Each week, we’ll be taking a look at the All-American first team, with the assessment being for the body of work of that week alone. Because the contributions of offensive linemen are more big picture and difficult to gauge on a week-by-week basis, they will be excluded from this exercise.

ICYMI: The All-Week 4 team

Position Player School
Quarterback Greg Ward Jr. Houston
Running back Jamaal Williams BYU
Running back Shock Linwood Baylor
Wide receiver Allenzae Staggers Southern Miss.
Wide receiver Jon'Vea Johnson Toledo
Tight end Gerald Everett South Alabama
Kicker Tyler Davis Penn State

QB: Greg Ward Jr. | Houston

This was not an easy position to pick just one out of, with Southern Mississippi’s Nick Mullens setting the national season high with 591 yards and Mitch Trubisky and DeShone Kizer really impressing, but Ward gets the slight edge. Despite Houston being a legitimate Playoff contender, Ward hasn’t really been the Heisman frontrunner that many thought he would be. A few more games like Thursday’s, though, and he will be. The senior completed 32 of 38 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns, while running for 65 yards and two touchdowns. More than 450 yards of offense and five touchdowns in a blowout win? That will get it done.

RB: Jamaal Williams | BYU

Speaking of killer stat lines, Williams did some incredible things against Toledo on Friday. The 6-foot-2 running back exploded for the BYU single-game rushing record with 286 yards. If that wasn’t enough, he also found the end zone five times among his 30 carries. BYU won the game on a late field goal, but all the credit goes to the guy who rushed for more yards than his quarterback threw for.

RB: Shock Linwood | Baylor

Linwood only scored once, but he wasn’t too far behind Williams in yardage, as he picked up 237 en route to being the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. Baylor needed a late comeback to avoid a massive upset at Iowa State, but that was certainly not fault of the senior, who passed his previous four-game season rushing total on Saturday.

WR: Allenzae Staggers | Southern Mississippi

As mentioned above, Golden Eagles quarterback Mullens had an absurd 591 passing yards against Rice on Saturday. About half of those came on connections to Staggers. The native Mississippian had just six catches, but he turned those in 292 yards for a jaw-dropping average of 48.7 yards per reception. That happened thanks to his three touchdowns being from distances of 75, 81 and 93 yards.

WR: Jon’Vea Johnson | Toledo

The Rockets fell up just short in their attempt for a signature win at BYU, but it can’t be denied at this point that their offense is legit. The deep threat Johnson had not been a huge part of it previously, with just four catches in the first three games — though that included an 89-yard score — but he came alive against the Broncos. The redshirt sophomore caught nine passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns, including a 79-yarder, as BYU had no answer for the speedster.

TE: Gerald Everett | South Alabama

The biggest upset of the weekend was South Alabama’s 42-24 triumph over then-No. 19 San Diego State. Everett has been one of the top pass-catching tight ends in the nation all year, and he was a major weapon against the Aztecs, catching five passes for 103 yards. The bulk of those yards came on a 79-yard touchdown, but Everett continues to be a reliable target.

K: Tyler Davis | Penn State

Davis and Minnesota’s Emmit Carpenter each showed up big time for their teams in Happy Valley on Saturday, but since Davis’s Nittany Lions grabbed the win, he gets the nod here. The sophomore is still yet to miss in his college career, as he is 17-of-17 on field goals and 25-of-25 on extra points. He knocked down all three of his kicks on Saturday, including a 40-yard boot with two seconds left that sent the game to overtime.

Position Player School
Defensive line Derek Barnett Tennessee
Defensive line Ifeadi Odenigbo Northwestern
Defensive line Albert Huggins Clemson
Linebacker Psalm Wooching Washington
Linebacker Ben Boulware Clemson
Linebacker Elijah Lee Kansas State
Linebacker Raekwon McMillan Ohio State
Cornerback Channing Stribling Michigan
Safety Marcus Allen Penn State
Safety Zedrick Woods Mississippi
Cornerback Maurice Smith Georgia
Punter Jonny Townsend Florida

DL: Derek Barnett | Tennessee

Barnett came up huge in another Tennessee comeback. He did a lot of his damage in the second half, finishing with five tackles and two sacks. One of those sacks was the biggest play of the game until the Hail Mary ending, as Barnett sacked Georgia’s Jacob Eason in the end zone and forced a fumble, which was recovered by a teammate for a fourth-quarter lead.

DL: Ifeadi Odenigbo | Northwestern

Odenigbo had a game to remember in Northwestern’s upset win at Iowa, reaching the difficult four-sack plateau. He also forced a fumble on one of them. The Hawkeyes’ backbone is always their offensive line, but Odenigbo sliced it up on Saturday.

DL: Albert Huggins | Clemson

Louisville superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson put up some flashy numbers Saturday night. That’s pretty much a given with how he’s played this year. But he wasn’t as dominant as he could have been, and that’s a big reason why Clemson was able to hold on for the victory. Huggins played a big part in “holding” Jackson to 292 yards and 17 incompletions by applying good pressure and sacking him twice.

LB: Psalm Wooching | Washington

The Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week was the anchor of a Washington defense that put a hurting on Stanford. The Cardinal managed a paltry six points in a 38-point rout, and Wooching was a huge part of that. The Hawaiian finished with six tackles, five of which were solo, three sacks and a forced fumble. He did drop a touchdown pass on offense, but his defensive performance more than made up for it.

LB: Ben Boulware | Clemson

Boulware’s night against Louisville might have been most talked about for him getting a little too physical with Jackson in a pile, but he was a major part of the Clemson defensive effort. He finished the game with 18 tackles, three tackles for loss, a recovered fumble and a sack. One of those tackles for loss came on third down and held Louisville to a field goal, keeping it a two-possession game.

LB: Elijah Lee | Kansas State

Lee was a factor all over the field for Kansas State against West Virginia, racking up 14 tackles, a sack and an interception in a narrow losing effort. Impressively, 12 of those 14 total tackles were of the solo variety, leading him to Big 12 weekly honors.

LB: Raekwon McMillan | Ohio State

McMillan’s game was not awe-inspiring, but with the unbelievable team defense Ohio State put on Rutgers, someone deserved a spot and he was the leading tackler and centerpiece of the unit. The junior had seven tackles and was a big part of holding the Scarlet Knights to an incredible 33 passing yards and 116 total yards of offense in the shutout.

CB: Channing Stribling | Michigan

Not only was Stribling doing his part as a lockdown corner to hold Wisconsin to 88 yards passing and only seven points, but when Alex Hornibrook did dare to throw his way, he made that decision costly. Stribling picked off his second and third passes of the year and broke up two more attempts in the low-scoring top-10 battle.

S: Marcus Allen | Penn State

No Golden Gopher was finding his way past Allen on Saturday, as the safety picked up a whopping 22 tackles. That was the most tackles a player has recorded in the Big Ten since 2011 and most by a Penn State player since Paul Posluszny in 2005.

S: Zedrick Woods | Mississippi

Woods has played well in his first year as a starter after spending his freshman year as a backup, but he exploded on Saturday. The safety intercepted two passes, taking one 31 yards to the house, broke up two more passes and had eight tackles.

CB: Maurice Smith | Georgia

Smith is no stranger to heartbreak. He played for Alabama in the kick-six game against Auburn in 2013, then after transferring to Georgia he had to experience Tennessee’s Hail Mary on Saturday. He had a wonderful game to that point, however, finishing with a fourth-quarter interception, a forced and recovered fumble, a pass breakup and seven tackles.

P: Jonny Townsend | Florida

It seems like every week there is one punter who was undeniably the best player on his team, constantly pinning the opponent deep to provide a major lift to both the defense and offense. Last week it was Townsend, who had five of his seven punts land inside the 20-yard line, and five travel over 50 yards. Vanderbilt failed to score a touchdown over the entire 60 minutes, and its terrible starting field position thanks to Townsend was a big reason why.