College Football Hall of Fame Ballot 2017 Revealed

Peyton Manning (Tennessee), Marshall Faulk (San Diego State), Tony Gonzalez (Cal) and Troy Polamalu (USC) headline the new FBS player arrivals on the 2017 College Football Hall of Fame ballot released Wednesday morning. 

The National Football Foundation announced the entire group of candidates for next year's class, which includes 75 former FBS players. NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell released a statement about the beginning of the selection process:

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It's an enormous honor to just be on the ballot when you think that more than 5.12 million people have played college football. The Hall's requirement of being a First-Team All-American creates a much smaller pool of only 1,500 individuals who are even eligible to be on the ballot, so being in today's elite group means an individual is truly among the greatest to ever have played the game, and we are proud to announce their names. We look forward to announcing the 2017 Hall of Fame Class on the Friday before the College Football Playoff National Championship in Tampa.

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Here's a look at the full list of FBS player nominees:

District	First Name	Last Name	School
4	Morten	Andersen	Michigan State
7	Eric	Bieniemy	Colorado
5	Michael	Bishop	Kansas State
2	Lomas	Brown	Florida
2	Terrell	Buckley	Florida State
4	Larry	Burton	Purdue
4	Keith	Byars	Ohio State
6	Freddie	Carr	UTEP
8	Mark	Carrier	USC
1	Matt	Cavanaugh	Pittsburgh
6	Trevor	Cobb	Rice
1	Kerry	Collins	Penn State
3	Tim	Couch	Kentucky
4	Bob	Crable	Notre Dame
5	Eric	Crouch	Nebraska
2	Brad	Culpepper	Florida
6	Kenneth	Davis	TCU
1	Rich	Diana	Yale
6	Eric	Dickerson	SMU
8	John	Didion	Oregon State
7	Mike	Dirks	Wyoming
5	Rickey	Dixon	Oklahoma
1	D.J.	Dozier	Penn State
5	Tim	Dwight	Iowa
4	Jumbo	Elliott	Michigan
8	Marshall	Faulk	San Diego State
7	David	Fulcher	Arizona State
5	Moe	Gardner	Illinois
4	Kirk	Gibson	Michigan State
8	Tony	Gonzalez	California
3	Dan	Hampton	Arkansas
8	Jason	Hanson	Washington State
6	Byron	Hanspard	Texas Tech
1	Craig	Heyward	Pittsburgh
2	Torry	Holt	North Carolina State
5	Dana	Howard	Illinois
2	Ken	Huff	North Carolina
3	Bobby	Humphrey	Alabama
4	Raghib	Ismail	Notre Dame
7	Ernie	Jennings	Air Force
3	E.J.	Junior	Alabama
8	Matt	Leinart	USC
2	Ray	Lewis	Miami (Fla.)
3	Peyton	Manning	Tennessee
3	Buddy	McClinton	Auburn
6	Bob	McKay	Texas
4	Mark	Messner	Michigan
6	Dat	Nguyen	Texas A&M
8	Ken	Norton, Jr.	UCLA
7	Phillip	Olsen	Utah State
5	Leslie	O'Neal	Oklahoma State
4	Jim	Otis	Ohio State
1	Paul	Palmer	Temple
7	Jake	Plummer	Arizona State
1	Anthony	Poindexter	Virginia
8	Troy	Polamalu	USC
4	Antwaan	Randle El	Indiana
5	Simeon	Rice	Illinois
8	Ron	Rivera	California
1	Mike	Ruth	Boston College
7	Rashaan	Salaam	Colorado
2	Lucius	Sanford	Georgia Tech
3	Larry	Seivers	Tennessee
5	Bob	Stein	Minnesota
2	Matt	Stinchcomb	Georgia
4	Aaron	Taylor	Notre Dame
5	Andre	Tippett	Iowa
7	Brian	Urlacher	New Mexico
4	Troy	Vincent	Wisconsin
3	Jackie	Walker	Tennessee
4	Lorenzo	White	Michigan State
5	Zach	Wiegert	Nebraska
1	Steve	Wisniewski	Penn State
8	Al	Worley	Washington
6	Marc	Zeno	Tulane

Other categories considered for enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame include FBS coaches, divisional players and divisional coaches. There are some notable names among those groups, including longtime head coach Steve Spurrier:

Category	Coach/Player	Team(s)
FBS Coach	Steve Spurrier	Duke, Florida, South Carolina
Divisional Player	Vincent Brown	Mississippi Valley State
Divisional Player	Parnell Dickinson	Mississippi Valley State
Divisional Player	Boomer Grigsby	Illinois State
Divisional Player	Tony Miles	Northwest Missouri State
Divisional Player	Carl Morris	Harvard
Divisional Player	Adrian Peterson	Georgia Southern
Divisional Player	David Rhodes	Central Florida
Divisional Coach	Danny Hale	West Chester (Pa.), Bloomsburg (Pa.)
Divisional Coach	Larry Kehres	Mount Union (Ohio)
Divisional Coach	Joe Taylor	Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton, Florida A&M
Divisional Coach	Mel Tjeerdsma	Austin College [Texas], Northwest Missouri State

The new arrivals join an already stacked list of candidates that features the likes of Eric Dickerson (SMU), Ray Lewis (Miami) and Brian Urlacher (New Mexico).

Manning was named the SEC Freshman of the Year in 1994 before going on to be named to the first-team All-SEC squad twice while with the Volunteers. He also won several national honors for his senior season in 1997, including the Maxwell, Davey O'Brien and Johnny Unitas awards.

Faulk was a two-time consensus All-American during his career at San Diego State that saw him tally 5,562 yards from scrimmage in just three seasons. He finished second in Heisman Trophy voting for the 1992 campaign.

Gonzalez split his time between basketball and football with the Golden Bears. He enjoyed a breakout campaign on the gridiron in 1996 when he ranked fifth in the Pac-10 with 44 catches to go with 699 yards and five touchdowns en route to consensus All-American honors.

Polamalu became one of the most well-rounded defenders in college football at USC. He registered 281 tackles, six interceptions, four blocked punts, three touchdowns and two fumble recoveries with the Trojans, earning two first-team All-Pac 10 nods and consensus All-American honors in 2002.

The highly competitive ballot is now in the hands of the more than 12,000 NFF members. Voting is scheduled to end June 20, when the results will be turned over to the NFF's Honors Courts, a group of athletic administrators, Hall of Famers and media members, who make the final decision.

The 2017 class will be officially announced Friday, Jan. 6, during the buildup to the 2017 national championship game. Those selected for enshrinement will be inducted at an awards dinner Dec. 5, 2017, before taking their place among other legends at the Hall of Fame in Atlanta.