If you thought the Hollywood awards season lasted a long time, well, it has nothing on college football.
There's now an endless number of individual trophies, many sponsored by city sports commissions or other groups who want to be associated with college football. And the same is true with All-America teams. Major ones now include the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp, Sporting News, ESPN.com, SportsIllustrated.com and CBSSports.com. Whew.
It can be hard if not impossible to keep up with all of it. So we're here to recap it for you, with a list of every Big Ten player who made one of those major All-America teams. In all, eight different Big Ten players garnered at least one first-team All-America nods, while 19 earned at least a second- or third-team honor. (Note that some organizations, like Walter Camp and ESPN.com, release only a first team).
We start the list with the lone unanimous first-team All-American from the conference:
Michigan State CB Darqueze Dennard
First team: AP, AFCA, FWAA, Walter Camp, Sporting News, ESPN.com, SI.com, CBSSports.com
Ohio State LB Ryan Shazier
First team: AP, ESPN.com, SI.com
Second team: FWAA, Walter Camp, CBSSports.com
Michigan OT Taylor Lewan
First team: Sporting News
Second team: AP, Walter Camp, CBSSports.com, SI.com
Wisconsin LB Chris Borland
First team: FWAA
Second team: AP, CBSSports.com, SI.com
Penn State WR Allen Robinson
First team: CBSSports.com, Sporting News
Second team: FWAA, SI.com
Third team: AP
Ohio State OT Jack Mewhort
First team: ESPN.com
Second team: FWAA, Walter Camp, SI.com
Third team: AP, CBSSports.com
Northwestern K Jeff Budzien
First team: Sporting News
Second team: Walter Camp
Third team: AP
Michigan State P Mike Sadler
First team: ESPN.com, CBSSports.com
Michigan State DE Shilique Calhoun
Second team: AP, Walter Camp, SI.com
Ohio State RB Carlos Hyde
Third team: AP
Iowa OT Brandon Scherff
Second team: FWAA
Nebraska RB Ameer Abdullah
Third team: AP
Penn State G John Urschel
Third team: AP
Wisconsin G Ryan Groy
Third team: AP
Minnesota DT Ra'Shede Hageman
Third team: AP
Michigan State LB Max Bullough
Third team: AP
Michigan State LB Denicos Allen
Second team: SI.com
Third team: AP
Nebraska G Spencer Long
Third team: CBSSports.com
Ohio State S C.J. Barnett
Third team: CBSSports.com
