It’s time for the 8th annual edition of the very prestigious Heismanpundit.com All-American squad. First, the offense:
Quarterback
1st Team: Robert Griffin III, Baylor
2nd Team: Andrew Luck, Stanford
3rd Team: Kellen Moore, Boise State
Honorable Mention:
Case Keenum, Houston
Russell Wilson, Wisconsin
Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State
Matt Barkley, USC
Collin Klein, Kansas State
Comment: A deep group here, with the Heisman Trophy winner edging out Luck.
Running Back
1st Team: Montee Ball, Wisconsin
2nd Team: Trent Richardson, Alabama
3rd Team: LaMichael James, Oregon
Honorable Mention:
Bobby Rainey, Western Kentucky
Ronnie Hillman, San Diego State
David Wilson, Virginia Tech
Bernard Pierce, Temple
Chris Polk, Washington
Comment: Ball’s 38 touchdowns gives him the edge over Richardson. James quietly led the nation in rushing yards per game.
Fullback
1st Team: Alexander Teich, Navy
2nd Team: Cody Johnson, Texas
3rd Team: Rhett Ellison, USC
Honorable Mention
Ryan Hewitt, Stanford
Bradie Ewing, Wisconsin
Joe Suhey, Penn State
Comment: Unlike other honors teams, we pick a fullback All-American because, after all, it is a position in football. Teich was a bulldozer for the Midshipmen while Johnson was an excellent blocker and short-yardage back for the Longhorns.
Tight End
1st Team: Coby Fleener, Stanford
2nd Team: Dwayne Allen, Clemson
3rd Team: Orson Charles, Georgia
Honorable Mention
Tyler Eifert, Notre Dame
Ladarius Green, Louisiana-Lafayette
Ryan Otten, San Jose State
Nick Provo, Syracuse
Gavin Escobar, San Diego State
Comment: Another deep group, but Fleener was Stanford’s only dynamic threat and he averaged a remarkable 20.25 yards per catch. Allen and Charles also had fine seasons.
Wide Receiver
1st Team: Robert Woods, USC; Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State
2nd Team: Sammy Watkins, Clemson; Kendall Wright, Baylor
3rd Team: Keenan Allen, California; Jordan White, Western Michigan
Honorable Mention
Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma
Patrick Edwards, Houston
Marquess Wilson, Washington State
Jarius Wright, Arkansas
Marqise Lee, USC
Marvin McNutt, Iowa
B.J. Cunningham, Michigan State
Tyler Shoemaker, Boise State
Nick Harwell, Miami (OH)
Comment: Another deep unit that was hard to grade, but the nod goes to Woods and Blackmon, who were virtually unstoppable all season. Watkins has the most upside of the bunch and is a surefire All-American next season.
Offensive Line Unit
Per HP tradition, we will not choose individual All-Americans on the offensive line.
We refuse to do so because we believe it’s basically impossible to pick the five best offensive linemen.
There are no individual stats to go by. Highlights rarely show what they do. We don’t know their assignments on a given play. We could go purely off of hearsay, but wouldn’t that be dishonest? What’s more, there are 600 starting offensive linemen in Division One. It’s almost impossible to have seen enough of them to know who is really the best. So, while other All-American teams choose linemen based almost solely on reputation, we will not. Instead, we look at a combination of factors, including sacks allowed, rushing offense, tackles for loss allowed, etc., to come up with our All-American unit.
1st Team: Stanford
2nd Team: Oklahoma State
3rd Team: Boise State
Honorable Mention
USC
Penn State
LSU
TCU
Georgia Tech
Comment: Stanford gave up a remarkable 33 tackles for loss–the fewest allowed in the last five seasons by far–plus 9 sacks while averaging 208 yards rushing per game. OSU’s line allowed just 11 sacks for a team that threw 553 times and was ninth in tackles for loss allowed. Boise State tied for the national lead with just 8 sacks allowed, was ninth in tackles for loss allowed and rushed for 170 yards per game.
Check back at HP for the defensive team on Tuesday…
I didn’t get to see a ton of other tight ends this year, but I’m a little surprised there’s no mention at all of David Paulson. Must have been a really deep class, because he’s a baller.
RE: Paulson.
My thoughts exactly…
Only three players from the SEC on the entire list? Same ol HP! Still doesn’t
have the balls to select OL players either. Just as many skilled players to look at as OL
guys. Just goes to show you only know what you read about players.
The best two Offensive Lines are bammer and LSU! No others are close and
that includes a Stanford group you chose. They would get mauled by bammer
and LSU defenses. Hell….Arky’s OL is better than anyone else on the list but
LSU’s. Even Wisconsin has the beef to knock folks off the ball while teams like
Boise depend on gimmicks and a lot of uncalled holding!
Oh wise one, please enlighten me on who I left out from the non-OL list?
how could you give stanford the nod on the line? USC would have the least but they are tied for first for fewest sacks thanks to the officiating at oregon. That grounding call should have cost someone their job. And since I am here if you like Luck so much you have to like Barkley better. Oh but let me guess AL did not have the play makers MB did right? Well MB did not have the line AL did either. See how that works.