Aug. 22, 2017
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Senior offensive guard Quenton Nelson and graduate offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey of the University of Notre Dame were both named 2017 Preseason Associated Press All-Americans Tuesday. Nelson earned first-team honors, while McGlinchey garnered second-team accolades.
Nelson, Notre Dame’s 2016 Offensive Lineman of the Year, started all 12 games at left guard last season and has started 23 times in his 24-game, two-year playing career. In 2016 Pro Football Focus ranked him eighth in the Football Bowl Subdivision among offensive guards with a grade of 20.5. Nelson did not allow a sack and allowed just one QB hit in `16 (on 439 pass block snaps). In fact, Nelson has surrendered just three sacks and three quarterback hits over his Irish career (850 pass block snaps).
McGlinchey, the 22nd different two-time captain in Irish football history, started all 12 games in 2016 and enters 2017 with a string of 26 consecutive starts. He earned Associated Press second-team All-America honors last season. McGlinchey has allowed just three sacks and four quarterback hits over his Notre Dame career (974 pass block snaps).
McGlinchey and Nelson, both Irish captains and likely first-round NFL draft picks, are the only set of teammates from the same offensive position group to be named preseason AP first- or second-team All-American.
Michael Bertsch, director of football media relations at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2006. An Akron, Ohio, native, he graduated from Walsh University (Ohio) in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and also received his master’s degree in health and physical education with an emphasis in sports administration from Marshall University in 2001.
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