On Monday, the National Football Foundation released their annual ballot of players and coaches eligible to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December 2027. The list of more than 200 names includes 33 consensus All-Americans, several Heisman Trophy winners and numerous national champions who have become a part of the sport’s historic lore.
Sports Illustrated pored over the list to decide who would be on our writers’ hypothetical ballots if they were voting on the upcoming Class of 2027.
If you were limited to 10 names from the FBS ranks, who would make the cut on your ballot?
Pat Forde: Cutting the list to 10 is brutally difficult, but that was the assignment. This is a great group of quarterbacks, and keeping it to four of them leaves off some deserving players—I went with Heisman Trophy winners Cam Newton of Auburn and Robert Griffin III of Baylor, plus Boise State catalyst Kellen Moore and Miami’s Ken Dorsey, who doesn’t get the credit he deserves due to all the other superstars in that era at The U. Melvin Gordon III of Wisconsin and Percy Harvin of Florida were my other offensive inclusions. They were the apex weapons for distinct styles of play at their schools—Gordon was the best of the many great Badgers running backs, and Harvin was the ultimate multipurpose threat in Urban Meyer’s spread offense. Defensively, I have two game-wrecking pass rushers in Terrell Suggs of Arizona State and Elvis Dumervil of Louisville; a relentless linebacker in Manti Te’o of Notre Dame, the heartbeat of the 12–1 2012 team; and defensive back/special teams menace Patrick Peterson of LSU.
Bryan Fischer: I found three stone-cold locks pretty easily in Newton and Griffin, plus the guy who concluded his career as the winningest FBS quarterback in Moore. It boggles the mind that Suggs and Mark Carrier still haven’t been voted into the Hall of Fame while Te’o remains one of the few linebackers I’ve seen in person who can completely control a game defensively. Casey Hampton was incredibly dominant and a big reason Texas really returned to national prominence and the same can be said offensively for Kenjon Barner—who legitimately led an offensive revolution under Chip Kelly back in the day. Throw in Gordon and Peterson and that’s my ballot despite leaving off a good 30 other names I tried to shoehorn in.
Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III is a surefire Hall of Famer. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Patrick Andres: Cutting this list to 10 is nigh impossible, but here goes: Griffin and Newton are shoo-ins as the list’s lone Heisman winners. Moore, a Heisman top-10 finisher in three separate seasons, should make it as well. On defense, Hampton, Suggs and Te’o are worthy choices, and I would also throw in A.J. Hawk—a ferocious two-time All-American linebacker for Ohio State before his current gig as Pat McAfee’s resident NPC. Gordon has to be in with a 2,587-yard rushing season under his belt. To get some offensive trench representation, I’ll add two-time All-American USC guard Jeff Bregel and Oklahoma State offensive lineman Russell Okung—key to molding coach Mike Gundy’s Cowboys into Big 12 players.
Tim Capurso: I hate to be a follower but it feels like malpractice to leave Heisman Trophy winners Newton and Griffin, as well as Moore, one of the most prolific passers in college football history, off my ballot. I don’t want to get too quarterback happy here, but two-time Heisman Trophy finalist Colt McCoy, who was the winningest QB in NCAA history when his career at Texas ended, also deserves a spot. On defense, I simply can’t make a tangible argument against Te’o’s greatness, for my other two defensive picks: Dumervil, who terrorized the Big East in 2005 with 20 total sacks, including an NCAA-record six in one game, and Deon Grant, the ball hawk in the defensive backfield for an undefeated and title-winning Tennessee team in 1998. In the trenches, give me Barrett Jones, who was equally dominant at not one, not two but three different positions on the offensive line for three championship-winning Alabama teams. I’ll tack on Gordon and the incredibly versatile Tavon Austin to round out my ballot.
Who was the toughest player(s) to leave off?
Forde: Kansas cornerback Aqib Talib was my last cut—he was the best player on the best Kansas team ever, in 2007. McCoy was a late cut as well, and I wish I had room for Antwaan Randle El from Indiana. I feel guilty about not having any offensive linemen on the list, after strongly considering Bruce Matthews of USC and Jones of Alabama. Missouri’s Chase Coffman still holds the NCAA record for career catches by a tight end.
Kansas cornerback Aqib Talib tries to intercept a pass intended in a 2006 game against Missouri. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images
Fischer: It’s easy to say all of them because even like 20 or 30 names deep in trying to sort guys out, you tend to go, he’s a lock. Marshawn Lynch stands out, not just for his golf cart driving but his incredibly smooth ability to pick up yards between the tackles. Same for Harvin, who was so fun to watch on those Florida teams and always had a big play saved up for when the Gators needed one. Maybe it’s regional bias though, but Ray Mickens might be the name I had a hard time leaving off. He was so, so good on those Texas A&M defenses that ran the SWC back in the day and was a big reason why Kyle Field was so intimidating back in the mid-’90s.
Andres: The name that jumped out to me was McCoy, now quite underrated after the 2010s golden age of college quarterbacking—he’s still in the top 20 all time in touchdown passes (Dorsey also deserves some love as a consummate winner). West Virginia wide receiver and YouTube legend Austin is one of the more versatile players to grace the field this century and should be first in line among specialists. I also kicked around including one of three record-breaking mid-major pass catchers: Rice’s Jarett Dillard (FBS’s all-time receiving touchdowns leader), Louisiana Tech’s Troy Edwards (third on that leaderboard), and Wyoming’s Marcus Harris (fifth all time in receiving yards).
Capurso: Minds are going to continue to be boggled in regard to Suggs’s candidacy, as my ballot would have the 2002 Nagurski and Lombardi Award winner continuing to await his induction. He’s easily atop my list of toughest to leave out. Dorsey, who led Miami to a national title in 2001 while finishing top five in the Heisman Trophy vote in his junior and senior seasons, is another worthy name. Maybe this is the contrarian part of me, but I also want to give some love to kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who is still the only two-time winner of the Lou Groza Award and likely the last kicker to ever be selected in the first round of the NFL draft.
There are nine FBS head coaches nominated this year, including a few new names with the winning percentage criteria being lowered. Which three would be on your ballot?
Forde: Mike Leach, whose body of work was significant enough to force a rule change that puts him on the ballot, is definitely getting in. Dennis Franchione never had anything given to him, working his way up at a lot of hard jobs—his influence on many other successful coaches is also noteworthy. The third coach I’d include isn’t even on the ballot, due to winning percentage reasons—Howard Schnellenberger birthed the Miami dynasty, saved Louisville football from extinction and was the literal start-up architect at Florida Atlantic. I don’t care that his all-time winning percentage is only .511, he’s one of the most important coaches in the history of the sport.
Fischer: There’s obviously a lot of euphoria around the NFF lowering the threshold for winning percentage so that Leach could become eligible, and it would be a shame if he wasn’t a first-ballot nominee after single-handedly changing the sport with his implementation of the Air Raid. Another do-more-with-less guy I’d put in is Ralph Friedgen, who not only made Maryland fun to watch, but was entertaining and has an impressive coaching tree to go with all the success. Finally, some old biases and those pesky NCAA violations might be the only way to explain away Jackie Sherrill not already making it in.
Mike Leach should be a lock for the Hall of Fame after the rule change on winning percentage. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Andres: I’ll second Bryan on Sherrill’s absence being ridiculous—this is a man with four top-10 finishes at Pitt to go with one at Texas A&M, as well as a division title at Mississippi State. Leach should get in as a prime innovator—possibly the prime innovator—of the last half-century in college football. After that I see a three-horse race between Larry Coker, Friedgen and Tommy Tuberville—advantage Coker, whose triptych of early-2000s top-five finishes with the Hurricanes stand out even accounting for the slide that followed.
Capurso: Leach is in, given his innovative ushering in of the Air Raid revolution. Coker, who was an offensive innovator of his own and who lost a total of three football games in his first three seasons as a coach, also gets the nod on my ballot. The last spot is a tough one, but give me Jim Carlen, who had just three losing seasons in 16 years as a coach and somehow left three different programs in better shape than he found them.
Which notable non-FBS names do you think should be in?
Forde: As others note below, Mount Union’s Nate Kmic is the most obvious and deserving inclusion. Ashley Ambrose was a star defensive back in the SWAC at Mississippi Valley State who became a first-round draft pick and standout in the NFL. I’m also going to throw in an admittedly subjective shout-out to former Bowling Green and Colorado School of Mines coach Gregg Brandon, who went to my high school (Air Academy in Colorado Springs).
Fischer: It’s pretty hard to top the story of Jahri Evans (Bloomsburg) if you were to factor in his NFL career and Claude Mathis (Texas State) might be one of the few guys to have followed up an incredible college career with an even better coaching career. That said, Kmic’s résumé is going to be pretty hard to top as a three-time national champion who was the NCAA’s all-time leader in rushing yards and scoring when he left school.
Andres: Kmic is a lock, and I’m intrigued by another Purple Raider in quarterback Bill Borchert, who helped kick-start Mount Union’s dynasty in the 1990s. Valdosta State quarterback Dusty Bonner is a fascinating candidate as well—he started his career at Kentucky, led the SEC in passing touchdowns in 1999, transferred to play for the Blazers, and won the Harlon Hill Trophy (the Division II Heisman) twice. Among the record-breaker set, a hand for Gettysburg return man Paul Smith and his 527 all-purpose yards (including 390 rushing yards) against Muhlenberg in 1999.
Capurso: Peter Catan, who won a Division II national title at Eastern Illinois and set school records for sacks in a game (six) and season (21), has an interesting story. He then went on to star in the now-defunct USFL, where his production rivaled that of Pro Football Hall of Famer Reggie White in their two respective seasons. Bobby Hedrick, who helped lead Elon to its first-ever national championship with a 186-yard performance in the title game, ran for more career yards than any collegiate running back save for Tony Dorsett at the end of his career in 1980.
More College Football From Sports Illustrated
Listen to SI’s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s College YouTube channel.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
