FWAA 75th anniversary team features 15 from current ACC schools

The current schools of the Atlantic Coast Conference had a total of 15 former All-American players—the second second-highest total of any conference nationally—named to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) 75th Anniversary football team announced Thursday.

Pitt led all ACC schools with five selections, followed by Florida State (3), Miami (2) and Boston College, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State and Virginia Tech with one selection each.

The FWAA, which was founded in 1941, has picked an annual All-America team since the 1944 season, making it the second longest continuously selected team in major college football.

The 75^th Anniversary team celebrates the association’s All-American teams from near the end of World War II through 2014.

 

A nomination ballot with selected players from all FWAA All-America teams was sent to the entire membership this spring. The popular vote was then taken into consideration by a Blue Ribbon Committee of FWAA past presidents, current board members and officers. That committee put the finishing touches on selecting the 75-man team. In order for a player to be considered for the FWAA’s 75th Anniversary team, he was required to be on a previous FWAA All-America team.

 

In addition to those listed below, Maryland defensive end Randy White, a former ACC Player of the Year (1974), also was named to the FWAA team.

 

Using current conference affiliations, the Big Ten led all conferences with 19 selections, followed by the ACC (15), the SEC (13), the Big 12 (12) and the Pac-12 (7).

 

Selections from current ACC schools on the FWAA 75^th Anniversary team are:

 

First Team

Player                                           School                                            Pos.      

Larry Fitzgerald                         Pitt                                                   WR

Ted Hendricks                           Miami                                             DE

Deion Sanders                           Florida State                                 CB

 

Second Team               

Tony Dorsett                              Pitt                                                   RB

Fred Biletnikoff                         Florida State                                 WR

Mike Ditka                                  Pitt                                                   TE

Bill Fralic                                       Pitt                                                   OL

Hugh Green                               Pitt                                                   DE

Bruce Smith                                Virginia Tech                                DE

Luke Kuechly                             Boston College                            LB

Ed Reed                                       Miami                                             S

 

Third Team

Calvin Johnson                          Georgia Tech                               WR

Jim Ritcher                                  NC State                                        C

Dre’ Bly                                        North Carolina                             CB

Rohn Stark                                  Florida State                                 P