Kayvon Thibodeaux & Verone McKinley III Voted AP First Team All-Americans

The Ducks' star defenders are the seventh and eighth players in program history to be named to the AP's All-America First Team.

Author:
Nick Battey
Publish date:
Dec 13, 2021 4:54 PM EST

Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux and safety Verone McKinley III have been voted first-team All-Americans by the Associated Press. This is the first AP First Team All-American selection for both Thibodeaux and McKinley, and the first for Oregon since Penei Sewell in 2019.

Thibodeaux will be one of the top picks in the 2022 NFL Draft this year and already announced that his Oregon career is over as he will skip the Alamo Bowl and begin to prepare for the NFL Draft process. Thibodeaux ended his season with seven sacks, with multiple games missed along the way with an injury.

McKinley hasn’t announced his intentions for the Alamo Bowl and beyond yet, but he will be sorely missed in the Oregon secondary if he does end up leaving. McKinley, also known as The General by his teammates, ended the season with six interceptions, which led the FBS.

This is the second time that Oregon has had two first-team AP All-Americans in the same season — the first time was in 2014 when quarterback Marcus Mariota and defensive back Ifo Ekpre-Olomu were each named first-team selections.

Being named to AP First Team All-Americans is just the cherry on top of the honors both Thibodeaux and McKinley have received following their excellent regular season. Both players were also named to the All-Pac-12 First Team, as voted on by the coaches.

Thibodeaux was a finalist for a number of national awards, including the Chuck Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy, while McKinley was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.

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