Duce Chestnut Named FWAA Freshman All-American

Syracuse cornerback Duce Chestnut picked up another postseason honor on Monday. The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) named Chestnut to its Freshman All-American team. The FWAA team is considered the most prestigious of the Freshman All-American teams. Chestnut was also named to Freshman All-American teams by ESPN, 247Sports and Pro Football Focus.

Chestnut was named to the All-ACC Third Team, was runner up for ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and was named ECAC Rookie of the Year.

Joining Chestnut in the secondary on the FWAA's Freshman All-American team were Calen Bullock of USC, Denzel Burke of Ohio State, Jack Howell of Colorado State, Donte Kent of Central Michigan and Andrew Mukuba of Clemson.

Duce Chestnut proved he was more ready than most true freshman from the opening game. He had an interception against Ohio, his first of a team leading three on the season. Chestnut added 43 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss on top of that.

More from the FWAA:

Depth in the secondary led the committee to expand to six selections. Joining Ohio State's Burke, Syracuse's Duce Chestnut became one of the top cover cornerbacks in the country. He tallied three interceptions and had eight passes defended to anchor an Orange secondary that allowed just 202 yards passing per game. He is Syracuse's third defensive Freshman All-America nod in the past four seasons. Chestnut and Clemson's Andrew Mukuba are the ACC's two selections on the team. Mukuba was the Tigers' first freshman to start at safety since 1973 and had eight tackles and a pass breakup in the opener against Georgia. He had 54 tackles and a sack this season as Clemson's seventh All-Freshman pick of the past eight seasons.