Per GoBearcats:
Former Cincinnati football stars Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce collected 2022 First Team All-Pro honors from the Associated Press on Friday, establishing each as the very best at their respective positions in the NFL.
Only Alabama (four) had more former players selected than Cincinnati (three).
Gardner had one of the greatest seasons ever by a rookie cornerback in NFL history. He became the first Jets’ cornerback selected for the All-Pro First Team since Darrelle Revis in 2011. He’s NFL’s first rookie cornerback selected for the first team since Ronnie Lott in 1981.
The Detroit, Mich., native led the NFL with 20 passes defended and also had 75 tackles and two interceptions as the Jets improved from four wins to seven wins.
Gardner was a two-time First Team All-American while playing at Cincinnati from 2019 to 2021, famously never giving up a touchdown in over 1,000 snaps, while leading UC to a pair of American Athletic Conference Championships and to the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinals at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
Jason Kelce grabbed his fifth First Team All-Pro honor in the last six seasons. He did not allow a sack or a QB hit all season, leading the Eagles to the No. 1 seed in the NFC. A former walk-on linebacker for the Bearcats, Kelce played for Cincinnati from 2007 to 2010, earning All-BIG EAST honors twice.
Travis Kelce, Jason’s younger brother, tallied his seventh straight 1,000-yard receiving season for the Chiefs, earning his fourth First Team honor along the way. He finished with 110 receptions for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns as the NFL’s premier tight end. He joined the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson as the only two players to be selected unanimously this year, garnering first-team nods from all 50 voters.
He played at UC from 2009 to 2012, scoring eight touchdowns in his final season before heading to the NFL. He recently launched the Eighty-Seven & Running Foundation, an endowment that will fund Cincinnati’s Sports Psychology and Counseling Department, directly impacting and aiding all 450 student-athletes.
