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AP to name 91st all-America team, teams for all 5 major conferences

Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson scrambles past Florida State's Walvenski Aime in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Tallahassee, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
Deshaun Watson, Walvenski Aime

The Associated Press All-America team, the longest-running annual honor roll of the nation's top college football players, will be announced Dec. 12. The AP also will name all-conference teams for all five major football conferences starting Dec. 5.

The first AP All-America team was selected in 1925, a decade before the first Heisman Trophy. AP College Football Writer Ralph Russo and a panel of 16 college football reporters who are among the voters in the weekly AP Top 25 poll will select the All-America players for each position to first, second and third teams. 

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Last year’s AP all-American quarterback Deshaun Watson, of Clemson, scrambles past Florida State’s Walvenski Aime in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Tallahassee, Florida, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)

“The AP All-America team is one of the oldest traditions in all of college football,” said Barry Bedlan, AP’s sports products manager. “Football programs measure their success over time on the number of AP All-Americans that they’ve fielded. Therefore, all of our panelists carefully make these selections.”

The all-conference teams will be decided by regional panels of journalists who cover the respective conference and teams. The teams will be announced as follows:

 Dec. 5: Big Ten

Dec. 6: Big 12

Dec. 7: Atlantic Coast Conference

Dec. 8: Southeastern Conference

Dec. 9: Pacific-12 

Along with the honorary teams, AP will name its Player of the Year on Dec. 13 and Coach of the Year on Dec. 15. For the first time, a list of the top vote-getters for each award will be disclosed the day before the announcement of each winner. 

All announcements will be made at 12:30 p.m. ET on AP lines to customers, as well as posted on AP’s college football site, collegefootball.ap.org, and the AP News app. AP will provide analysis and details across those platforms.

AP customers can leverage the release of these college football honors to grow digital traffic and new revenue through AP’s locally branded College Football Digital News Experience. Newspapers that subscribe to AP Sports also will get paginated pages designed by GateHouse Media’s Center for News and Design, which highlight the college football bowl lineup for use in print, with space available for local advertising or content. 

The final regular-season AP Top 25 poll will be released Sunday, Dec. 4. A national panel of 61 sports writers and broadcasters of AP-affiliated media who cover college football decide the 80-year-old poll. The final AP Top 25 will be released as soon as all their ballots are submitted after the end of the College Football Playoff championship game on Jan. 9.

Follow the poll and related sports coverage on Facebook and Twitter:  

 

Contact

For media inquiries:
Lauren Easton
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
[email protected]

For sponsorship or revenue opportunities:
Barry Bedlan
Deputy Director of Sports Products
The Associated Press
972-677-2270
[email protected]

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