Florida has produced 34 consensus All-Americans and more than 80 first team selections, and the distribution follows the program’s history exactly: a handful before 1990, most of the total in the twenty one seasons under Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, and a trickle since. The 1996 champions alone produced three consensus selections. The most recent first team honour was centre Jake Slaughter in 2024.
Consensus Selections by Era
| Era | Names to know |
|---|---|
| Before 1960 | Dale Van Sickel 1928, the first; Charlie LaPradd 1952 |
| 1960s and 1970s | Steve Spurrier, Jack Youngblood, Carlos Alvarez, Wes Chandler |
| 1980s | Wilber Marshall, Lomas Brown, Jeff Zimmerman, Emmitt Smith |
| Spurrier era, 1990 to 2001 | Errict Rhett, Kevin Carter, Ellis Johnson, Jack Jackson, Danny Wuerffel, Ike Hilliard, Reidel Anthony, Jevon Kearse, Travis Taylor, Lito Sheppard, Rex Grossman, Alex Brown |
| Meyer era, 2005 to 2010 | Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, Brandon Spikes, Maurkice Pouncey, Joe Haden, Carlos Dunlap, Mike Pouncey |
| 2011 to present | Dominique Easley, Vernon Hargreaves, Dante Fowler, Kyle Pitts 2020, Kadarius Toney, Jake Slaughter 2024 |
Gold rows are the two eras that produced most of the honours. Names are first team All-Americans from each period, not a complete roster.
The 1996 Champions
The national championship team produced three consensus All-Americans on offence: Danny Wuerffel at quarterback, and Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony at receiver. All three went in the first round of the next draft and Wuerffel won the Heisman. It remains the only season in which Florida had three consensus selections. Our Heisman winners page covers Wuerffel.
Emmitt Smith, 1989
Smith was a unanimous All-American as a junior in 1989 after running for 1,599 yards, the program’s single season record for more than three decades, and left with the school career rushing record before becoming the NFL’s all time leading rusher.
Tim Tebow, 2007 and Beyond
Tebow was a unanimous All-American in his Heisman season and an All-America selection again in 2008, the year of the second national title, and he finished his career as the SEC’s leader in rushing touchdowns. The 2008 and 2009 teams also produced Brandon Spikes at linebacker, Maurkice Pouncey at centre, the 2009 Rimington winner, and Joe Haden at cornerback, the core of the Meyer era’s second wave.
The Defensive Line
Florida’s honours on defence run through the front: Jack Youngblood in 1970, Kevin Carter and Ellis Johnson in 1994, Jevon Kearse in 1998, Alex Brown in 2001, Carlos Dunlap, Dominique Easley and Dante Fowler in the 2010s, and Caleb Banks, a 2025 All-SEC selection who became the program’s first defensive lineman drafted in the first round since 2018. Wilber Marshall in 1983 is the linebacker the others are measured against. Our NFL draft page covers where they went.
Kyle Pitts and Jake Slaughter
Pitts was a unanimous All-American in 2020, won the Mackey Award and finished tenth in the Heisman vote, then went fourth overall, the highest a tight end has ever been drafted. Slaughter was a first team All-American at centre in 2024 and a two time All-SEC selection, and went 63rd to the Chargers in 2026. They are the program’s two most recent first team honourees.
The Award Winners
Beyond the three Heismans, Florida’s national awards include Maurkice Pouncey’s Rimington in 2009, Kyle Pitts’s Mackey in 2020, and Danny Wuerffel’s Davey O’Brien awards in 1995 and 1996, the only player to win it twice at the time. The Biletnikoff has never gone to a Florida receiver despite Hilliard, Anthony, Harvin and Toney.
The Bottom Line
Florida has 34 consensus All-Americans and more than 80 first team selections, most of them from the Spurrier and Meyer years. The 1996 champions produced three consensus picks, Emmitt Smith and Tim Tebow were unanimous, Kyle Pitts was the most recent unanimous selection in 2020, and Jake Slaughter in 2024 the most recent first team honouree. Our Florida all time record page covers the seasons behind the honours.