DALLAS, Texas – The Football Writers Association of America has named Mississippi Valley State's Jerry Rice to its 75th Anniversary All-America Team, celebrating the association's All-America teams from near the end of World War II through the 2014 season. 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.
Rice attended Mississippi Valley State University from 1981 to 1984. He became a standout receiver and acquired the nickname "World", because there wasn't a ball in the world he couldn't catch. Statistics from his college career are sparse, but the College Football Hall of Fame website claims that Rice, as a sophomore in 1982, caught 66 passes for 1,133 yards and 7 touchdowns. That was his first season playing with redshirt freshman quarterback Willie Totten, nicknamed "Satellite". Together, Totten and Rice would become known as "The Satellite Express" and set numerous NCAA records in the spread offense of coach Archie Cooley, nicknamed "The Gunslinger."
Rice had a record-setting 1983 campaign, including NCAA marks for receptions (102) and receiving yards (1,450) and being named first-team Division I-AA All-America. He also set a single-game NCAA record by catching 24 passes against Southern University. As a senior in 1984, he broke his own Division I-AA records for receptions (112) and receiving yards (1,845). His 27 touchdown receptions in that 1984 season set the NCAA mark for all divisions.
The 1984 season was also memorable for MVSU as the pass-happy Delta Devils attracted national attention, scoring 628 points (an average of more than 59 per game). After an August practice experiment, Cooley had Totten call all the plays at the line of scrimmage without a huddle. The result was even more staggering offensive numbers. Rice caught 17 passes for 199 yards against Southern, 17 for 294 against Kentucky State and 15 for 285 against Jackson State, the first time MVSU beat them since 1954. Rice scored 5 TDs twice that year. He finished his career with 301 catches for 4,693 yards and 50 touchdowns (some sources have the numbers as 310, 4,856 and 51); his NCAA record for total career touchdown receptions stood until 2006, when University of New Hampshire wide receiver David Ball recorded his 51st career receiving touchdown.
Rice was named to every All-American team (including the AP squad) and finished ninth in Heisman Trophy balloting in 1984. In the Blue Gray Classic all-star game played on Christmas Day, he earned MVP honors. Rice wore No. 88 in college, but he switched to No. 80 in the pros.
In the spring of 1999, the school renamed its football stadium from Magnolia Stadium to Rice-Totten Stadium in honor of Rice and Totten. Rice was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
The FWAA's first All-America team in 1944 included Army's famous running back tandem of Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis and Georgia Tech's Frank Broyles, who later became Arkansas' legendary head football coach. Seven decades later, the 2014 team featured Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Marcus Mariota of Oregon, Outland Trophy winner, offensive tackle Brandon Scherff of Iowa, and Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner, linebacker Scooby Wright III of Arizona.
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 team, he had to be on a previous FWAA All-America team.
The FWAA's 25-man first team included Navy quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach, the only member from a military academy; the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner running back Archie Griffin of Ohio State; three-time FWAA All-America end Leon Hart of Notre Dame; and the only two-time Outland Trophy winner, center Dave Rimington of Nebraska. On the three 25-man teams, the Cornhuskers led all schools with six selections – including four on the first team – and four of their overall honorees are Outland Trophy winners. Ohio State and Pittsburgh each had five selections and Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas had four. Schools with three selections were Florida State, Georgia, Michigan and USC.
75th ANNIVERSARY FWAA ALL-AMERICA TEAM |
OFFENSE |
POS | FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM | THIRD TEAM |
QB | Roger Staubach, Navy | Tim Tebow, Florida | Tommie Frazier, Nebraska |
RB | Archie Griffin, Ohio State | Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh | Bo Jackson, Auburn |
RB | Herschel Walker, Georgia | Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State | Doak Walker, SMU |
WR | Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh | Fred Biletnikoff, Florida State | Anthony Carter, Michigan |
WR | Jerry Rice, Mississippi Valley State | Randy Moss, Marshall | Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech |
TE | Keith Jackson, Oklahoma | Mike Ditka, Pittsburgh | Gordon Hudson, BYU |
OL | John Hannah, Alabama | Bill Fralic, Pittsburgh | Barrett Jones, Alabama |
OL | Orlando Pace, Ohio State | John Hicks, Ohio State | Willie Roaf, Louisiana Tech |
OL | Will Shields, Nebraska | Calvin Jones, Iowa | Jerry Sisemore, Texas |
OL | Ron Yary, USC | Jonathan Ogden, UCLA | Dean Steinkuhler, Nebraska |
C | Dave Rimington, Nebraska | Chuck Bednarik, Penn | Jim Ritcher, N.C. State |
DEFENSE |
POS | FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM | THIRD TEAM |
DT | Lee Roy Selmon, Oklahoma | Merlin Olsen, Utah State | Steve Emtman, Washington |
DT | Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska | Randy White, Maryland | Reggie White, Tennessee |
DE | Leon Hart, Notre Dame | Hugh Green, Pittsburgh | Bubba Smith, Michigan State |
DE | Ted Hendricks, Miami (Fla.) | Bruce Smith, Virginia Tech | Jack Youngblood, Florida |
LB | Tommy Nobis, Texas | Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma | Jack Ham, Penn State |
LB | Mike Singletary, Baylor | Dick Butkus, Illinois | Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama |
LB | Derrick Thomas, Alabama | Luke Kuechly, Boston College | Chris Spielman, Ohio State |
DB | Ronnie Lott, USC | Champ Bailey, Georgia | Dré Bly, North Carolina |
DB | Deion Sanders, Florida State | Kenny Easley, UCLA | Dave Brown, Michigan |
DB | Jack Tatum, Ohio State | Jerry Gray, Texas | Troy Polamalu, USC |
DB | Charles Woodson, Michigan | Ed Reed, Miami (Fla.) | Roy Williams, Oklahoma |
SPECIALISTS |
POS | FIRST TEAM | SECOND TEAM | THIRD TEAM |
P | Ray Guy, Southern Miss | Russell Erxleben, Texas | Rohn Stark, Florida State |
K | Kevin Butler, Georgia | Mason Crosby, Colorado | Tony Franklin, Texas A&M |
RS | johnny Rodgers, Nebraska | Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame | Derek Abney, Kentucky |
75th Anniversary All-Americans by school (75 players from 41 schools): Nebraska 6, Ohio State 5, Pittsburgh 5, Alabama 4, Oklahoma 4, Texas 4, Florida State 3, Georgia 3, Michigan 3, USC 3, Florida 2, Miami (Fla.) 2, Notre Dame 2, UCLA 2, Auburn 1, Baylor 1, Boston College 1, BYU 1, Colorado 1, Georgia Tech 1, Illinois 1, Iowa 1, Kentucky 1, Louisiana Tech 1, Marshall 1, Maryland 1, Michigan State 1, Mississippi Valley State 1, Navy 1, North Carolina 1, N.C. State 1, Oklahoma State 1, Penn 1, Penn State 1, SMU 1, Southern Miss 1, Tennessee 1, Texas A&M 1, Utah State 1, Virginia Tech 1, Washington 1. |
75th Anniversary All-Americans by current conference: Big Ten Conference 19, Atlantic Coast Conference 15, Southeastern Conference 13, Big 12 Conference 10, Pac-12 Conference 7, Conference USA 3, Independents 3, American Athletic Conference 2, Ivy League 1, Mountain West Conference 1, Southwestern Athletic Conference 1. |
