The Associated Press has bestowed the honor of All-American on top college football players for 100 years. As part of the organization’s centennial celebration, it has named its All-Time All-America Team, consisting of 25 of the greatest players in college football history.
The requirements start with the obvious: The player must have been named to at least one All-America First Team during his amateur career. What he accomplished as a professional was not taken into consideration, and a player could be listed only at the position where he was named a First-Team All-American.
Offense:
QB - Tim Tebow, FloridaRB - Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State; Herschel Walker, Georgia
WR - Randy Moss, Marshall, Marshall; Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh
TE - Brock Bowers, Georgia
T - Orlando Pace, Ohio State; Bill Fralic, Pittsburgh
G - John Hannah, Alabama; Jim Parker, Ohio State
C - Chuck Bednarik, Penn
K - Sebastian Janikowski, Florida State
Defense:
DE - Hugh Green, Pittsburgh; Randy White, MarylandDT - Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska; Bronko Nagurski, Minnesota
LB - Dick Butkus, Illinois; Derrick Thomas, Alabama; Chris Spielman, Ohio State
CB - Charles Woodson, Michigan; Deion Sanders, Florida State
S - Ronnie Lott, USC; Ed Reed, Miami
P - Tory Taylor, Iowa
Nearly 2,000 players have been named an AP First-Team All-American. While fans can complain about who didn’t make the cut, it’s hard to argue with the 25 men who did.
Three players—Herschel Walker, Bill Fralic and Hugh Green—were selected to three All-American First Teams during their playing days, while another seven were two-time honorees.
Going by the conference they played in at the time of their All-American selection, the Big Ten leads the way with seven players on the All-Time AP All-American First-Team, followed by the SEC with five players. Ohio State and Pittsburgh were the only schools to notch three players on the list, while five Heisman winners made the cut.
The Heisman winners include the entire backfield of Tim Tebow, Barry Sanders and Herschel Walker, as well as all-purpose player Johnny Rodgers and cornerback Charles Woodson. Interestingly, running back Archie Griffin, who remains the only two-time Heisman winner, didn’t make the first team but did get on the second team.
Tebow, who won two national titles and had another pair of top five Heisman finishes in addition to his Heisman Trophy, edged out Vince Young for the QB honor. When Tebow left Florida, he held the NCAA record with 14 consecutive games with both a passing and rushing touchdown, in addition to being the SEC’s all-time leader in completion percentage and touchdown-to-interception ratio.
At running back, Sanders still holds the single-season records of 2,628 rushing yards and 37 rushing touchdowns, both of which came during his magical 1988 season. Walker was the first true freshman to be named a First-Team All-American in 1980 and led the Georgia Bulldogs to an undefeated record and national championship that season. Those two beat out both Griffin and Tony Dorsett, who each made the second team.
Out wide, Moss led all of college football with 26 touchdowns at Marshall in 1997, while ranking second in the country in receiving yards and third in receptions. He is flanked by Fitzgerald, who was a ball boy for Moss’s Minnesota Vikings at one point before becoming a star at Pitt. Fitzgerald led the nation in both receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in 2003 while finishing runner-up in Heisman voting. DeVonta Smith and Desmond Howard were the two receiver selections for the second team.
Bowers, at tight end, is the youngest player on this list and a two-time national champion, in addition to being a two-time Mackey Award winner, which is bestowed on the best tight end in the country. Bowers won the first team honor over Keith Jackson, as the former Oklahoma star had to settle for the second team.
Other second team notables include Tim Brown as the all-purpose player and Lawrence Taylor at linebacker. Jerry Robinson of UCLA also was a linebacker on the second team, despite being one of the 12 players in college football history to make three All-American First Teams during his playing days. Finally, Reggie Roby was the second-team selection at punter, meaning that he and first-team honoree, Tory Taylor, give the Iowa Hawkeyes both punters on the AP All-American All-Time Teams.
