10 Current College Football Stars Who Could Make Hall of Fame Someday
The most recent class of inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame, announced in January, was a who's who of the game's greatest players from the 1960s through the early 1990s. It featured former All-Americans, national award winners, league players of the year and major record holders, all of whom were deserving of the honor.
At some point in the future, players from this era will hear their names selected to be part of this prestigious club. But which ones? The National Football Foundation doesn't consider a player eligible for the Hall until 10 years after his final college season, so none of today's stars will be getting in until 2025 or later.
If we had to guess which ones will be on the ballot at that time, taking into account the requirement that they be named to the first team of some major All-American team during their career, here's our look at 10 current stars who figure to be Hall of Famers in the future.
Roberto Aguayo, K, Florida State
1 of 10
Kickers are people, too. They can also be Hall of Famers, though the list in the college Hall is limited to former Georgia kicker Kevin Butler.
Florida State's Roberto Aguayo could end up joining that elite company in the future, especially if he continues on his current path.
Aguayo won the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top placekicker, as a freshman in 2013 and was runner-up to Maryland's Brad Craddock last season. He's also already a two-time All-American, and with 48 field goals, he's already halfway to the FBS career record of 88 set by his Seminoles predecessor, Dustin Hopkins.
Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State
2 of 10
If Joey Bosa has another year like 2014, not only will he be in the college Hall of Fame at some point, but so will the "shrug."
The Ohio State defensive end's nonchalant post-play celebration has become almost as famous as he has, and it's a fitting move since Bosa often looks like he's just going through the motions as he blows through defenders and gets to the quarterback or ball-carrier. He had 13.5 sacks, 21 tackles for loss and a fumble return for a touchdown last year, though he says he could have done far better.
"I could see that plays could just fall into my lap and as long as I'm doing my job, I'll make even more plays," he told ESPN.com's Austin Ward. "I saw five or six sacks that I could have had."
Bosa has 21 career sacks, which ranks seventh in school history. He needs 15.5 to top Mike Vrabel for first on the list, something he seems capable of doing before a likely jump to the NFL as a potential No. 1 overall draft pick.
Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia
3 of 10
Nick Chubb didn't really make his presence felt until midway through his freshman season, but he's already one of the best running backs Georgia has ever produced. That's saying something, since the Bulldogs have five former ball-carriers in the college Hall of Fame, including 1982 Heisman winner Herschel Walker.
Walker is the only Georgia running back to gain more yards in a season than Chubb, who, despite limited action in the first five games in 2014, ran for 1,547 yards with 14 touchdowns. He topped 100 yards in every one of his starts, setting a school bowl record with 266 yards against Louisville in the Belk Bowl.
The 5'10", 228-pound Chubb is just getting started, however. Give him another two seasons of this production, and he might be getting his own Heisman, increasing his likelihood of being a Hall of Famer at some point.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Ohio State
4 of 10
Ezekiel Elliott was not an All-American last season, as most teams were announced prior to when he made his biggest impact for Ohio State in its run to the national title. Elliott wasn't even a member of the Big Ten's all-conference team, even as an honorable mention, because Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon and Indiana's Tevin Coleman had put up 2,000-yard seasons.
But neither Gordon nor Coleman rumbled to 696 yards and eight touchdowns in three playoff games, which not only enabled the Buckeyes to win the national title but also made Elliott offensive MVP of both the Sugar Bowl and the College Football Playoff National Championship Game as well as the heavy early favorite for the 2015 Heisman award, per Odds Shark.
The only way Elliott won't be a first-team All-American this year is if he has a horrible season, which doesn't seem likely. Ohio State should be a juggernaut this year, and Elliott won't have a broken wrist to deal with like he did for much of last season.
Put all that together, and it's not hard to imagine seeing Elliott join the likes of Archie Griffin and other former Ohio State rushers in the Hall of Fame.
Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU
5 of 10
Four of the 10 LSU collegiate Hall of Famers were running backs or halfbacks, including Charles Alexander, who was inducted in 2012 after rushing for more than 4,000 yards with 40 touchdowns for the Tigers from 1975-78.
Leonard Fournette probably won't be in Baton Rouge for four seasons, since most top running backs don't stick around that long anymore, but he could very well top Alexander's numbers and join him in the Hall after the best freshman year in school history.
Fournette ran for 1,034 yards with seven touchdowns as a true freshman in 2014, also returning a kickoff 100 yards in the Music City Bowl. The No. 1 overall recruit in the 2014 class, per 247Sports, Fournette did all that mostly on pure instinct. Now he'll be heading into his sophomore year with an offseason of training and preparation, which could make for even bigger numbers.
"He's spent the offseason reshaping his body," NOLA.com's Jeff Duncan wrote of Fournette, who played at 6'1" and 230 pounds last year. "He's five pounds lighter but significantly stronger and faster. At 225 pounds, he said he can still clock a 4.3 40, which should be terrifying news for SEC opponents."
Vernon Hargreaves III, CB, Florida
6 of 10
The college football Hall of Fame online database only lists 10 cornerbacks among the hundreds of inductees, a woefully small number for a position of such importance. Those who have been chosen include some of the best ever at the position, such as Florida State's Deion Sanders, Arizona State's Michael Haynes, Texas A&M-Kingsville's Darrell Green and North Carolina's Dre' Bly, who was inducted in 2014.
If the current crop of college corners gets someone into the Hall, odds are it will be Vernon Hargreaves III, since he doesn't have an equal when it comes to locking down receivers and turning one side of the field into an unwise option for quarterbacks.
In two years with Florida, Hargreaves has only six interceptions, but he's broken up 24 passes. He's also contributed to Gators pass defenses that have allowed less than 193 yards per game during his career.
Rashard Higgins, WR, Colorado State
7 of 10
The College Football Hall of Fame doesn't discriminate when it comes to the schools where players starred, which is why the most recent class featured players from power-conference programs as well as Marshall, Yale and Millsaps College, a Division III school in Mississippi.
Colorado State has two former players in the Hall, the most recent being safety Greg Myers in the 2012 class. If Rashard Higgins continues his career track toward being one of the most prolific wide receivers in FBS history, he'll be upping that total by 50 percent.
Higgins led the FBS in receiving yards (1,750) and touchdowns (17) in 2014 despite missing one game due to injury and having just a single reception—which went for a touchdown—in the Rams' season opener. He also had three games with at least 175 receiving yards, which makes him the first player to do so since 2007, and then went for 174.
Higgins' two-year tally of 2,587 yards is a little more than 1,000 yards shy of the school career mark, while his 23 career TD catches are already the most ever by a Ram.
Myles Jack, LB, UCLA
8 of 10
A linebacker who has frequently been called on to serve as his team's best option running the ball and can also play safety if needed? Myles Jack's description reads like a overdone movie character bio, but there's little fiction about his play so far for UCLA.
The 6'1", 232-pound junior has started 25 games in his career, 24 at linebacker and one (in 2013) at running back, when he was suddenly inserted in the backfield midway through the season and promptly broke off a 66-yard touchdown run while going for 120 total yards. The following week, he scored four times on the ground and since then has been given spot duty on offense while continuing to patrol the middle of UCLA's defense.
All told, Jack has 163 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, three interceptions and 11 total touchdowns. He only has one All-American nod, though, as the all-purpose selection on Athlon Sports' 2013 team during his freshman year.
Expect that to change after this season, when he will have to fill the void left by fellow UCLA linebacker Eric Kendricks while also getting himself in line for a likely jump to the NFL after his junior year.
Keenan Reynods, QB, Navy
9 of 10
Because the National Football Foundation requires a player to be a first-team All-American to warrant Hall of Fame consideration, Keenan Reynolds is going to need some love from the voters during this, his senior season. Otherwise, arguably the greatest option quarterback in history—and one who is on pace to be the all-time FBS rushing touchdown leader—won't be eligible.
In three years running Navy's triple-option, Reynolds has rushed for 64 touchdowns. That includes 31 in 2013, the most ever by a quarterback, as well as a quarterback single-game record seven that same season.
He needs 14 to pass Wisconsin running back Montee Ball's career mark of 77 rushing scores, and with 20 he would top Ball's total TD record of 83.
Navy has 20 former players and coaches in the Hall of Fame, but most were from long ago when the Midshipmen were far more relevant. The most recent player was running back Napoleon McCallum, who was a two-time All-American in the mid-1980s.
Scooby Wright III, LB, Arizona
10 of 10
Every member of Arizona's small Hall of Fame contingent played on defense for the Wildcats in the 1980s and 1990s, when the program had its longest run of sustained success under Larry Smith and Dick Tomey.
Rich Rodriguez has led a Wildcats revival the last three seasons, and one of the catalysts of that rise has been one of the most decorated defensive players in school history in linebacker Scooby Wright III.
Wright claimed three national defensive trophies in 2014, winning the Bednarik, Lombardi and Nagurski trophies while leading the country in tackles (163), tackles for loss (29) and forced fumbles (six) to go with his 14 sacks. That made him one of 12 unanimous All-Americans last year and Arizona's first in school history.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
