Missouri’s Kentrell Brothers finishes with four second-team All-America honors

Missouri senior linebacker Kentrell Brothers was chosen second-team All-America on four of the five lists the NCAA officially recognizes.

He landed on the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of American and The Sporting News second-team lists.

He was not selected to the American Football Coaches Association All-America team, which only chooses a first team.

Brothers leads the nation with 152 tackles, which ranks fourth in a season at Missouri. He finished with 39 more tackles than any other player in the Southeastern Conference and 12 more than any player in the nation.

He was a first-team All-SEC pick by the conference’s coaches and The Associated Press, while sophomore defensive end Charles Harris, a Lincoln Prep graduate, was a second-team pick on both lists.

Brothers’ name first appeared on All-America lists as a first-team selection by CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated, but neither of those is officially used by the NCAA to determine unanimous and consensus All-American honors.

He was joined on the first team on both CBS Sports’ and Sports Illustrated’s lists by Notre Dame junior Jaylon Smith and Alabama senior Reggie Ragland.

Smith and Ragland also selected to the Walter Camp first team along with Temple’s Tyler Matakevich. That same trio made up The Associated Press’ first team.

Smith, Ragland and Matakevich also made the football coaches’ first team.

Ragland, Matakevich and Wisconsin’s Joe Schobert were first-team choices by the Football Writers Association of America, while Ragland, Smith and Oklahoma’s Eric Striker were The Sporting News’ first-team picks.

The five official All-America lists sanctioned by the NCAA are the Walter Camp Football Foundation, The Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, The Sporting News and the American Football Coaches Association. The NCAA will formally announce the consensus All-America team on Thursday.

Pro Football Focus dubbed Brothers the nation’s “Most Dominant Tackler” when doling out its superlatives.

According to Pro Football Focus, Brothers actually graded out better than Ragland*, who was chosen as the SEC defensive player of the year.

* It’s worth noting here that sophomore defensive end Charles Harris was a second-team All-SEC pick by Pro Football Focus and Olathe South graduate Braden Smith, now a guard at Auburn, was a first-team selection.

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Missouri’s Kentrell Brothers finishes with four second-team All-America honors."