BIG MEN ON CAMPUS

IT'S NOT AS EASYAS IT LOOKS, this business of selecting the cream of the college football crop,position by position, offense and defense and specialists, from the sport'searliest days right up to the 2008 BCS title game. For starters, the athleteswho labored in the eras before free substitutions and platoons were playing adifferent game. And as if it weren't tough enough to compare players fromvastly different eras, we made the job even tougher by limiting our selectionsto one player per school. Who, for instance, would you take from Illinois: RedGrange or Dick Butkus? Who from Alabama: Don Hutson or John Hannah or Lee RoyJordan? Which USC tailback—if, indeed, you chose a Trojans tailback over RonnieLott or Ron Yary? Which Syracuse running back? Which Penn State linebacker? Doyou tap Nebraska's fabled center Dave Rimington or the magical Johnny Rodgers?Fully aware of the minefield we were about to cross but nonetheless undaunted,we polled more than two dozen current and former SI football writers andeditors, then tabulated their votes, argued among ourselves and made the final,painful cuts. The arguments will no doubt continue. But before considering anysubstitutions, feast your eyes on the group portrait painted by one ofAmerica's foremost illustrators and, only then, think about which guys you'dcut out of the picture to open up spots on a pretty fair football team.

EXCERPTED FROMTHE COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOOK
SI's 296-page celebration, in words and pictures, on sale in bookstoresnationwide and at si.com/collegefootballbook.

Glenn Davis

BACK
Army 1943--46

Jerry Rice

END
Mississippi Valley State 1981--84

ChuckBednarik

CENTER/LINEBACKER
Penn 1945--48

Red Grange

BACK
Illinois 1923--25

Leon Hart

END
Notre Dame 1946--49

Orlando Pace

TACKLE
Ohio State 1994--96

Jim Brown

BACK
Syracuse 1954--56

Sammy Baugh

BACK/PUNTER
TCU 1934--36

Knute Rockne

COACH
Notre Dame 1918--30

HerschelWalker

BACK
Georgia 1980--82

John Hannah

GUARD-TACKLE
Alabama 1970--72

PudgeHeffelfinger

GUARD
Yale 1888--91

Ron Yary

TACKLE
USC 1965--67

CharlesWoodson

DEFENSIVEBACK/END
Michigan 1995--97

Jack Ham

LINEBACKER
Penn State 1968--70

Paul (Bear)Bryant

COACH
Alabama 1958--82

Kenny Easley

DEFENSIVE BACK
UCLA 1977--80

Lee RoySelmon

DEFENSIVETACKLE
Oklahoma 1972--75

Bubba Smith

DEFENSIVE END
Michigan State 1964--66

BronkoNagurski

BACK/TACKLE
Minnesota 1927--29

Jim Thorpe

BACK
Carlisle 1907--08, '11--12

Hugh Green

DEFENSIVE END
Pittsburgh 1977--80

Tommy Nobis

LINEBACKER
Texas 1963--65

Deion Sanders

DEFENSIVE BACK
Florida State 1985--88

Doak Walker

BACK/KICKER
SMU 1945, '47--49

LawrenceTaylor

LINEBACKER
North Carolina 1977--80

Gale Sayers

BACK/RETURNER
Kansas 1962--64

JohnnyRodgers

RETURNER/END
Nebraska 1970--72

ILLUSTRATION

ILLUSTRATION BY C.F. PAYNE