WACO, TEX. — Alabama running back Derrick Henry and Penn State defensive lineman Carl Nassib headline the 2015 AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-America Team announced today by the American Football Coaches Association.
The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions. What makes these teams so special is that they are the only ones chosen exclusively by the men who know the players the best — the coaches themselves.
Henry, the 2015 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award winner, broke both the Southeastern Conference and Alabama single-season rushing marks with 1,986 yards. He leads the nation in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns (23), and is second in the nation in yards per game (152.8). Nassib lead the nation in sacks (15.5) and forced fumbles (6), and finished second in the nation in tackles for a loss (19.5). He took home the Lott IMPACT Trophy and the Lombardi and Hendricks Awards.
2015 AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-America Team
Offense
Pos Name Ht. Wt. Cl. School Coach Hometown (High School)
WR Corey Coleman 5-11 190 Jr. Baylor Art Briles Richardson, Texas (Pearce)
WR Josh Doctson 6-3 195 Sr. TCU Gary Patterson Mansfield, Texas (Legacy)
TE Hunter Henry 6-5 253 Jr. Arkansas Bret Bielema Little Rock, Ark. (Pulaski Academy)
OL Joshua Garnett 6-5 321 Sr. Stanford David Shaw Puyallup, Calif. (Puyallup)
OL Ronnie Stanley 6-5 315 Sr. Notre Dame Brian Kelly Las Vega, Nev. (Bishop Gorman)
C Ryan Kelly 6-5 297 Sr. Alabama Nick Saban West Chester, Ohio (Lakota West)
OL Spencer Drango 6-6 320 Sr. Baylor Art Briles Cedar Park, Texas (Cedar Park)
OL Taylor Decker 6-8 315 Sr. Ohio St. Urban Meyer Vandalia, Ohio (Butler)
QB Deshaun Watson 6-2 210 So. Clemson Dabo Swinney Gainesville, Georgia (Gainesville)
RB Derrick Henry 6-3 242 Jr. Alabama Nick Saban Yulee, Fla. (Yulee)
RB Christian McCaffrey 6-0 201 So. Stanford David Shaw Castle Rock, Colo. (Valor Christian)
Defense
Pos Name Ht. Wt. Cl. School Coach Hometown (High School)
DL Shaq Lawson 6-3 270 Jr. Clemson Dabo Swinney Central, S.C. (Daniel)
DL Carl Nassib 6-7 272 Sr. Penn St. James Franklin West Chester, Pa. (Malvern Prep)
DL *Joey Bosa 6-6 275 Jr. Ohio St. Urban Meyer Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
DL A’Shawn Robinson 6-4 312 Jr. Alabama Nick Saban Fort Worth, Texas (Arlington Heights)
LB Reggie Ragland 6-2 252 Sr. Alabama Nick Saban Madison, Ala. (Bob Jones)
LB Jaylon Smith 6-2 240 Jr. Notre Dame Brian Kelly Fort Wayne, Ind. (Bishop Luers)
LB Tyler Matakevich 6-1 232 Sr. Temple Matt Rhule Stratford, Conn. (St. Joseph’s)
DB Vernon Hargreaves, III 5-11 199 Jr. Florida Jim McElwain Tampa, Fla. (Wharton)
DB Desmond King 5-11 200 Jr. Iowa Kirk Ferentz Detroit, Mich. (East English Village)
DB Jalen Ramsey 6-1 202 Jr. Florida St. Jimbo Fisher Smyrna, Tenn. (Brentwood Academy)
DB Jeremy Cash 6-2 210 RSr. Duke David Cutcliffe Miami, Fla. (Plantation)
Specialists
Pos Name Ht. Wt. Cl. School Coach Hometown (High School)
P *Tom Hackett 5-11 195 Sr. Utah Kyle Whittingham Melbourne, Australia (Scotch College)
PK Ka’imi Fairbairn 6-0 190 Sr. UCLA Jim Mora Kailua, Hawaii (Punahou)
AP Ryan Switzer 5-10 185 Jr. North Carolina Larry Fedora Charleston, W.Va. (George Washington)
*–2014 AFCA All-American
Team Background: The teams now chosen for each of the AFCA’s five divisions evolved from a single 11-player squad in 1945. From 1945 until 1967, only one team was chosen. From 1967 through 1971, two teams, University Division and College Division, were selected. In 1972, the College Division was split into College I and College II. In 1979, the University Division was split into two teams — Division I-A and Division I-AA. In 1996, the College I and College II teams were renamed Division II and Division III, respectively. In 2006, the Division I-A and Division I-AA teams were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), respectively. The AFCA started selecting an NAIA All-America Team in 2006.
Top Team: With their four selections in 2015, Alabama has had the most players named to the AFCA Coaches’ All-America Team. The Crimson Tide have been represented 63 times by 61 players on the AFCA team. They are followed by Oklahoma (62/53); Ohio State (60/45); Notre Dame (59/52); USC (56/50); Michigan (54/48); Nebraska (51/46); Texas (48/42); UCLA (36/34); Florida State (36/32) and Georgia (35/29).
Top Conference: The Big 12 and Southeastern Conference boasts the most AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-America Team representatives among current conference members with 273. Following those two are the Big Ten (264), the Pac-12 (198), Atlantic Coast (185), American Athletic (69), Western Athletic (62), Mountain West (55), Conference USA (51), Sun Belt (40) and Mid-American (30) (Totals include school All-America selections in all divisions).
The 2015 conference-by-conference breakdown: SEC: 6; ACC: 5; Big Ten: 4; Pac-12: 4; Big 12: 3; Ind: 2; AAC: 1.
Repeat After Me: Ohio State has the most players who have been repeat selections (15 players). The Buckeyes are followed by Oklahoma (9); Notre Dame (7); USC (7); Texas (6); Michigan (6); Arkansas (5); Georgia (5); Nebraska (5); Florida State (4); and LSU (4).
Three-Timer: Georgia’s Herschel Walker is the only three-time AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-American (1980-81-82) in the 71-year history of the team.
Double Duos: Teammates have earned back-to-back Coaches’ All-America honors in the same season seven times. USC’s Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush (2004 and 2005) join Army’s Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard (1945 and 1946); Notre Dame’s George Connor and Johnny Lujack (1946 and 1947); Michigan State’s Bubba Smith and George Webster (1966 and 1967); Ohio State’s Jack Tatum and Jim Stillwagon (1969 and 1970); Notre Dame’s Ken MacAfee and Ross Browner (1976 and 1977) and Colorado’s Joe Garten and Alfred Williams (1989 and 1990).
Two Players, Two Schools: Punter Mark Bounds and placekicker Greg Zuerlein are the only players to earn Coaches’ All-America honors at two different schools. Bounds was named to the AFCA College Division I team in 1990 while playing for West Texas A&M. He transferred to Texas Tech after West Texas dropped football and earned I-A All-America honors as a Red Raider in 1991. Zuerlein was named to the Division II Coaches’ All-America Team in 2009 while playing for Nebraska-Omaha. He transferred to Missouri Western State after Nebraska-Omaha dropped its football program and earned Division II honors in 2011 as a Griffon.
Consecutive Years: Notre Dame holds the record for consecutive years with at least one player on the AFCA Coaches’ All-America Team at 19 seasons (1963-1981). Nebraska had at least one player 12 straight seasons (1978-1989), which places the Cornhuskers second. Michigan (1969-1979), Oklahoma (1971-1981), USC (1972-82) and Miami (Fla.) (1984-1994) are next with 11 straight seasons. Pittsburgh placed one player on the AFCA team for 10 straight seasons from 1975-1984. Florida State has the longest current active streak at six years (2010-15).
Super Six: Oklahoma’s six selections (Jammal Brown, OL; Jason White, QB; Tommie Harris, DL; Teddy Lehman, LB, Derrick Strait, DB; Antonio Perkins, RS) in 2003 are the most players from one school on the AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-America Team.
Fantastic Five: Alabama’s five selections (Barrett Jones, OL; Trent Richardson, RB; Dont’a Hightower, LB; Mark Barron, DB; DeQuan Menzie, DB) in 2011 are the second most players from one school on the AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-America Team.
Quad Squads: Alabama is the seventh program to place four players on the AFCA All-America Team, and the first to do it in five separate years with their four selections in 2015. C-Ryan Kelly, RB-Derrick Henry, DL-A’Shawn Robinson and LB-Reggie Ragland joins the 2008 squad of OL-Andre Smith, C-Antoine Caldwell, DL-Terrence Cody and DB-Rashad Johnson; the 2009 team of OL-Mike Johnson, RB-Mark Ingram, LB-Rolando McClain and DB-Javier Arenas; the 2013 squad of OL-Cyrus Kouandjioin, QB-AJ McCarron, LB-C.J. Mosley and DB-Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and the 2014 squad of WR-Amari Cooper, OL-Arie Kouandjio, LB-Trey DePriest and DB-Landon Collins. The others are: 1945 Army: T-DeWitt Coulter, G-John Green, B-Glenn Davis, B-Doc Blanchard; 1966 Notre Dame: LB-Jim Lynch, FB-Nick Eddy, DT-Pete Duranko, OG-Tom Regner; 1967 USC: OT-Ron Yary, LB-Adrian Young, E-Tim Rossovich, HB-O.J. Simpson; 1990 Notre Dame: DB-Todd Lyght, DL-Chris Zorich, LB-Mike Stonebreaker, WR-Raghib Ismail; 1999 Florida State: WR-Peter Warrick, OL-Jason Whitaker, DL-Corey Simon; PK-Sebastian Janikowski; 2005 USC: WR-Dwayne Jarrett, OL-Taitusi Lutui, QB-Matt Leinart, RB-Reggie Bush.
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