricanes.

In all, 15 of the 25 honorees on the team earned first or second-team All-ACC honors last fall, with nine having been selected to the All-ACC first team. The team was voted on by members of the media at the annual ACC Football Kickoff, which was held at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina this past weekend.

Eleven of the 12 ACC schools were represented on the preseason All-ACC team. A total of 51 ballots were turned in from the more than 290 media members in attendance at the 2011 ACC Football Kickoff.

The closest position vote turned out to be the center position where Horn edged out Clemson’s Dalton Freeman, by one vote, 18 to 17.

Click here for the entire 2011 preseason team.