Phil Steele's annual college football preview has become the go-to book for serious college football fans, and the unveiling of his All-America team is a sign the season is getting closer.
Steele's All-America team doesn't produce a whole lot of surprises, which is fine. Perhaps one could argue why De'Anthony Thomas is ahead of Ka'Deem Carey or Todd Gurley at running back, or why Cyrus Kouandijo couldn't break into the top two tackles, but as one would imagine he made good selections all around.
Alabama had eight players on Steele's four teams, including four on the first team, which isn't too shocking either for the obvious preseason No. 1. It was a little surprising to see two Western Kentucky players make the list, and congratulations to them. A few other quick thoughts:
• Quarterback is really deep when Oregon's Marcus Mariota and Clemson's Tajh Boyd can't crack the top four. But it's hard to argue with the four on Steele's list, though we'd have Teddy Bridgewater higher.
• Baylor's Lache Seastrunk will finish higher than third team if he stays healthy.
• It's hard to classify Thomas. He had nine games with seven or fewer carries last season, so it's odd to see him at running back ahead of Carey and Todd Gurley. But he's undeniably a great player and a difference maker, so it's hard to argue him being on the first team somewhere.
• Little surprised that Oregon tight end Colt Lyerla didn't make the cut.
• Like quarterback, offensive tackle is really deep when Zack Martin of Notre Dame is on the third team.
• With two Notre Dame defensive linemen making up half of the first-team line, perhaps we understated how great that line was. That's a big reason Manti Te'o got all those tackles.
• Interesting to see TCU's Jason Verrett make the first-team at cornerback over Oklahoma's Aaron Colvin, who would have been a safe choice.
Here's are all four of Steele's preseason All-America teams:
OFFENSE
| 1st Team | 2nd Team | 3rd Team | 4th Team | |
| QB | Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M | Braxton Miller, Ohio State | A.J. McCarron, Alabama | Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville |
| RB | T.J. Yeldon, Alabama | Todd Gurley, Georgia | Lache Seastrunk, Baylor | Silas Redd, USC |
| RB | De’Anthony Thomas, Oregon | Ka’Deem Carey, Arizona | Duke Johnson, Miami | Damien Williams, Oklahoma |
| WR | Marqise Lee, USC | Jordan Matthews, Vanderbilt | Allen Robinson, Penn State | Jared Abbrederis, Wisconsin |
| WR | Sammy Watkins, Clemson | Cody Hoffman, BYU | Brandin Cooks, Oregon State | Tracy Moore, Oklahoma State |
| WR | Amari Cooper, Alabama | Mike Evans, Texas A&M | Stefon Diggs, Maryland | Davante Adams, Fresno State |
| TE | Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Washington | Arthur Lynch, Georgia | Jacob Pedersen, Wisconsin | Eric Ebron, North Carolina |
| C | B.J. Finney, Kansas State | Gabe Ikard, Oklahoma | Hroniss Grasu, Oregon | Tyler Larsen, Utah State |
| G | David Yankey, Stanford | Gabe Jackson, Mississippi St. | Andrew Norwell, Ohio State | Anthony Steen, Alabama |
| G | Cyril Richardson, Baylor | Spencer Long, Nebraska | Xavier Su’a-Filo, UCLA | Tre’ Jackson, Florida State |
| T | Taylor Lewan, Michigan | Cyrus Kouandijo, Alabama | Zack Martin, Notre Dame | Morgan Moses, Virginia |
| T | Jake Matthews, Texas A&M | Antonio Richardson, Tennessee | James Hurst, North Carolina | Jack Mewhort, Ohio State |
DEFENSE
| 1st Team | 2nd Team | 3rd Team | 4th Team | |
| DE | Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina | Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas | Scott Crichton, Oregon State | Aaron Lynch, USF |
| DT | Will Sutton, Arizona State | Anthony Johnson, LSU | Aaron Donald, Pittsburgh | Daniel McCullers, Tennessee |
| DT | Louis Nix, Notre Dame | Timmy Jernigan, Florida State | Dominique Easley, Florida | Roosevelt Nix, Kent State |
| DE | Stephon Tuitt, Notre Dame | Devonte Fields, TCU | Morgan Breslin, USC | Demarcus Lawrence, Boise State |
| LB | Anthony Barr, UCLA | Chris Borland, Wisconsin | Shayne Skov, Stanford | Denzel Nkemdiche, Ole Miss |
| LB | C.J. Mosley, Alabama | Trent Murphy, Stanford | A.J. Johnson, Tennessee | Hayes Pullard, USC |
| LB | Kyle Van Noy, BYU | Max Bullough, Michigan State | Khalil Mack, Buffalo | Andrew Jackson, W. Kentucky |
| LB | Ryan Shazier, Ohio State | Adrian Hubbard, Alabama | Christian Jones, Florida State | Yawin Smallwood, Connecticut |
| CB | Bradley Roby, Ohio State | Aaron Colvin, Oklahoma | Darqueze Dennard, Michigan State | Loucheiz Purifoy, Florida |
| CB | Jason Verrett, TCU | Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon | Quandre Diggs, Texas | Antone Exum, Virginia Tech |
| S | Ed Reynolds, Stanford | Ty Zimmerman, Kansas State | Hakeem Smith, Louisville | Marco Nelson, Tulsa |
| S | Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, Alabama | Lamarcus Joyner, Florida St. | Craig Loston, LSU | Jordan Richards, Stanford |
SPECIAL TEAMS
| 1st Team | 2nd Team | 3rd Team | 4th Team | |
| K | Cairo Santos, Tulane | Chris Boswell, Rice | Ross Martin, Duke | Chandler Catanzaro, Clemson |
| P | Kyle Christy, Florida | Tommy Hibbard, North Carolina | Kirby Van Der Kamp, Iowa State | Richie Leone, Houston |
| KR | Tyler Lockett, Kansas State | Bernard Reedy, Toledo | Justin Gilbert, Oklahoma St. | Jamal Golden, Georgia Tech |
| PR | Marcus Murphy, Missouri | Tramaine Thompson, Kansas State | Spiffy Evans, Boston College | Rashad Greene, Florida State |
| LS | Scott Thompson, N.C. State | Drew Howell, Oregon | Matt Dooley, Indiana | Reid Ferguson, LSU |
| AP | Dri Archer, Kent State | Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois | Antonio Andrews, Western Kentucky | Venric Mark, Northwestern |
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H/T to GatorZone.com for the list.
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