Three Oregon players named preseason AP All-Americans

Douglas Santo

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Three Oregon players named preseason AP All-Americans image

Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Oregon Ducks have three players that were named preseason AP All-Americans, matching the number the Ducks had in 2024.

Junior safety Dillon Thieneman leads the charge as the Ducks' lone first-team honoree. Redshirt junior running back Makhi Hughes and junior defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei both earned second-team honors.

Oregon has players on both sides of the ball on the preseason All-American list in 2025, after all three honorees came from the offense last year in quarterback Dillon Gabriel, receiver Tez Johnson and offensive lineman Ajani Cornelius.

What To Expect From Oregon's Preseason All-Americans

All three 2024 preseason All-Americans earned second-team honors. However, similar to Gabriel, Thieneman and Hughes earn the honor after transferring in this offseason.

Thieneman is a transfer from Purdue, who led the Big Ten with 104 tackles and started all 12 games for the Boilermakers last year. He also collected four tackles for loss, broke up seven passes and had one sack.

In his freshman year at Purdue, Thieneman was a third-team AP All-American and the FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year.

Hughes is a transfer from Tulane, and was a Doak Walker Award semifinalist last year. The Tulane transfer played in 14 games last season and ran for 1,401 yards, which ranked 10th in the FBS, and had 15 touchdowns.

Hughes also caught 19 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns, and was named to the All-AAC first team. In his redshirt freshman year, Hughes was a College Football Network Honorable Mention All-Freshman and the AAC Rookie of the Year.

The Ducks' last preseason AP All-American honoree is Uiagalelei, who grew into one of the best defensive ends in the Big Ten last year. The Ducks' defender collected 38 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks.

In addition to causing chaos behind the line of scrimmage, Uiagalelei defended a couple of passes and forced two fumbles. He was voted to the All-Big Ten first team by the media and second team by coaches, and was a Polynesian Player of the Year Award finalist.

The Ducks' three preseason All-American selections is the seventh-most in the country behind Texas, Penn State, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame and Alabama.

Douglas Santo

Douglas Santo is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. As a senior at Arizona State University, he will complete his B.A. in sports journalism with a minor in business in December 2025. Before his time with Sporting News, Douglas covered the NFL and MLB for Athlon Sports and contributed as a digital reporter for Arizona PBS/Cronkite News. He is also the head of Sun Devil Daily, managing all content produced about Arizona State Sports.