The 1940 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 1940. The nine selectors recognized by the NCAA as "official" for the 1940 season are (1) Collier's Weekly, as selected by Grantland Rice, (2) the Associated Press (AP), (3) the United Press (UP), (4) the All-America Board (AAB), (5) the International News Service (INS), (6) Liberty magazine, (7) the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), (8) Newsweek, and (9) the Sporting News (SN).
Michigan halfback (and Heisman Trophy winner) Tom Harmon, Texas A&M fullfback John Kimbrough, and Tennessee guard Bob Suffridge were the only three unanimous first-team All-Americans chosen by all nine official selectors.
For the year 1940, the NCAA recognizes nine 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.
Gene Goodreault, Boston College (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; CO-1; INS-1; NW; SN; UP-1; CP-1; DH; FD-1; WC-1)David Rankin, Purdue (AAB; AP-2; CO-1; INS-2; SN; UP-1; CP-2; FD-2; WC-1)Paul Severin, North Carolina (AP-1; INS-2; NEA-1; NW; UP-2; CP-2; DH; FD-1)Buddy Elrod, Mississippi State (AP-1; LIB; CP-1; NYS-1)Ed Frutig, Michigan (AP-3; INS-1; LIB; UP-3; CP-3)Jay MacDowell, Washington (NEA-1; CP-4; NYS-1)Joe Blalock, Clemson (UP-2)Loren MacKinney, Harvard (AP-2)William Jennings, Oklahoma (AP-3)Bob Ison, Georgia Tech (UP-3)Roland Goss, SMU (CP-3)Smith, UCLA (FD-2)Holt Rast, Alabama (CP-4)Alf Bauman, Northwestern (AAB; AP-3; CO-1; INS-2; UP-1; CP-3; FD-2; NYS-1; WC-1)Nick Drahos, Cornell (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1; INS-1; CP-1; DH; FD-1; WC-1)Urban Odson, Minnesota (INS-1; LIB; NW; UP-2; CP-1; FD-2)Bob Reinhard, California (AP-1; CO-1; INS-2; CP-2)Forrest Behm, Nebraska (NEA-1)Tony Ruffa, Duke (AP-2; UP-3; CP-2)Fred Hartman, Rice (AP-2; CP-4)Vic Sears, Oregon State (CP-4; NYS-1)Joe Ungerer, Fordham (AP-3)Mike Enich, Iowa (UP-2; SN; DH; FD-1)Chip Routt, Texas A&M (UP-3)William Collins, Lafayette ()Abe Shires, Tennessee (CP-3)Bob Suffridge, Tennessee (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; INS-1; CO-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1; CP-1; NYS-1; DH; FD-1; WC-1)Marshall Robnett, Texas A&M (AAB; AP-2; INS-2; NW; UP-1; CP-1; DH; FD-1; WC-1)Warren Alfson, Nebraska (AP-1; INS-1; UP-2; CP-2; FD-2)Augie Lio, Georgetown (College Football Hall of Fame) (CO-1; INS-2; UP-2; CP-2; FD-2; NYS-1)Helge Pukema, Minnesota (NEA-1)Hunter Cohern, Mississippi State (AP-2)George Kerr, Boston College (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-3)Cecil Schefel, Denver (AP-3)Ray Frankowski, Washington (LIB; UP-3)Ed Molinski, Tennessee (College Football Hall of Fame) (SN; UP-3; CP-3)Hal Lahar, Oklahoma (CP-3)George Kinard, Ole Miss (CP-4)John W. Goree, LSU (CP-4)Rudy Mucha, Washington (AAB; AP-2; CO-1; INS-2; NW; SN; UP-1; CP-1; WC-1)Leon Gajecki, Penn State (LIB; NEA-1; CP-2)Chet Gladchuk, Boston (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; UP-2)Ray Frick, Penn (INS-1; CP-3; FD-2; NYS-1)Ray Apolskis, Marquette (AP-3; UP-3; CP-4; DH; FD-1)Frankie Albert, Stanford (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; CO-1; INS-1; NW; UP-1; CP-1; DH; FD-1; WC-1)Paul Christman, Missouri (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-2; INS-2; UP-2; CP-3; DH; FD-1)Henry Toczylowski, Boston College (NYS-1)Don Scott, Ohio State (UP-3; CP-3)Forest Evashevski, Michigan (CP-4; FD-2)Tom Harmon, Michigan (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; CO-1; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1; CP-1; NYS-1; DH; FD-1; WC-1)George Franck, Minnesota (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; CO-1; INS-1; LIB; NW; SN; UP-1; CP-1; DH; FD-1; NYS-1; WC-1)Charlie O'Rourke, Boston College (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-2; INS-2; NEA-1; UP-2; CP-2; FD-2)Hugh Gallarneau, Stanford (College Football Hall of Fame) (NEA-1)Frank Reagan, Penn (AP-2; INS-2; LIB; SN; UP-2; CP-2; FD-2)Bill Dudley, Virginia (College and Pro Football Hall of Fame) (AP-3)Bob Foxx, Tennessee (AP-3; INS-2; CP-4)Jim Kisselburgh, Oregon State (AP-3; CP-4)James Thompson, Texas A&M (AP-3; CP-4)Merle Hapes, Ole Miss (UP-3)Steve Juzwik, Notre Dame (UP-3)Jimmy Nelson, Alabama (CP-2)Dave Allerdice, Princeton (CP-3)Milt Piepul, Notre Dame (CP-3)Bill Sewell, Washington State (FD-2)John Kimbrough, Texas A&M (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; CO-1; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1; CP-1; NYS-1; WC-1; DH; FD-1)George Paskvan, Wisconsin (AP-2; UP-3)Norm Standlee, Stanford (UP-2; CP-2; FD-2)Bold = Consensus All-American
-1 – First-team selection-2 – Second-team selection-3 – Third-team selectionAAB = All-America BoardAP = Associated Press, based on a nationwide survey of expert opinionCO = Collier's Weekly, selected by Grantland RiceINS = International News Service, selected through a nationwide poll of coaches and sports writersLIB = Liberty magazineNEA = Newspaper Enterprise Association, picked with the aid and assistance of coaches, scouts, officials and football writers of the nation.NW = NewsweekSN = The Sporting NewsUP = United PressCP = Central Press Association, selected with the assistance of the nation's football captainsDH = Deke HoulgateFD = Football DigestNYS = New York SunWC = Walter Camp Football Foundation