DALLAS (FWAA) – The 2016 FWAA All-America Team was announced on Monday by the Football Writers Association of America. The 26-man first team is led by the Southeastern Conference with eight selections. Top-ranked Alabama of the SEC led all schools with four players on the team, including Outland Trophy winner (best interior lineman) Cam Robinson and Nagurski Trophy winner Jonathan Allen (best defensive player).

For the fifth straight season, the announcement of the team, the second-longest continuously-published team in major college football, will be featured on SiriusXM Radio's “College Football Nation.” A two-hour special hosted by Mark Packer and Matt Leinart airs today at 5 p.m. ET.

Also representing the 2016 FWAA All-America Team from Alabama, which is in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Washington at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, is linebacker Reuben Foster and defensive back Marlon Humphrey. The SEC's other All-America players came from Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

There are two repeat first-team selections from the 2015 FWAA team: Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett and Florida State running back Dalvin Cook. Three other teams – PlayStation Fiesta Bowl-bound Ohio State, Florida State and Texas – each had two players on the first team.

The Mid-American Conference, a Group of Five league, produced two first-team FWAA All-Americans, including Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis, who will lead the Broncos against Wisconsin in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2.

There were eight seniors, 10 juniors and eight sophomores selected to the first team. The conference breakdown for those players is as follows: SEC (8), ACC (5) Pac-12 (5), Big Ten (3) Big 12 (3), and Mid-American (2).

The FWAA's All-America Committee selected this 73nd annual team based on nominations from the entire membership. This is just the fourth season in the modern era (post-1950) that the FWAA has named a second team.

For the second straight year, Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield was named the quarterback of the second team. Michigan defensive back Jourdan Lewis also made the second team a second straight year. Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, a first-team kick returner in 2015, is a second-team running back in 2016, and Iowa's Desmond King, a first-team defensive back in 2015, is on the second team as a kick returner in 2016.

LSU, Oklahoma, Stanford, Washington and West Virginia each had two second-team selections. LSU, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington each had three players on the first and second teams combined.

Since 1945, the FWAA All-America Team has been among the five teams used to formulate the NCAA's annual consensus All-America team, which will be announced later this week. Since the 2002 season, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), The Associated Press, The Sporting News and the Walter Camp Football Foundation have joined the FWAA as the five designated selectors by the NCAA.

The FWAA All-America Team was first selected in 1944, 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 such noted hosts as Bob Hope, Steve Allen and Perry Como.

After LOOK folded, the FWAA started a long association with NCAA Films (later known as NCAA Productions), which produced a 30-minute television program. The team was part of ABC-TV's 1981 College Football Series. From 1983-90, the team was introduced on either ABC or ESPN. In 2002 and ‘03, the All-America team was honored with a banquet at the Citrus Bowl.

The same bowl, now the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl, also was a sponsor when the team was featured on ABC and ESPN from different locations on Disney properties from 2004-07. From 2008-10, the team had been the subject of a one-hour ESPN special.

For seven decades 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. From that All-America team, the FWAA also selects the Outland Trophy winner (best interior lineman) and also 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: 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. The FWAA All-America team is steeped in tradition and history and is selected by a writers' group with those same attributes.

Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,400 men and women who cover college football. 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 game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.

Related link:
• All-Time FWAA All-America Teams (.pdf)