@dylans If I recall correctly, consensus All American used to be recognized as a player named AA in at least 3 of 4 of the AP and UPI wire service polls, Sporting News, and some other group (forget which).
Now that there are a lot more AA teams, it is more of an assessment of whether a player is named to several of them. It has been expanded by some sources to include anyone named even 2nd and 3rd team.
I personally think it is like saying an A-minus student is a 4.0 student because he got all "A"s. I think the term All-American should reflect someone recognized as being one of the top five players, i.e., first team only, and “consensus” meaning by at least X number of analysts (I would say 3).