All-America honors go to six from Tide

The College Football Playoff semifinalists combined to place 10 players on the Associated Press AllAmerica first team, including a high of four from topranked Alabama.

The Crimson Tide had six players chosen to the three All-America teams, more than any other team. No. 2 Clemson has three first-teamers, No. 4 Oklahoma has two All-Americans — including quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray — and No. 3 Notre Dame had one.

The Tide and Oklahoma meet in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29 and Clemson plays Notre Dame at the Cotton Bowl that day. The winners meet in the College Football Playoff national championship game Jan. 7 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

The playoff teams combined for 17 overall selections on the teams chosen by a panel of AP poll voters and released Monday.

The Tide placed two players on each side of the ball, with Outland Trophy winner Quinnen Williams highlighting the defense. Receiver Jerry Jeudy, offensive tackle Jonah Williams and safety Deionte Thompson also made the first team while Tua Tagovailoa was the second-team quarterback.

Tagovailoa finished second behind Murray in the Heisman voting.

UCLA’s offensive line received a significant boost for next season when the NCAA approved a sixth year of eligibility for right tackle Justin Murphy.

Murphy played parts of two seasons at Texas Tech before medically retiring in 2016 because of ongoing knee issues. He enrolled at UCLA before this season and played in the first four games before suffering another knee injury that required surgery to clean up cartilage damage.

Murphy, who played both tackle and guard, returned for the Bruins’ final two games.

Kansas State hired Chris Klieman of North Dakota State to lead its football program, passing the reins from retired Hall of Fame coach Bill Snyder to someone with three Football Championship Subdivision titles but little Big 12 experience.