Palmer heads SportsLine.com's All-America team

The quarterback is a true Southern California golden boy. His defensive counterpart was the last player recruited by his school.

One of the running backs made a stunning rise from backup fullback to his school's single-season rushing leader. The kicker missed only two field-goal attempts this season.

Trojan QB Carson Palmer's amazing stretch run earned him the starting nod on our All-America team.(AP)

It is not exactly a list of usual suspects on the 2002 SportsLine.com All-America team selected by the staff writers and editors.

For example: The Big 12, largely regarded as the nation's best conference this season, landed only three players on the team. The Pac-10, Big Ten and SEC each got six.

So what's new? Plenty.

The golden boy, USC's Carson Palmer, passed himself to the top of the list with a 425-yard performance Saturday night against Notre Dame. The Pac-10's career passing leader is 6-feet-5-inches of quintessential quarterback. Palmer stands tall in the pocket, has a rocket arm and those boyish good looks that should land him in a magazine sometime soon. As soon as he reaches the NFL.

Kansas State cornerback Terence Newman is a Nagurski Award finalist as the best defensive player in the country. The senior from Salina, Kan., was an afterthought in Bill Snyder's 1999 recruiting class. Snyder called him a "track guy," but was convinced by former defensive coordinator Phil Bennett to spend a scholarship on the 5-11, 185-pound Newman.

It was money well spent. Newman became a two-time Big 12 100-meter champion. This year, he matured into the lock-up corner the pros covet (five interceptions and 14 pass breakups).

There are a couple of record setters in the offensive backfield. Penn State's Larry Johnson became the ninth player in history to rush for 2,000 yards, while Miami's Willis McGahee became his school's single-season rushing leader (1,481 yards) with a game left.

There were more quality receivers in the country perhaps than at any other position, but it was hard to overlook Washington's spectacular Reggie Williams, who caught 34 of his 89 passes in the final three games, and Michigan State's Charles Rogers.

Rogers' talents are too good for college. He said last week he would enter the NFL Draft -- that, after tying for second nationally with 13 touchdown catches on what was a bad Spartans team.

Big Ten co-champs Iowa and Ohio State accounted for four of the six All-Americans from the conference.

Iowa tight end Dallas Clark, already a finalist for the Mackey Award, was quarterback Brad Banks' favorite target this season. Clark caught 39 passes for 645 yards.

Ohio State kicker Mike Nugent is a big reason the Buckeyes were undefeated, winning six games by seven points or fewer. Nugent missed only two of his 26 attempts and averaged 1.85 field goals per game.

Iowa center Bruce Nelson is considered the heart and soul of "The Plows," the line leading an offense that averaged 433 yards. Likewise, Ohio State linebacker Matt Wilhelm was the center of the Buckeyes defense. The sideline-to-sideline backer made 15 tackles in the Fiesta Bowl-clinching victory over Michigan.

Arizona State defensive end Terrell Suggs will compete with Newman for defensive player of the year honors. (How do you pick between them?) Suggs led the country with 22 sacks, and counting Washington State's Rien Long and Georgia's David Pollack, the team includes three of the top five sack artists in the country.

The back seven was tough, but we went for the guys whose SIDs sent us the most free stuff. (Just kidding.)

Washington State corner Marcus Trufant usually takes the opponent's best receiver and is the Cougars' best punt returner.

Southern California's Troy Polamalu calls himself a gentleman "everywhere but on the field." The hard-hitting safety will go down as one of the Trojans' all-time greats. Notre Dame corner Shane Walton tied a school record with three interceptions against Maryland in the opener and never let up.

LSU linebacker Bradie James was underrated especially late in the year when the Tigers blew the SEC West title, but his 139 tackles were impressive enough.

Kentucky's Derek Abney broke or tied four NCAA records. He was the best all-purpose player in the country, racking up receiving and return yardage. He led the SEC with 160 all-purpose yards per game and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.

Teammate Glenn Pakulak made it two Wildcats on the team. Pakulak is a finalist for the Ray Guy Award after booming 66 punts for a 45.58-yard average. Kentucky's best career punter (44.4 yards per kick) dropped 31 of his kicks inside the 20, and 14 inside the 10.