TIME'S All-America Team: Prime Prospects For the Pros

THOUGH graduation is many months away, a select corps of college seniors has already completed its toughest course: three long, hard seasons on the gridiron. For most of the students, Jan. 28 will bring what amounts to the final exam. That is when the 26 teams that constitute the National Football League will meet to select their draft choices, and the pros are nothing if not thorough in casing the prospects. College records, glowing press clippings, gaudy trophies mean nothing in themselves. All that counts is a player's potential for prospering in the brutal world of pro football--a survival test that is measured in size, speed, strength and skill, plus a certain intangible that pro coaches like to call "desire." That is how TIME has chosen its All-America Team since 1958, and those were the criteria for the choices of 1970.

OFFENSE

QUARTERBACK. Jim Plunkett, Stanford, 6 ft. 3 in., 210 lbs. In the so-called Year of the Quarterback, Plunkett stands taller than any competitor. Winner of the Heisman Trophy by a lopsided vote, he not only led the Indians to their first Rose Bowl bid in 18 years but rolled up 7,887 yds. in total offense, a new career record for major-college quarterbacks. Big and brawny enough to shake off tacklers, Plunkett is a classic pro-style drop-back passer with a strong, accurate arm at all ranges. Rival coaches praise his tactical knowledge, his knack for reading defenses, his ability to command "the utmost respect of his teammates"--all highly negotiable currency in the pros, who are quite likely to peg him No. 1 in the draft. The pros are also high on Archie Manning of Ole Miss, 6 ft. 3 1/2 in., 205 lbs. A scrambler in the mold of the New York Giants' Fran Tarkenton, Manning can pick out a receiver in a crowd of defenders and hit him with a pinpoint pass. He has the height to see over mountainous linemen and the speed (10.2 sec. for the 100-yd. dash) to turn the ends for long gainers. Beyond that, he possesses that rare quality that marks all great quarterbacks: the instinct to call the right play at the right time.

RUNNING BACKS. John Brockington, Ohio State, 6 ft. 1 in., 216 lbs.; and Steve Worster, Texas, 6 ft., 210 lbs. Brockington, a pile-driving plunger who "picks up three yards when the hole isn't there," as one pro scout was overheard to remark, set an O.S.U. record this season with 1,040 yds. gained. Ranked as one of the best of a long line of classic Buckeye fullbacks, he is also an effective receiver on swing patterns and has great breakaway speed. In fact, he is also used on some kickoff returns. Worster is nicknamed King Kong, and the pros understand why: "He runs like a four-hundred-pound gorilla--crooked but with power." Working out of Texas' wish-bone-T attack, he is a punishing blocker who cracks into the line just as hard on a fake hand-off as when he is carrying the ball. Voted the Player of the Year in the Southwest Conference, he has averaged more than 5 yds. a carry over three seasons and scored 36 touchdowns--eight more than any back in Texas history.

WIDE RECEIVERS. J.D. Hill, Arizona State, 6 ft. 1 in., 197 lbs.; and Elmo Wright, Houston, 6 ft., 195 lbs. Hill has all the makings of the ideal pro receiver: the speed, the moves, the spring, the hands and the power to blast free after a catch. Whippet quick, he runs the 100 in 9.3 sec., an advantage he used to stunning effect in returning punts and kickoffs tor the Sun Devils. Hauling in 58 passes for ten touchdowns this season, Hill was the leading scorer in the Western Athletic Conference. Wright, as they say, "is one of those guys who smell the goal line." In three seasons, despite the fact that Houston is primarily a running team, he scored 34 touchdowns to set a new N.C.A.A. record for receivers. Says one scout: "He can judge the deep ball, can sense where the defender is and can make the big, game-turning play." As for running after the catch, one teammate says: "They ought to give Elmo a red light and a siren when he gets the ball. He's just flat dangerous."

TIGHT END. Jan White, Ohio State, 6 ft. 2 in., 216 lbs. Rated by football men as "one of the best all-round athletes in sight," White is a triple threat--a remarkably versatile player whom the pros could easily turn into a wide receiver or a running back. Swift, shifty and sticky-fingered, he is a crunching blocker whom the experts admire for his amazingly consistent performances and his all-devouring desire. He has played in only one losing game in his high school and college career.

UARDS. Henry Allison, San Diego State, 6 ft. 2 1/2 in., 250 lbs.; and Vernon Holland, Tennessee State, 6 ft. 6 in., 276 lbs. A converted tight end, Allison is rated by one scout as "very likely the year's best pro prospect." He has the speed to pull out and lead sweeps, and is a tower of strength in front of a passing quarterback. Holland is perhaps even quicker, a kind of souped-up tank who simply blows people out of the way on a running play. Though he is still developing, experts agree that he will have no trouble fitting into the pro line-up immediately.

TACKLES. Marv Montgomery, Southern California, 6 ft. 6 in., 259 lbs.; and Dan Dierdorf, Michigan. 6 ft. 4 in., 243 lbs. Like U.S.C.'s previous All-America tackles, Sid Smith and Ron Yary, Montgomery is a quick giant who is at his aggressive best when bowling over downfield defenders. There is little chance of avoiding him: a junior college hurdle champion and a high jumper who has cleared 6 ft. 6 in., he is literally all over the field. Whenever Michigan needed crucial rushing yardage this season, Dierdorf was the man called upon to blast open the hole. "He has great feet, agility and balance," says one scout. "He doesn't stumble or yield on pass blocking. He hangs in there."

CENTER. Dave Thompson, Clemson, 6 ft. 4 in., 263 lbs. Big college centers are so hard to find that the pros often pick another interior lineman to fill the post. This year is no exception. Thompson, who played center in his junior year, moved over to offensive guard this season while filling in at center on punts and place kicks. As one observer put it: "He's so big he can stand straight up after centering the ball and become a screen for the quarterback."

DEFENSE

ENDS. Bill Atessis, Texas, 6 ft. 3 in., 252 lbs.; and Jack Youngblood, Florida, 6 ft. 5 in., 246 lbs. Atessis is the charging bull in the Longhorns' defense, a kind of one-man stampede. Texas Coach Darrell Royal calls him a "superplayer, who hasn't played a bad game in three years." As another coach puts it with telling simplicity: "He just gets out there and stirs folks around." Florida's Youngblood creates a different kind of havoc. Deceptively fast for his size, he reads screens and swing passes so adroitly that he intimidates quarterbacks by his mere presence.

TACKLES. Richard Harris, Grambling, 6 ft. 5 in., 265 lbs.; and Tody Smith, Southern California, 6 ft. 5 in., 250 lbs. As menacing as any of the great pro linemen Grambling has turned out (Ernie Ladd, Willie Davis, Buck Buchanan), Harris is the quickest of the bunch--as fast, coaches swear, as some of the team's running backs. "When he decides he's going in," says one scout, "that's it. You can't keep him out." Though Southern Cal's Smith missed six games this season because of injuries, he will not be overlooked by the pro recruiters. Rearing up like a grizzly, he is tall and rangy enough "to bat down passes like flies." He may need some seasoning, but the pros feel that he already compares favorably with Big Brother Bubba of the Baltimore Colts.

LINEBACKERS. Jack Ham, Penn State, 6 ft. 2 in., 220 lbs.; Isiah Robertson, Southern University, 6 ft. 3 in., 225 lbs.; and Charlie Weaver, Southern California, 6 ft. 2 in., 217 lbs. Ham, say the pros, is "a good journeyman linebacker who reacts like a bird dog." Able to sense sweeps and reverses, he consistently cracks through for the play-breaking tackle. A speedster, he blocked four punts while at Penn State. Robertson is known as "the black Dick Butkus." Like the Chicago Bears' star, he is a ferocious charger who is in on nearly every play. This season alone he accounted for 112 solo tackles and 45 assists. Weaver is regarded by many observers as the quickest man at his position. "Against any ordinary option," says U.S.C. Coach John McKay, "Charlie Weaver is the only man I know who can take both the quarterback and the pitch man."

CORNERBACKS. Tim Anderson, Ohio State, 6 ft., 194 lbs.; and Clarence Scott, Kansas State, 6 ft. 1 in., 180 lbs. Anderson, says a recruiter, has "that battling temperament to stay with his man no matter what." Speedier than many of the receivers he covers, he figures to be a pro starter in his rookie season. Scott's career statistics at Kansas State tell all: 121 tackles, 67 assists, 3 fumble recoveries, 25 passes broken up and 12 interceptions. As one pro recruiter puts it: "He knows how to get where he's going before the ball does."

SAFETIES. Larry Willingham, Auburn, 6 ft. 1 in., 185 lbs.; and Jack Tatum, Ohio State, 6 ft., 204 lbs. The report on Willingham--"smart, covers well, reacts fast, uses hands to optimum effect"--might have been compiled by a rival-college receiver; this season Auburn's opponents completed just one pass against the hard-nosed defensive back. "He is one of those great athletes you can't go wrong on," says a pro who has observed him. Tatum has been the terror of the Big Ten since his sophomore year. An aggressive, wide-ranging defender and bone-jarring tackier, he figures to become a permanent fixture in the pro secondary. "His pursuit is fantastic," says a scout, "and he's muscular enough to intimidate the hell out of receivers on the bump-and-run. He's a wild man. He's tough, he's everything."

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