Syracuse Football: Andre Cisco is a Phil Steele pre-season All-American
By Neil Adler
Syracuse football star safety Andre Cisco has made his fourth pre-season All-America first team to date, this one from Phil Steele.
Andre Cisco, the Syracuse football junior safety who is primed for a special 2020 campaign, is on Phil Steele’s pre-season All-America first squad, according to a cuse.com press release.
This is the fourth organization to put the 6-foot, 206-pound Cisco on its 2020 pre-season All-America first crew, joining Street & Smith’s, Lindy’s and the Sporting News.
Steele, an ESPN Insider, has five Atlantic Coast Conference defenders on his first team. Besides Cisco, they are Miami’s Gregory Rousseau, Florida State’s Marvin Wilson, Pittsburgh’s Jaylen Twyman, and Paris Ford, a safety with the Panthers.
A few days ago, Cisco received inclusion on the watch list for the 2020 Bednarik Award, a national defensive player of the year honor. Cisco is also on the watch list for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, a major college football award that equally recognizes both athletic performance and personal character.
As it pertains to the Bednarik Award, Cisco is the only Syracuse football player on the watch list, and he’s one of 18 ACC guys included.
Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, things are pretty up in the air about a 2020 college football season actually happening. If a term does transpire, Cisco is in store for a massive stanza.
In 2019, despite missing three contests due to injury, he collected 68 tackles and tied for the ACC lead with five interceptions. Cisco is the current Football Bowl Subdivision leader with 12 career picks.
He also has tallied 125 career tackles in 22 total games, along with 28 passes defended, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery, per the cuse.com statement.
Should Cisco put forth the kind of performance on the field that national pundits are predicting for him, he’ll also continue to land in 2021 NFL mock drafts.
A recent one, from WalterFootball.com senior draft analyst Charlie Campbell, has Cisco slotted to go in the first round at No. 23 to the Minnesota Vikings. Pro Football Network also recently projected him to get chosen near the end of the second round by the Baltimore Ravens.