College Football Hall Of Fame Eligibility and Inductees

College Football Hall of Fame eligibility states that a player must wait 10 years after college. The odds of induction is 0.02%.

College Football Hall Of Fame is a platform that selects the best CFB-level athletes who have achieved tremendous results for their respective colleges. Just like the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the CFB immortalizes the career of players who established great performances. 

The HOF was first announced in 1949, and Rutgers was chosen as the attraction. After a series of Attorney General investigations in New Jersey and New York, the location switched to King Mills, Ohio. 

The HOF also includes coaches alongside players. However, players are selected more than the coaching staff. There are 997 football players and 217 coaches inducted in the CFB HOF as of today.

College Football Hall Of Fame Criteria

College Football Hall of Fame criteria states the coaches need to play at least 100 games with their team. There is a strict voting procedure.

Selection Rules For a Player 

It is mandatory for a College Football player to get First Team All-American recognition by an NCAA-recognized publication body. This is a primary guideline for the athlete’s selection. 

Here is the list of the five NCAA-recognized publications:

  1. The Sporting News
  2. Associated Press  
  3. American Football Coaches Association 
  4. Football Writers Association of America
  5. Walter Camp Foundation

If the athlete gets placed on the All-American list by these bodies, then the player can start dreaming about getting inducted into the HOF. However, the athlete must showcase great performance in his collegiate career to get this powerful recognition. 

Second, the footballer should wait at least 10 years until his official career ended. National Football Foundation will determine these full-season counts and only then, the athlete will become eligible. Only retired athletes can get into the HOF, not active ones. 

Players should be involved within 50 years for selection approval for a particular ballot year. However, there are exceptions to this rule if they are selected by the Divisional Veterans Committees or Football Bowl Subdivision. 

Meanwhile, the nomination will also be based on the player’s conduct after his career. If the athlete continued to be a positive member of society and carries the football ideals, then it is a plus point. Graduation and academic honors can also be considered during nomination. 

Selection Rules For A Coach

The coaches should be retired for three seasons in order to gain their nomination in the HOF ballot. They possess different criteria compared to players. 

When a coach stayed in the CFB level for 10 years and guided his team for 100 games, then the HOF will consider the coach for nomination. The coach’s performance also matters, i.e. they should also have a winning percentage of .600 or more too. 

There are some exceptional cases of selection regulations. If the coach has already reached the age of 70, then they don’t have to wait 3 seasons into retirement. Likewise, when the coach is already 75, they will be eligible for the HOF even though they may be active. 

Voting Procedure In CFB’s HOF

Voting Process in the CFB’s HOF requires the submission of nominations by a group of select individuals only. 

The HOF will consider all the recommendations by the other players, coaching staff, and the opponent colleges regardings the potential inductee’s statistics and record as well. 

National Football Foundation is in charge of screening every candidate. After the screening of the candidate’s career and post-career, the nominee’s submission will happen at the District Screening Committee. 

Now, only the top 60 candidates are forwarded to the NFF from the Screening Committee to get their names on the ballot. The ballot will also feature candidates from prior years too, also known as automatic holdovers.

Then the voting will start when NFF sends the official ballot to the respective authorities for a vote. These voters include the Football Writers Association of America and the NFF’s members. 

College Football Hall Of Fame Inductees By Year

College football hall of fame list are:

Players College
Derrick Brooks Florida State
George Halas Illinois
Charles Woodson Michigan
Orlando Pace Ohio State
Bobby Mitchell Illinois
Bobby Bell Minnesota
Larry Csonka Syracuse
Ted Hendricks Miami
Charlie Sanders Minnesota
Joe Montana Notre Dame

2022

College Football Hall Of Fame Inductees 2022 cover Lavar Arrington, Moe Gardner, and Dennis Thomas. 

Here is the Players list of the 2022 College HOF inductees: 

  • Moe Gardner – Illinois
  • Michael Crabtree – Texas Tech
  • LaVar Arrington – Penn State
  • Mike Doss – Ohio State
  • Chuck Ealey – Toledo
  • Sylvester Croom – Alabama
  • Marvin Jones – Florida State
  • Roy Williams – Oklajoma
  • Andrew Luck – Stanford
  • Champ Bailey – Georgia
  • Boomer Grigsby – Illinois State
  • Mike Hass – Oregon State
  • Mark Messner – Michigan
  • Rashaan Salaam -Colorado
  • Dennis Thomas – Alcorn State
  • Zach Wiegert – Nebraska
  • Terry Miller – Oklahoma State
  • Kevin Faulk – LSU

Coaches

  • Billy Jack Murphy 
  • Gary Pinkel
  • John Luckhardt

2021

College Football Hall Of Fame inductees 2018 include Dan Morgan, Kenneth Sims, and Aaron Taylor. 

Players

  • David Fulcher
  • Harris Barton
  • Carson Palmer
  • Dan Morgan
  • Al Wilson
  • Darren Sproles
  • Kenneth Sims
  • Tony Romo
  • C.J. Spiller
  • Andre Tippet
  • Aaron Taylor

Coaches

  • Rudy Hubbard
  • Bob Stoops

2020

College Football Hall Of Fame inductees 2020 comprise John Elliott, Anthony Poindexter, and E.J. Junior. 

Players

  • Lomas Brown
  • Cade McNown
  • Keith Byars
  • Eric Crouch
  • Leslie O’Neal
  • E.J. Henderson
  • Eric Dickerson
  • John Elliott
  • Elmo Wright
  • Glenn Dorsey
  • E.J. Junior
  • Jason Hanson
  • Anthony Poindexter
  • Steve McNair
  • Bob Stein
  • David Pollack
  • Michael Westbrook

Coaches

  • Andy Talley
  • Dick Sheridan

2019

College Football Hall Of Fame inductees 2019 are 1. Vince Young 2. Raghib Ismail 3. Joe Thomas and more.

Players

  • Vince Young
  • Joe Thomas
  • Troy Polamalu
  • Raghib Ismail
  • Terrell Buckley
  • Rickey Dixon
  • London Fletcher
  • Jacob Green
  • Torry Holt
  • Darren McFadden
  • Jake Plummer
  • Lorenzo White
  • Patrick Willis

Coaches 

  • Joe Taylor
  • Dennis Erickson

2018

College Football Hall Of Fame inductees 2018 consist of 1. Kerry Collins 2. Trevor Cobb 3. Calvin Johnson and more. 

Players

  • Trevor Cobb
  • Dave Dickenson
  • Kerry Collins
  • Calvin Johnson
  • Dana Howard
  • Charles Woodson 
  • Aaron Taylor
  • Ed Reed
  • Paul Palmer
  • Matt Stinchcomb

Coaches

  • Frank Beamer
  • Mel Tjeerdsma
  • Mack Brown

Where Is The College Football Hall Of Fame?

College football hall of fame is located in Atlanta, Georgia as of 2023. It was moved from Indiana’s South Bend in 2009. 

The facility is located in Atlanta’s sports heart area, right next to the Centennial Olympic Park and Georgia Institute of Technology.

At first, the HOF attraction was planned for Rutgers, since the first college football game happened in New Brunswick between Princeton and Rutgers. However, due to a financial investigation launched by the then New Jersey’s Attorney General, the plan shifted to NY.

Although the HOF moved to New York, they still got marked by another investigation from the NY Attorney General. This ultimately led them to transfer to Ohio’s Cincinnati, where they constructed a new building in 1978. 

After staying there for a decade, the NFF sought out new areas to place their CFB HOF attraction and chose Indiana as their new location. But Indiana’s location saw lesser turnout than expected, which eventually led to HOF’s shift again in Atlanta.

Ohio State Hall Of Fame Players

Ohio State Hall Of Fame players covers Eddie George, Woody Hayes, and Tom Cousineau. Football coach Woody Hayes guided OSU to 5 National Championships.

  • Mike Doss
  • Dean Dugger
  • Tom De Leone
  • Gene Fekete
  • Randy Gradishar
  • Jim Tressel
  • Woody Hayes
  • Eddie George
  • Tom Cousineau
  • Pete Cusick

Alabama Hall Of Fame

Alabama Hall of Fame consists of 25 college football players and coaches including Paul Bryant, Mike Donahue, and Don Hutson.

Here is the list of football players and coaches who are inducted into Alabama Sports HOF:

  • Paul Bryant
  • Mike Donahue
  • Hank Crisp
  • William Van de Graaff
  • Dixie Howell
  • Don Hutson
  • John Cain
  • Harry Gilmer
  • Pat Trammell
  • Terrell Owens

Georgia Hall Of Fame NFL Players

NFL players from UGA in the Pro Football Hall of Fame contains Richard Seymour, Charley Trippi, and Fran Tarkenton. 

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UGA has a Ring of Honor which includes their best athletes. Here are some footballers inducted:

  • Randy Johnson
  • Charley Trippi
  • Fran Tarkenton
  • Vince Dooley
  • William C Hartman
  • George Patton
  • Mike Castronis
  • Scott Woerner
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