DALLAS (FWAA) – The Southeastern Conference led the selection process with seven players and the Big 12 Conference had five when the 2009 Football Writers Association of America All-America Team was announced on Saturday. Nine of the 11 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and independent Notre Dame were represented on the squad.

The FWAA All-America Team, the second-longest continuously-published team in major college football, was announced on ABC-TV for the sixth straight season during a one-hour show that was sponsored by AT&T. The FWAA has named an All-America team in some form since 1944.

Nebraska tackle Ndamukong Suh, the Outland Trophy winner as the nation's best interior lineman and Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner as the nation's best defensive player, led a star-studded defense that had three repeat selections from 2008 – TCU end Jerry Hughes, Tennessee back Eric Berry and Alabama tackle Terrence Cody. Suh is the third player to sweep both the FWAA's Outland and Nagurski trophies after Arizona's Rob Waldrop in 1993 and LSU's Glenn Dorsey in 2007.

Alabama led all schools with three players selected: Cody, linebacker Rolando McClain and running back Mark Ingram. Florida had two players: defensive back Joe Haden and center Maurkice Pouncey. McCoy, the other FWAA All-America repeater from 2008, was the quarterback of the team for the second straight season, and his teammate, defensive back Earl Thomas, also made the team. McCoy is the first quarterback to earn back-to-back FWAA All-America honors since Ty Detmer in 1990 and '91. Also, Clemson had two players selected: return specialist C.J. Spiller and defensive back DeAndre McDaniel.

The ACC (three), Big Ten (two), Pacific-10 (two) and Mountain West (two) also had multiple players on the team. Thirteen of the 25 members of the team are underclassmen, including three sophomores. Four players – McCoy, Suh, Ingram and Stanford running back Toby Gerhart – are finalists for the Heisman Trophy to be presented on Saturday night.

First selected three years after the organization was formed, the FWAA's inaugural team included Army's Heisman Trophy tandem of Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis and Georgia Tech's Frank Broyles, who later became Arkansas' head football coach and athletic director.

Over the years, the FWAA Team has highlighted all the game's great players in several media forums.

From 1946-70, LOOK Magazine published the FWAA team and brought players and selected writers to New York City for a celebration. During that 25-year period, the FWAA team was introduced on national television shows by Bob Hope, Steve Allen, Perry Como and others.

After LOOK folded, the FWAA started a long association with NCAA Films (later known as NCAA Productions), which produced a 30-minute television show and sold it to sponsors. The team was part of ABC Television's 1981 College Football Series.

From 1983-90, the team was either on ABC or ESPN, and now has returned to the national spotlight on ABC.

The FWAA team has included most of the Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award winners over the years and Outland Trophy winners. Those are the three oldest awards in major-college football.

For 66 years, the FWAA has selected an All-America team with the help of its members and an All-America Committee which represents all the regions in the country. The FWAA also selects the Outland Trophy winner (best interior lineman) and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner (best defensive player).

Some of the true greats of the writing profession have helped to select this team over the years: Mark Blaudschun, Grantland Rice, Bert McGrane, Blackie Sherrod, Furman Bisher, Pat Harmon, Fred Russell, Edwin Pope, Murray Olderman, Paul Zimmerman and the list goes on and on. It is a team steeped in tradition and history and selected by a writers' group with the same attributes.

The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,100 men and women across North America who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include gameday operations, major awards, a national poll and its annual All-America team.

For more information on the FWAA All-America Team and the FWAA, contact FWAA executive director Steve Richardson (972-713-6198 or tiger@fwaa.com).

Related links:
• FWAA All-America Team
• All-Time FWAA All-Americans (.pdf)