Senior Jamir Watkins, Florida State’s leading returning scorer and rebounder, has been named as a preseason All-ACC Second-Team selection by the attending media at the annual ACC Tip-Off event at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown Hotel. The second-year Seminole averaged a career-high and team-leading 15.6 points, and a career-high and team-leading 6.0 rebounds during the 2023-24 season – his first as a Seminole.

Watkins was one of 10 players from nine different ACC Teams who were mentioned on the of two five-member preseason All-ACC teams. The Seminole guard was an All-ACC Honorable Mention selection following his junior season. North Carolina’s RJ Davis was the only unanimous selection to the preseason All-ACC First or Second team and was selected as the conference’s pre-season Player of the Year.

Watkins scored a career-high 514 points and enters Florida State’s season opener against Northern Kentucky on November 4 with a streak of 19 consecutive double-figure scoring games – a streak that began on January 19, 2024, against Wake Forest and continued throughout the remainder of the 2024 season. His 514 points made Watkins the 46^th player in school history to score 500 or more points in a single season.

Watkins, who will earn his bachelor’s degree in social science from Florida State in May of 2025, was the only Florida State player who started all 33 games last season. He proved his versatility in his first season as a Seminole with the ability to play all five positions. He displayed his athletic ability as he played all five positions during the 2023-24 season. Watkins is an efficient player whose scoring abilities on offense and desire to play all-in defense combined to make him a perfect fit for Head Coach Leonard Hamilton’s 94-foot gameplan on both ends of the court.

Watkins was one of just six players in the ACC (Watkins, Armando Bacot of North Carolina, Kyle Filipowski of Duke, PJ Hall of Clemson, Norchad Omier of Miami, and Quinten Post of Boston College) who ranked in the conference’s top 20 in both scoring and rebounding during the 2023-24 season – and Watkins is only player of the six returning to play in the ACC during the 2024-25 season.

Watkins scored a career-high and ACC Tournament school record of 34 points in Florida State's ACC Tournament victory over Virginia Tech at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. He also added 11 rebounds for his seventh career double-double, four steals and one assist in 36 minutes played against the Hokies (March 13).

Florida State plays host to two exhibition games against St. Leo University (Oct. 24) and West Florida (Oct. 31) at the Donald L. Tucker Center before opening its regular season against Northern Kentucky on November 4.

Season tickets for Florida State's home games are now on sale for as low as $150. Seminole fans interested in purchasing tickets for all regular season home games at the Donald L. Tucker Center can learn more here, or are encouraged to call the Florida State Ticket Office at 1-888-FSU-NOLE. Non-conference single game tickets will be available for purchase on October 15^th and ACC single game tickets will go on sale to Seminole Booster members on December 2^nd.

“There are a lot of good players in this league,” said ACC expert Seth Greenberg. “With 18 teams in the league, it is hard to pick just 10 guys. “There are so many good players in this league. Why? Because there are some good teams in this league.”

Preseason All-ACC First Team

RJ Davis*, North Carolina, 54

Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 52

Cooper Flagg, Duke, 52

Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 41

Nijel Pack, Miami, 37

Preseason All-ACC Second Team

Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 36

Chase Hunter, Clemson, 31

Jamir Watkins, Florida State, 26

Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 21

Ishmael Leggett, Pitt, 20

Preseason ACC Player of the Year

RJ Davis, North Carolina, 40 votes

Cooper Flagg, Duke, 10

Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 3

Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, 1

Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year

Cooper Flagg, Duke, 53 votes

Jeremiah Wilkinson, California, 1

*denotes unanimous selection

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State basketball's Jamir Watkins earns preseason All-ACC honor