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2017 College Football Hall of Fame Class Revealed
January 9, 2017
Former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning and former college head coach Steve Spurrier headline the list of 2017 inductees entering the College Football Hall of Fame, which was announced Monday, per Chris Low of ESPN.com.
All of the inductees in this year's class are listed below:
| 2017 College Hall of Fame Inductees | ||
| Role | Inductee | School |
| Head coach | Steve Spurrier | Duke, Florida and South Carolina |
| Head coach | Danny Ford | Clemson and Arkansas |
| Head coach | Larry Kehres | Mount Union |
| Player | QB Peyton Manning | Tennessee |
| Player | RB Marshall Faulk | San Diego State |
| Player | WR Kirk Gibson | Michigan State |
| Player | DB/LB Brian Urlacher | New Mexico |
| Player | LB Bob Crable | Notre Dame |
| Player | QB Matt Leinart | USC |
| Player | OT Bob McKay | Texas |
| Player | LB Dat Nguyen | Texas A&M |
| Player | RB Adrian Peterson | Georgia Southern |
| Player | DT Mike Ruth | Boston College |
Manning is one of the most decorated quarterbacks in SEC and college football history, and he remains the most prolific passer in the Volunteers' long and storied program. He finished his college career with school records in passing yards (11,201), passing touchdowns (89) and wins (39).
He was 39-5 as a starter for Tennessee in his four seasons at the school, and his 18 games with 300 or more passing yards is still an SEC record. He was named the SEC Player of the Year in 1997 and finished second in the Heisman voting that year.
In that excellent 1997 season, he was also named a first-team All-American and won the Davey O'Brien Award, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and the Maxwell Award.
Spurrier, meanwhile, was already inducted into the College Hall of Fame as a player after winning the 1966 Heisman Trophy as Florida's quarterback. Now, he's also in the hall as a coach.
Spurrier had tenures at Duke (1987-1989), Florida (1990-2001) and South Carolina (2005-2015) and is the winningest coach at Florida and South Carolina. Overall, he led his teams to a 228-89-2 mark, guiding Florida to the 1996 national championship and six SEC titles.
His teams also reached 21 bowl games, and he finished his career second all-time in SEC wins (208) behind only the legendary Bear Bryant (292).
Spurrier joins Amos Alonzo Stagg, Bobby Dodd and Bowden Wyatt as the only members of the College Football Hall of Fame as both players and coaches, per Will Pantages of Florida's official athletics website.
Faulk, an NFL Hall of Famer, accumulated 5,562 all-purpose yards and 62 touchdowns in his college career, while Urlacher was an excellent defensive back for New Mexico before becoming one of the most dominant linebackers in NFL history.
Gibson would go on to become a two-time MLB champion and the 1988 NL MVP, but prior to that, he caught 24 touchdown passes for the Spartans during his football days.
Kehres was a remarkable 332-24-3 in 27 years as head coach of Mount Union before retiring after the 2012 season, while Ford led Clemson to its only national title in 1981.
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