Derrick Thomas on College Football HOF ballot again

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he better make it in this year

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We save the best for last.

Derrick Thomas has, for whatever reason, been snubbed from the CFB Hall of Fame for too long. Just last season, another egregious wrong was righted with the induction of former Nebraska quarterback and 1995 Heisman runner-up Tommie Frazier.

Now, it is Thomas' turn for justice.

Thomas won the Butkus Award in 1988 and was a unanimous All-American. He also finished 10th in the Heisman voting, which, at the time, was even more rare than it is in 2014. And it's still pretty rare.

Why all the accolade? Easy. That season, Thomas set the NCAA sack record with 27 in one year—a mark that has still yet to be broken. At the time of his departure from Tuscaloosa in 1989, he also held the NCAA career sack record with 52.

Thomas, of course, tragically passed away after a car accident in 2000. But this induction would not be some sort of underserved posthumous recognition. He earned every bit of his spot in the CFB Hall of Fame, and keeping him on the outside makes little sense.

So why has it taken so long?

After Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports tweeted about Thomas on Wednesday, an interesting conversation took place in the replies between Zach Barnett of Football Scoop and Birmingham sports anchor Patrick Claybon.

Barnett, who says that he worked at the NFF for two years, and in whom there is no overt reason to mistrust, claims Thomas has been kept out because Alabama's athletic department wanted to get other Tide players in ahead of him:


“@BFeldmanCBS Fact: Derrick Thomas isn't in because Alabama wanted other former Tide players in before him.

— Zach Barnett (@zach_barnett) March 5, 2014”

When pressed later in the conversation, Barnett calls the Hall of Fame balloting process "nuanced"—a word smart politicians use in place of "corrupt"—and contends that the NFF collaborates with universities to decide who gets inducted:

“@PatrickClaybon I've said more than I probably should, but HOF selection is often a collaborative process between schools and the NFF.

— Zach Barnett (@zach_barnett) March 5, 2014”

I have never been big on conspiracy theories, but this one sounds totally plausible.

It's college football we're talking about, after all. Shadowy figures in suits pull the strings behind a tall, green curtain made of money. This is a sad reality of the sport, a side effect of its profitability.

But me? I prefer the path of the idealist. The belief that, conspiracy theory or no conspiracy theory, Thomas will get in over fellow Alabama candidates Paul Crane and Bobby Humphrey.

That the right thing will finally get done.

The media has squawked for years about Thomas' puzzling exclusion. In 2014, those voices are louder, angrier and more ubiquitous than ever, and you'd have to believe the NFF is aware of this. (Do a search query for "Derrick Thomas" on Twitter and you'll see what I mean.)

Considering the vitriol that will come if the NFF again leaves Thomas out of the Hall, it's hard to envision a world where he gets omitted in 2014. Wishful thinking? Maybe. But it has to be done eventually.

Why can't now be the time?

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After missing out in 2012, Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com had reported "the Hall has a rule against taking players from the same school in consecutive years."

It's funny how the Hall has been open for 61 years and there are 43 Notre Dame inductees (Michigan is second with 30; Bama has 18* - see bottom of this article). A bunch of grey-haired old men up in South Bend, Indiana can hem and haw about "fairness" and ridiculous "rules" but truth be told, there seems to be a strong bias against southern schools.

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