Well, it's not "all-time," but I went back to the mid-60s, looking at 1st place votes. Before then, the positions get a little vague and even platoon football was spotty.
I focused on 1st place votes because overall points grows over time and one year there's a runaway winner and the next it's close....I just wanted to see how many individuals thought these non-skill position guys were the best player in the country.
I started in 1988 and went forward and backward in time from there. Why? Because Derrick Thomas and his 27 sacks got 3 first-place votes and Deion Sanders got none.
Here's the list of most 1st-place votes:
433 Charles Woodson, CB, UM
321 Manti Te'o, LB, ND
179 Hugh Green, DE, Pitt
161 Ndamukong Suh, DT, Neb
114 John Hicks, T, OSU
99 Rich Glover, MG, Neb
87 Orlando Pace, T, OSU
81 Marvin Jones, LB, FSU
78 Aidan Hutchinson, DE, UM
61 Mike Reid, DT, PSU
55 Ken MacAfee, TE, ND
.
These are the only ones over 50 votes. A few guys had 2 years of a handful of votes, like Bill Fralic, Chris Spielman, and Jack Tatum.
Do you notice anything about the list? All but one of these guys played in the midwest. I find that very interesting.
Some other notes:
The most Leroy Selmon got was 7, but his brother Lucious had 39.
Terrell Buckley, CB, FSU got 1 vote. 12 INTs, including 2 while covering Heisman-winner Desmond Howard. But Howard got 640.
The only defensive player for USC under Pete Carroll getting 1st place votes was LB Rey Maualuga. I found that odd.
It seemed like any time there were multiple non-skill position guys getting 1st place votes one year, there would be none the next year. As if the voters were overcorrecting or something.
The great Chase Young had 20.
Of course, Charles Woodson won it in 1997, with 433 1st place votes. The very next year, Champ Bailey received 6 votes. Bailey had far more catches and yards receiving, was a better punt returner, and QBs avoided him (3 INTs). Woodson had 7, but I've been told over and over that you can't just look at the stats.
