OLDER PLAYERS LEADING THE AP SQUAD
Seven stars in their fifth and sixth years named All-America
Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels from LSU was one of seven players in either their fifth or sixth season of college football selected to The Associated Press All-America team announced Monday.
Daniels, a fifth-year quarterback, won the Heisman and AP player of the year honors last week after accounting for 50 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards of offense this season.
He was joined in the backfield by Missouri’s Cody Schrader, a sixthyear running back and former Division II player who leads the nation at 124.9 rushing yards per game.
The other sixth-year player of the AP first team was North Carolina State linebacker Payton Wilson, who won the Chuck Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year.
Kansas State guard Cooper Beebe, edge rushers Laiatu Latu from UCLA and Jalen Green from James Madison, and Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat were the other fifthyear players to make the first team.
College players who were in school during the 2020 pandemic season were granted an extra year of eligibility, and they are still making their presence felt around the country.
Eleven more fifth-year players made the second and third teams and there were eight sixth-year players selected to those teams, including Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the Heisman runner up. Penix and the second-ranked Huskies face No. 3 Texas in the College Football Playoff’s Sugar Bowl semifinal on Jan. 1.
Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt and Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. were selected firstteam All-Americans for the second straight year. Beebe and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers moved up from second team last season to first this year.
No. 5 Alabama led all teams with three first-team All-Americans, all on the defensive side: cornerbacks Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold and linebacker Dallas Turner.
The Crimson Tide, seeded fourth in the College Football Playoff, faces No. 1 Michigan in the Rose Bowl semifinal on Jan. 1.