1976 College Football All-America Team

Summary

The 1976 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1976. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognizes four selectors as "official" for the 1976 season. They are:[1] (1) the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA);[2] (2) the Associated Press (AP) selected based on the votes of sports writers at AP newspapers;[3] (3) the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) selected by the nation's football writers;[4] and (4) the United Press International (UPI) selected based on the votes of sports writers at UPI newspapers.[5] Other selectors included Football News (FN),[6] the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA),[7] The Sporting News (TSN),[8] and the Walter Camp Football Foundation (WC).

Three players were unanimously selected by all four official selectors and all five unofficial selectors. They were running backs Tony Dorsett of Pittsburgh and Ricky Bell of USC and defensive end Ross Browner of Notre Dame.

The 1976 USC Trojans football team led all others with five players who received first-team All-American honors in 1976. In addition to Ricky Bell, the USC honorees were offensive tackle Marvin Powell, defensive end Dennis Thurman, defensive tackle Gary Jeter, and punter Glen Walker. The consensus national champion Pittsburgh Panthers team had two first-team honorees: Tony Dorsett and middle guard Al Romano.

Consensus All-Americans edit

The following charts identify the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans for the year 1976 and displays which first-team designations they received.

Offense edit

Name Position School Number[9] Official Other
Tony Dorsett Running back Pittsburgh 4/5/9 AFCA, AP, FWAA, UPI CFN, FN, NEA, TSN, WC
Ricky Bell Running back USC 4/5/9 AFCA, AP, FWAA, UPI CFN, FN, NEA, TSN, WC
Joel Parrish Offensive guard Georgia 3/4/8 AFCA, FWAA, UPI FN, NEA, TSN, WC
Rob Lytle Running back Michigan 3/5/8 AFCA, AP, UPI CFN, FN, NEA, TSN, WC
Larry Seivers Wide receiver Tennessee 3/4/7 AFCA, AP, UPI CFN, NEA, TSN, WC
Mike Vaughan Offensive tackle Oklahoma 4/2/6 AFCA, AP, FWAA, UPI FN, WC
Ken MacAfee Tight end Notre Dame 3/3/6 AFCA, FWAA, UPI CFN, NEA, WC
Tommy Kramer Quarterback Rice 3/2/5 AFCA, AP, UPI CFN, WC
Mark Donahue Offensive guard Michigan 2/3/5 FWAA, UPI FN, NEA, WC
Derrel Gofourth Center Oklahoma State 2/1/3 AFCA, UPI FN
Chris Ward Offensive tackle Ohio State 1/0/1 AFCA --

Defense edit

Name Position School Number[9] Official Other
Ross Browner Defensive end Notre Dame 4/5/9 AFCA, AP, FWAA, UPI CFN, FN, NEA, TSN, WC
Bill Armstrong Defensive back Wake Forest 4/3/7 AFCA, AP, FWAA, UPI FN, TSN, WC
Robert Jackson Linebacker Texas A&M 4/3/7 AFCA, AP, FWAA, UPI FN, TSN, WC
Dave Butterfield Defensive back Nebraska 3/4/7 AFCA, AP, UPI CFN, FN, NEA WC
Bob Brudzinski Defensive end Ohio State 3/2/6 AFCA, AP, FWAA CFN, TSN, WC
Al Romano Middle guard Pittsburgh 3/3/6 AFCA, AP, UPI CFN, NEA, WC
Gary Green Defensive back Baylor 2/4/6 AFCA, AP CFN, NEA, TSN
Wilson Whitley Defensive tackle Houston 3/2/5 AFCA, AP, FWAA FN, WC
Joe Campbell Defensive tackle Maryland 2/2/4 AFCA, FWAA CFN, NEA, TSN
Gary Jeter Defensive tackle USC 2/1/3 FWAA, UPI NEA
Jerry Robinson Linebacker UCLA 2/1/3 AP, FWAA NEA
Dennis Thurman Defensive back USC 2/1/3 AP, FWAA WC

Offense edit

Receivers edit

Tight end edit

  • Ken MacAfee, Notre Dame (AFCA, FWAA, UPI-1, CFN, NEA-1 WC)
  • Clennie Brundidge, Army (UPI-2)
  • Don Hasselbeck, Colorado (NEA-2, TSN)

Tackles edit

Guards edit

  • Mark Donahue, Michigan (FWAA, UPI-1, NEA-1, WC, FN)
  • Joel Parrish, Georgia (AFCA, AP-3, FWAA, UPI-1, FN, NEA-2, TSN, WC)
  • Steve Schindler, Boston College (AP-2, FWAA, NEA-1, TSN, CFN)
  • Ted Albrecht, California (AP-1)
  • T.J. Humphreys, Arkansas State (AP-1)
  • Bill Dufek, Michigan (CFN)
  • Tom Brzoza, Pittsburgh (AP-2, UPI-2)
  • Donnie Hickman, USC (UPI-2, NEA-2)
  • Mitch Hoban, Ball State (AP-3)

Centers edit

Quarterbacks edit

Running backs edit

Defense edit

Defensive ends edit

  • Ross Browner, Notre Dame (AFCA, AP-1, FWAA, UPI-1, CFN, FN, NEA-1, TSN, WC)
  • Bob Brudzinski, Ohio State (AFCA, AP-1, FWAA, UPI-2, CFN, NEA-2, TSN [LB])
  • Mike Butler, Kansas (NEA-1 [DT], TSN [DT], FN)
  • Duncan McColl, Stanford (AP-2, UPI-1, CFN, WC)
  • Robin Cole, New Mexico (AP-3, UPI-2, NEA-2 [LB])
  • Nate Toran, Rutgers (AP-2)
  • Phil Dokes, Oklahoma State (NEA-2)
  • Cary Godette, East Carolina (AP-3)

Defensive tackles edit

Middle guards edit

  • Al Romano, Pittsburgh (AFCA, AP-1, UPI-1, FN, NEA-1, WC)
  • Gary Don Johnson, Baylor (AP-2)
  • Mike Stensrud, Iowa State (NEA-2)
  • Harvey Hull, Mississippi State (UPI-2)
  • Jeff Sapp, Navy (AP-3)

Linebackers edit

Defensive backs edit

Special teams edit

Kickers edit

Punters edit

Returner edit

Key edit

  • Bold – Consensus All-American[1]
  • -1 – First-team selection
  • -2 – Second-team selection
  • -3 – Third-team selection

Official selectors edit

Other selectors edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. pp. 3, 11. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Bell, Dorsett repeat choices by coaches". The Pantagraph. November 25, 1976. p. C4.
  3. ^ a b "Tony Dorsett tops AP All-American Team". Jefferson City Post Tribune. December 2, 1976. p. 13.
  4. ^ a b Ted Gangi (ed.). "FWAA All-America Since 1944: The All-Time Team" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Butterfield, Fultz make UPI All-America team". The Lincoln Star. December 3, 1976. p. 21.
  6. ^ a b "Football News All America Team". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 2, 1976. p. 5C.
  7. ^ a b "Dorsett leads All-Americans". The Hillsdale Daily News. December 1, 1976. p. 13.
  8. ^ a b "Sporting News Picks Three in Big Eight". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 12, 1976. p. 2G.
  9. ^ a b This column lists the number of selectors choosing the player as a first-team All-American as follows: official selectors/other selectors/total selectors.
  10. ^ "1976 NEA All-American Team". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. December 8, 1976.