Top Candidates to Make the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016
The list of candidates on the 2016 ballot for the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame is a who's who of some of the greatest players and most influential coaches in the sport's history. But only a select few can make it into the hall each year.
All told, 200 names are on this year's ballot, including 76 players and five coaches from the FBS ranks. The remainder come from FCS and lower divisions.
To be eligible, a candidate must be a former player who was a first-team All-American on a major national list, no longer be playing professionally and have finished his college career at least 10 years ago but have been active in college some time in the last 50 years. For coaches, they must have worked for at least 10 years and coached at least 100 games, winning at least 60 percent of those. A coach is eligible three years after retirement, immediately after retirement if 70-plus years old, or while still active if 75-plus years old.
The 2016 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced on Jan. 8 in Scottsdale, Arizona, at a press conference associated with the College Football Playoff championship game set for Jan. 11 in Glendale, Arizona. The selections for the 2015 class will be formally inducted at a ceremony in New York in December.
The 2015 class included former Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth, ex-Washington offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy and Texas running back great Ricky Williams, as well as former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and current Kansas State coach Bill Snyder.
Who will be chosen this time around? Here's a look at the some of the top candidates listed on the 2016 ballot.
Derrick Brooks, Florida State
1 of 8
Position: Linebacker
Played from: 1992-94
Last year saw longtime NFL great Derrick Brooks make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot. But this will mark his first time on the college Hall of Fame ballot despite having completed his Florida State career more than 20 years ago.
Brooks helped Florida State maintain its reputation as one of the most dominant and feared teams in the country during the early 1990s, helping it to its first national championship in 1993. A three-time first-team All-ACC player and two-time unanimous All-American, Brooks was the FWAA National Defensive Player of the Year in both 1993 and 1994.
"From the time he came in to Tallahassee until he left, he was your model student, athlete and person," former Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said of Brooks, per Bleacher Report's Bob Ferrante.
From there, Brooks went on to play 14 seasons in the NFL, all for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, reaching the Pro Bowl 11 times and winning a Super Bowl title.
Kerry Collins, Penn State
2 of 8
Position: Quarterback
Played from: 1991-94
Kerry Collins didn't put up huge numbers for Penn State during his playing career, but his leadership and guidance more than made up for the statistics. He was the Nittany Lions' starter for their first two seasons in the Big Ten in 1993 and 1994, and as a senior, he led them to an unbeaten record and a share of the national championship along with Nebraska.
As a senior, Collins came close to setting the FBS passing-efficiency record, finishing with a 172.9 rating that at the time was the third-highest ever. He threw for 2,679 yards and 21 touchdowns that season and went on to be drafted fifth overall in 1995 by the Carolina Panthers while teammate Ki-Jana Carter (a running back) was taken No. 1.
Eric Crouch, Nebraska
3 of 8
Position: Quarterback
Played from: 1998-2001
The last in Nebraska's long line of great option quarterbacks, Eric Crouch won the 2001 Heisman Trophy and led the Cornhuskers to their final national title game appearance, where they fell to Miami (Florida) in the Orange Bowl. That season, he threw for 1,510 yards and ran for 1,115 with 18 touchdowns, finishing his career with 59 rushing scores.
That was the FBS record for a quarterback until Navy's Keenan Reynolds surpassed it last season.
Crouch is considered the No. 42 athlete in Nebraska state history, according to the Omaha World Herald.
A third-round pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2002, Crouch was converted to wide receiver but never saw action in an NFL game.
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Troy Davis, Iowa State
4 of 8
Position: Running back
Played from: 1994-96
There have only been 18 occasions on which an FBS running back has gained more than 2,000 yards in a season. Only Troy Davis managed to do it twice.
As a sophomore in 1995, Davis ran for 2,010 yards, then he topped that mark the following season with 2,185. He did so despite being on a pair of Iowa State teams that combined to go 5-17 and won just two Big 8/Big 12 games.
Davis was a two-time consensus All-American, the only such player in Cyclones history, and in 1996, he finished second in the Heisman race to Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel.
Eric Dickerson, SMU
5 of 8
Position: Running back
Played from: 1979-82
Though the official requirements to get into the Hall of Fame center around on-field accomplishments, a player's reputation and that of the school he played for also play a role. And in Eric Dickerson's case, it's probably why he remains on the outside nearly a quarter-century after his college career ended.
"He starred at SMU during perhaps the best era of Mustangs football, but the program also was setting records for NCAA rules-breaking, and that presumably is the reason he isn't in the Hall," NFL.com's Mike Huguenin wrote. "His production certainly warrants it."
Dickerson ran for 4,450 yards and 47 touchdowns with the Mustangs, earning consensus All-American honors in 1982 while finishing third in the Heisman balloting. A few years after entering the NFL—where he ran for more than 13,000 yards and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999—SMU was hit with the NCAA's death penalty for numerous recruiting and booster violations and had to cancel its 1987 season.
Though never formally implicated in the scandal, Dickerson's associated with SMU during that time appears to have impacted his shot at getting into the Hall of Fame to this point.
Matt Leinart, USC
6 of 8
Position: Quarterback
Played from: 2003-05
So much about Matt Leinart's career at USC epitomized what college football is all about, and we're not even talking about the awards, the wins and the championships. Leinart seemed to genuinely enjoy being a college athlete, one who was in no hurry to leave school and begin a pro career, which resulted in him returning for his senior year despite winning the 2004 Heisman Trophy and BCS title.
And that extra season didn't diminish his legacy, either, as Leinart actually threw for a career-best 3,815 yards in 2005, finished third in the Heisman balloting and got the Trojans into the BCS championship again. They fell to Texas in the Rose Bowl in one of the greatest games in college history, with Leinart throwing for 365 yards in the loss.
Though his pro career never matched what he did in college, Leinart remains one of the most well-regarded collegiate players of the past 20 years. And as he showed in a commercial for Dish Network last year (along with former Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler and ex-Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth), he'd love to be back in college.
Antwaan Randle El, Indiana
7 of 8
Position: Quarterback
Played from: 1998-2001
The Indiana Hoosiers football lineage isn't a distinguished one, with only one bowl appearance since 1993 and no conference titles since 1967. But from an individual standpoint, the program did produce one of the most dynamic athletics of the last 20 years in Antwaan Randle El.
A three-sport athlete at Indiana, football was Randle El's best. He was a four-year starter at quarterback, setting an FBS record for total offense by a freshman in his collegiate debut when he threw for 385 yards and ran for 82 more.
For his career, Randle El had more than 11,000 yards of total offense and was responsible for 86 touchdowns. His 3,895 rushing yards are sixth-most for a quarterback in FBS history.
Brian Urlacher, New Mexico
8 of 8
Position: Linebacker/Defensive back
Played from: 1997-99
Though he became known as an All-Pro linebacker for the Chicago Bears in the NFL, as a college athlete, Brian Urlacher spent most of his time in the secondary. Playing in a 3-3-5 alignment, he was a hybrid linebacker/safety who parlayed this multidimensional role into a school-record 178 tackles as a junior in 1999.
That same season, Urlacher also handled some punt and kickoff returns and even caught six touchdown passes.
Urlacher was a consensus All-American in 1999 as well as a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the nation's most versatile athlete.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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