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