Caleb Downs, Seth McLaughlin Earn First-Team FWAA All-American Honors 

Ohio State’s Caleb Downs and Seth McLaughlin continue to rack up the national honors, with the two Buckeyes being named first-team All-Americans from the Football Writers Association of America, or FWAA, on Tuesday.

With this latest honor McLaughlin now joins Downs as a consensus All-American, earning first-team All-American nods from Walter Camp, the AFCA, CBS Sports/247Sports, The Athletic and now the FWAA. He also earned a second-team All-American honor from the Associated Press, losing out on the first-team nod to Florida center Jake Slaughter. 

Each of these honors — along with the Rimington Trophy for the nation’s best center which he won last week — has come with McLaughlin missing the last two games of the season due to a torn Achilles tendon he suffered in the weeks before the Indiana game that will require him to miss the season. 

Downs, on the other hand, finds himself one first-team All-American nod away from being a unanimous All-American selection. After being named to the first-team by Walter Camp, the AFCA, CBS/247Sports, The Athletic, The Associated Press and now FWAA, he just needs to take home the same honor from The Sporting News on Wednesday to earn the distinction. 

Downs, who recorded an impressive 62 tackles, 6 ½ tackles for loss, three pass breakups, one quarterback hurry, one interception and ½ sack in his first season as a Buckeye, would become the second Buckeye in as many years to earn unanimous All-American honors, joining wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. last year.