by: Daniel House (@DanielHouseNFL)
Photo: Ben Blair and Ohio State Football
Gophers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. has been named All-America First Team by the FWAA. Winfield led Minnesota with 83 tackles and seven interceptions in 2019. The Gophers’ defensive back also earned First Team All-American honors from the AFCA, Associated Press, The Sporting News, and Walter Camp Foundation.
Winfield is Minnesota’s first unanimous All-American since center Greg Eslinger in 2005. Only seven players have earned unanimous All-American honors in Gopher football history. Winfield is the third Minnesota player to achieve this status in the past 57 years (Bobby Bell – 1962 and Eslinger – 2005). He has also joined his father, Antoine Winfield Sr., who was named an unanimous All-American at Ohio State in 1998.
The complete list of past unanimous All-Americans in Minnesota football history include: tackle Ed Widseth (1936), center Clayton Tonnemaker (1949), running back Paul Giel (1953), guard Tom Brown (1960), tackle Bobby Bell (1962) and Eslinger (2005).
Here’s a feature I wrote with Winfield and his father prior to the 2018 season: https://bit.ly/38VOdeR