NEW YORK -- Alabama is No. 1 when it comes to All-Americans.
The
second-ranked Crimson Tide placed four players on The Associated Press
All-America team released Tuesday. Among them was center Barrett Jones,
who became a two-time first-team selection.
No other team had more than one player selected to the first team. The Tide also led with six players chosen to all three teams.
Notre
Dame, Texas A&M, Stanford and Florida were second with four players
on the three teams, though linebacker Manti Te'o was the only Fighting
Irish player to make the first team.
Alabama faces top-ranked Notre Dame in the BCS championship game Jan. 7.
Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel was the first-team quarterback.
Wisconsin running back Montee Ball and Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones also became two-time All-Americans.
Nine
Southeastern Conference players made the first team, more than any
other conference. The Pac-12 was second with six players on the first
team. No other conference had more than two.
The team was voted on by a panel of 16 AP college football poll voters.
Barrett
Jones, a senior who made the All-America team as a tackle last season,
was joined on the first team by Alabama teammates guard Chance Warmack,
linebacker C.J. Mosley and cornerback Dee Milliner. Offensive tackle
D.J. Fluker was picked to the second team and quarterback AJ McCarron
was selected to the third team.
Te'o, the Heisman finalists and
winner of seven other awards -- including the Maxwell, Nagurski and
Butkus -- is the first Notre Dame defensive player to be an AP
All-American since defensive back Shane Walton in 2002.
Manziel
is the first freshman to make the first team at quarterback. On
Saturday, the redshirt freshman know as Johnny Football became the first
freshman to win the Heisman Trophy.
Manziel set an SEC record with 4,600 total yards to rank second in the nation.
Heisman finalist Collin Klein of Kansas State was the second-team quarterback.
Ball
repeated as an All-American, despite a slow start to the season and
some early injuries. The senior is seventh in the nation in rushing at
133 yards per game, scored 21 touchdowns, and set the major college
football record for career touchdowns. He has 82 going into the Rose
Bowl.
Arizona's Ka'Deem Carey, the nation's leading rusher at 146 yards per game, was the other first-team running back.
The
receivers were Southern California's Marqise Lee, who leads the nation
in catches (112) and was second in yards receiving (1,680), and Baylor's
Terrance Williams, who leads in yards with 1,764.
Stanford's Zach Ertz was the tight end.
Joining
Jones and Warmack on the offensive line were two junior tackles
projected to be high first-round NFL draft picks: Texas A&M's Luke
Joeckel and Michigan's Taylor Lewan.
North Carolina's Jonathan Cooper was the other first-team guard.
West Virginia's Tavon Austin was selected as the all-purpose player, a perfect description of the do-it-all speedster.
Austin
was primarily a receiver and racked up 1,259 yards through the air.
Late in the season, coach Dana Holgorsen used Austin as a running back
and against Oklahoma he the senior set a school-record with 344 yards
rushing. He finished second in the nation in all-purpose yards with 230
per game, and returned a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns.
Tulane's Cairo Santos was the All-American kicker after making all 21 of his field goal attempts.
On
the defensive side, Te'o and Mosley were joined at linebacker by the
other two-time All-American. Jones followed-up his sensational sophomore
season with 12.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss.
Another SEC pass rusher highlighted the defensive line.
South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney had 13.5 sacks, tied for the most in the nation, playing in only 11 games.
Florida State Bjoern Werner was the other end. He also had 13 sacks.
At
defensive tackle was a pair of Pac-12 players: Utah's Star Lotulelei
and Arizona State's Will Sutton, who was the conference defensive player
of the year.
In the secondary, Jordan Poyer of Oregon State, who had seven interceptions, was the cornerback opposite Milliner.
Fresno
State safety Phillip Thomas was voted to the first team after leading
the nation with eight interceptions, including three returned for
touchdown. Florida's Matt Elam was the other safety.
The punter was Ryan Allen, who won his second straight Ray Guy Award last week.
