No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Penn St each place 3 players on Associated Press preseason All-America first team

Texas and Penn State, the top two teams in The Associated Press preseason Top 25, each had three players selected for the preseason AP All-America team announced Monday.

No. 1 Texas had one player from each level of its defense on the first team: edge rusher Colin Simmons, linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and safety Michael Taaffe. No. 2 Penn State’s picks were running back Nicholas Singleton, offensive lineman Olaivavega Ioane and defensive lineman Zane Durant.

No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Clemson, No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 8 Alabama and Pittsburgh each had two players on the first team.

The Southeastern Conference had 12 players on the 27-man first team determined by media members on the AP Top 25 voting panel.

The Big Ten had seven players, the ACC four and the Big 12 two.

Clemson’s Cade Klubnik was the overwhelming preseason choice for first-team quarterback after throwing for 3,639 yards with 39 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and Florida center Jake Slaughter are returning first-team AP All-Americans.

Downs, whose late interception against Texas helped wrap up a College Football Playoff semifinal win for defending champion Ohio State, starred as a freshman at Alabama two years ago and established himself as the nation's top safety in his first season with the Buckeyes. He's a projected top-three pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

Downs was joined on the preseason-All-America first team by Buckeyes receiver Jeremiah Smith.

Slaughter, a leading candidate for the Rimington Trophy as the nation's top center, played 800 snaps in his breakout season for the Gators. He allowed just one sack and was among the highest-rated run and pass blockers in the country, according to Pro Football Focus.

The AP All-America team for this season will be released in December. It will mark the 100th anniversary of the first team published in 1925.

Quarterback — Cade Klubnik, fourth year, Clemson.

Running backs — Jeremiyah Love, third year, Notre Dame; Nicholas Singleton, fourth year, Penn State.

Tackles — Spencer Fano, fourth year, Utah; Kadyn Proctor, third year, Alabama.

Guards — Olaivavega Ioane, fourth year, Penn State; Ar’maj Reed-Adams, sixth year, Texas A&M.

Center — Jake Slaughter, fifth year, Florida.

Tight end — Eli Stowers, fifth year, Vanderbilt.

Wide receivers — Jeremiah Smith, second year, Ohio State; Ryan Williams, second year, Alabama; Jordyn Tyson, fourth year, Arizona State.

All-purpose player — Desmond Reid, fourth year, Pittsburgh.

Kicker — Dominic Zvada, fourth year, Michigan.

Edge — Dylan Stewart, second year, South Carolina; Colin Simmons, second year, Texas.

Tackles — Peter Woods, third year, Clemson; Zane Durant, fourth year, Penn State.

Linebackers — Anthony Hill Jr., third year, Texas; Whit Weeks, fifth year, LSU; Kyle Louis, fourth year, Pittsburgh.

Cornerbacks — Leonard Moore, second year, Notre Dame; Jermod McCoy, third year, Tennessee.

Safeties — Caleb Downs, third year, Ohio State; Dillon Thieneman, third year, Oregon.

Defensive back — Michael Taaffe, fifth year, Texas.

Punter — Brett Thorson, fourth year, Georgia.

Quarterback — Garrett Nussmeier, fifth year, LSU.

Running backs — Makhi Hughes, fourth year, Oregon; Isaac Brown, second year, Louisville.

Tackles — Francis Mauigoa, third year, Miami; Blake Miller, fourth year, Clemson.

Guards — Cayden Green, third year, Missouri; Keylan Rutledge, fourth year, Georgia Tech.

Center — Parker Brailsford, fourth year, Alabama.

Tight end — Max Klare, fourth year, Ohio State.

Wide receivers — Antonio Williams, fourth year, Clemson; Elijah Sarratt, fourth year, Indiana; Cam Coleman, second year, Auburn.

All-purpose player — Kaytron Allen, fourth year, Penn State.

Kicker — Peyton Woodring, third year, Georgia.

Edge — T.J. Parker, third year, Clemson; Matayo Uiagalelei, third year, Oregon.

Tackles — Tim Keenan III, fifth year, Alabama; Christen Miller, fourth year, Georgia.

Linebackers — Taurean York, third year, Texas A&M; Harold Perkins Jr., fourth year, LSU; Aiden Fisher, fourth year, Indiana.

Cornerbacks — Chandler Rivers, fourth year, Duke; D’Angelo Ponds, third year, Indiana.

Safeties — Koi Perich, second year, Minnesota; KJ Bolden, second year, Georgia.

Defensive back — Jalon Kilgore, third year, South Carolina.

Punter — Ryan Eckley, fourth year, Michigan State.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

This story has been updated to correct LSU LB Weeks' first name to Whit.

FILE - Penn State's Nicholas Singleton (10) carries the ball during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Wisconsin, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

FILE - Florida center Jake Slaughter (66) gets set during an NCAA college football game against Kentucky, Saturday, Oct. 19 2024, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough, File)

FILE - Ohio State's Caleb Downs (2) in action against Marshall during an NCAA football game on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan, File)

FILE - Texas linebacker Anthony Hill, Jr. runs through the back of the end zone after making an interception for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA football game against Louisiana-Monroe, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Thomas, File)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the Arctic island of Greenland into a geopolitical hotspot with his demands to own it and suggestions that the U.S. could take it by force.

The island is a semiautonomous region of Denmark, and Denmark's foreign minister said Wednesday after a meeting at the White House that a “ fundamental disagreement ” remains with Trump over the island.

The crisis is dominating the lives of Greenlanders and "people are not sleeping, children are afraid, and it just fills everything these days. And we can’t really understand it,” Naaja Nathanielsen, a Greenlandic minister said at a meeting with lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament this week.

Here's a look at what Greenlanders have been saying:

Trump has dismissed Denmark’s defenses in Greenland, suggesting it’s “two dog sleds.”

By saying that, Trump is “undermining us as a people,” Mari Laursen told AP.

Laursen said she used to work on a fishing trawler but is now studying law. She approached AP to say she thought previous examples of cooperation between Greenlanders and Americans are “often overlooked when Trump talks about dog sleds.”

She said during World War II, Greenlandic hunters on their dog sleds worked in conjunction with the U.S. military to detect Nazi German forces on the island.

“The Arctic climate and environment is so different from maybe what they (Americans) are used to with the warships and helicopters and tanks. A dog sled is more efficient. It can go where no warship and helicopter can go,” Laursen said.

Trump has repeatedly claimed Russian and Chinese ships are swarming the seas around Greenland. Plenty of Greenlanders who spoke to AP dismissed that claim.

“I think he (Trump) should mind his own business,” said Lars Vintner, a heating engineer.

“What's he going to do with Greenland? He speaks of Russians and Chinese and everything in Greenlandic waters or in our country. We are only 57,000 people. The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market. And every summer we go sailing and we go hunting and I never saw Russian or Chinese ships here in Greenland,” he said.

Down at Nuuk's small harbor, Gerth Josefsen spoke to AP as he attached small fish as bait to his lines. He said, “I don't see them (the ships)” and said he had only seen “a Russian fishing boat ten years ago.”

Maya Martinsen, 21, a shop worker, told AP she doesn't believe Trump wants Greenland to enhance America's security.

“I know it’s not national security. I think it’s for the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched,” she said, suggesting the Americans are treating her home like a “business trade.”

She said she thought it was good that American, Greenlandic and Danish officials met in the White House Wednesday and said she believes that “the Danish and Greenlandic people are mostly on the same side,” despite some Greenlanders wanting independence.

“It is nerve-wrecking, that the Americans aren’t changing their mind,” she said, adding that she welcomed the news that Denmark and its allies would be sending troops to Greenland because “it’s important that the people we work closest with, that they send support.”

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told AP that she hopes the U.S. got the message from Danish and Greenlandic officials to “back off.”

She said she didn't want to join the United States because in Greenland “there are laws and stuff, and health insurance .. .we can go to the doctors and nurses ... we don’t have to pay anything,” she said adding "I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us.”

In Greenland's parliament, Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament told AP that he has done multiple media interviews every day for the last two weeks.

When asked by AP what he would say to Trump and Vice President JD Vance if he had the chance, Berthelsen said:

“I would tell them, of course, that — as we’ve seen — a lot of Republicans as well as Democrats are not in favor of having such an aggressive rhetoric and talk about military intervention, invasion. So we would tell them to move beyond that and continue this diplomatic dialogue and making sure that the Greenlandic people are the ones who are at the very center of this conversation.”

“It is our country,” he said. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people.”

Kwiyeon Ha and Evgeniy Maloletka contributed to this report.

FILE - A woman pushes a stroller with her children in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

Military vessel HDMS Knud Rasmussen of the Royal Danish Navy patrols near Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament poses for photo at his office in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Fisherman Gerth Josefsen prepares fishing lines at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A woman walks on a street past a Greenlandic national flag in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)