1931 College Football All-America Team
The 1931 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1931. The seven selectors recognized by the NCAA as "official" for the 1931 season are Collier's Weekly, as selected by Grantland Rice, the Associated Press, the United Press, the All-America Board, the International News Service, Liberty magazine, and the Newspaper Enterprise Association.
Consensus All-Americans
Following the death of Walter Camp in 1925, there was a proliferation of All-American teams in the late 1920s. For the year 1931, the NCAA recognizes seven published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received. The only unanimous All-America selections in 1931 were Tulane's Gerald "Jerry" Dalrymple and Notre Dame's Marchmont Schwartz.| Name | Position | School | Number | Selectors |
| Jerry Dalrymple | End | Tulane | 7/7 | AAB, AP, COL, INS, LIB, NEA, UP |
| Marchmont Schwartz | Halfback | Notre Dame | 7/7 | AAB, AP, COL, INS, LIB, NEA, UP |
| Biggie Munn | Guard | Minnesota | 6/7 | AAB, AP, COL, INS, NEA, UP |
| Pug Rentner | Halfback | Northwestern | 6/7 | AAB, AP, COL, INS, NEA, UP |
| Johnny Baker | Guard | USC | 5/7 | AAB, INS, LIB, NEA, UP |
| Barry Wood | Quarterback | Harvard | 4/7 | AP, COL, INS, NEA |
| Gaius Shaver | Fullback | USC | 4/7 | AAB, COL, LIB, UP |
| Jess Quatse | Tackle | Pittsburgh | 3/7 | AAB, COL, UP |
| Jack Riley | Tackle | Northwestern | 3/7 | AAB, LIB, NEA |
| Tommy Yarr | Center | Notre Dame | 3/7 | AAB, AP, INS |
| Vernon Smith | End | Georgia | 2/7 | AP, COL |
| Dallas Marvil | Tackle | Northwestern | 2/7 | AP, INS |
Proliferation of All-American teams
In 1931, Damon Runyon wrote a column about the proliferation of "All-America" teams. He noted: "The 'All' boys are it, tooth and nail. They are 'All'-ing North, South East and West. They will wind up 'All'-Americaing, the most virulent form of the 'All' plague that besets us every Winter. The late Walter Camp little realized what he was bringing upon the country.... At the moment, Mr. Camp probably had no idea that he was sowing the seed of a fearful pestilence." Runyon noted that Camp's word was viewed as gospel, but with his passing "the rush to fill his shoes was prodigious," and the "'All' business became a national obsession."All-Americans of 1931
Ends
- Jerry Dalrymple, Tulane
- Vernon Smith, Georgia
- Henry Cronkite, Kansas State
- John Orsi, Colgate
- Paul Moss, Purdue
- George Koontz, SMU
- Bill Hewitt, Michigan
- Garrett Arbelbide, USC
- Fred Felber, North Dakota
- Herster Barres, Yale
Tackles
- Dallas Marvil, Northwestern
- Jesse Quatse, Pittsburgh
- Jack Riley, Northwestern
- Paul Schwegler, Washington
- Joe Kurth, Notre Dame
- John "Jack" Price, Army
- Jim MacMurdo, Pittsburgh
- Ira Hardy, Harvard
- Hugh Rhea, Nebraska
- Ray Saunders, Tennessee
Guards
- Biggie Munn, Minnesota
- Johnny Baker, USC
- Herman Hickman, Tennessee
- Frank "Nordy" Hoffman, Notre Dame
- Joe Zeller, Indiana
- Jim Zyntell, Holy Cross
- James Evans, Northwestern
- Maurice Dubofsky, Georgetown
- Greg Kabat, Wisconsin
- Milton Leathers, Georgia
- H. R. Myerson, Harvard
- Bill Corbus, Stanford
Centers
- Tommy Yarr, Notre Dame
- Maynard Morrison, Michigan
- Ralph Daugherty, Pittsburgh
- Charles Miller, Purdue
- Stan Williamson, USC
- Clarence Gracey, Vanderbilt
- McDuffie, Columbia
Quarterbacks
- Barry Wood, Harvard
- Austin Downes, Georgia
- William Morton, Dartmouth
- Carl Cramer, Ohio State
Halfbacks
- Marchmont Schwartz, Notre Dame
- Ernie Rentner, Northwestern
- Don Zimmerman, Tulane
- Bob Monnett, Michigan State
- Eugene McEver, Tennessee
- Bud Toscani, St. Marys
- Cornelius Murphy, Fordham
- J. W. Crickard, Harvard
- Albert J. "Mighty Atom" Booth, Jr., Yale
- Weldon Mason, SMU
- Ray Stecker, Army
Fullbacks
- Gaius Shaver, USC
- Erny Pinckert, USC
- Johnny Cain, Alabama
- Ralston "Rusty" Gill, California
- Orville Mohler, USC
- Jack Manders, Minnesota
- Bart Viviano, Cornell
- Clarke Hinkle, Bucknell
- Nollie Felts, Tulane
Key
Selectors recognized by NCAA in consensus determinations
- AAB = All America Board
- AP = Associated Press
- COL = Collier's Weekly as selected by Grantland Rice
- INS = International News Service, the wire service of the Hearst newspapers
- LIB = Liberty magazine
- NEA = Newspaper Enterprise Association
- UP = United Press
Other selectors
- CP = Central Press Association, also known as the Captain's Poll, selected by a poll of the captains of the major football teams
- WCFF = Walter Camp Football Foundation
- HSM = All-American team selected by 18,006 fans through nationwide contest sponsored by clothier Hart, Schaffner and Marx
- CH = College Humor magazine
- LP = selected by Lawrence Perry, a former Princetonian who wrote a nationally syndicated sports colyum called For The Game's Sake