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23 SEC stars who'll never be in the College Football Hall of Fame (al.com)
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:12 pm
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:12 pm
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According to the ratings of profootballreference.com, 32 of the 250 best careers in the NFL since 1960 belong to players who came out of the SEC.
The top four players from the SEC -- Peyton Manning, Fran Tarkenton, Reggie White and Emmitt Smith -- not only had great NFL careers, they're members of the College Football Hall of Fame, too.
But the fifth player on the SEC's NFL list -- Kevin Mawae -- isn't, and he won't be. Mawae is one of the former SEC players whose NFL career will merit consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but who didn't reach the Hall of Fame level in college. The players were never first-team All-American selections by any of the organizations that the NCAA uses to compile the annual consensus All-American squad.
That's qualification No. 1 for consideration for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, and players who haven't cleared that hurdle won't be found on the Class of 2019 ballot when it's released on Monday.
Seventeen of the 32 SEC players on the NFL list aren't eligible for consideration for the College Football Hall of Fame. There are another six former SEC players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who aren't eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame either.
Here are those 23 players who've made a deeper mark in the NFL than they did in the SEC:
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South Carolina outside linebacker John Abraham
Abraham led the Gamecocks in sacks in each of his four seasons at South Carolina. His biggest accolade, though, was second-team All-SEC as a senior in 1999, when the first-team linebackers were Mississippi State's Barrin Simpson, Tennessee's Raynoch Thompson and Vanderbilt's Jamie Winborn. That didn't prevent the New York Jets from selecting Abraham with the 13th choice in the 2000 NFL Draft, and he recorded 133.5 sacks in 15 seasons, mainly spent as a defensive end.
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Kentucky quarterback George Blanda
Blanda was the starting quarterback in coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's first two seasons at Kentucky. In 1947, the Wildcats set a school record by winning eight games. The eighth was Kentucky's first postseason appearance -- a 24-14 victory over Villanova in the Great Lakes Bowl. Up against Ole Miss' Charlie Conerly, LSU's Y.A. Tittle and Georgia's John Rauch, Blanda didn't receive All-SEC recognition, let alone the national accolade needed for College Football Hall of Fame membership, which Conerly and Rauch hold. Blanda had virtually three careers on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He made 21 starts at quarterback in the 1950s in the NFL, then turned into the gun-slinging QB of the two-time AFL champion Houston Oilers in the 1960s before becoming a clutch place-kicker and occasional sparkplug signal-caller in his 40s with the Oakland Raiders in the first half of the 1970s. All the way through, he was kicking, and when he retired, Blanda had scored more points than any other player in NFL history.
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Kentucky center/guard Dermontti Dawson
For the Wildcats, Dawson was a second-team All-SEC selection at guard in 1987. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dawson was a six-time All-Pro center who's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Auburn center Frank Gatski
When Gatski came back from World War II, Marshall, where he'd played for three seasons, hadn't restarted its football program yet. Eager to resume football and his degree work, Gatski enrolled at Auburn and was able to play part of one season with the Tigers in 1945. His pro career started after turning a tryout into a spot on the Cleveland Browns of the new All-American Football Conference. In his 12-year career, Gatski played in 11 league championship games, and his teams won eight titles -- seven with the Browns and one with the Detroit Lions, four in the AAFC and four in the NFL. On his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Gatski played on teams that compiled a regular-season record of 118-28-4, and he never missed a game.
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Ole Miss linebacker/end Larry Grantham
From 1957 through 1959, Grantham helped the Rebels compile a 28-4-1 record, including two wins in the Sugar Bowl and one in the Gator Bowl. He made All-SEC as a senior, but couldn't crack the All-American squads like teammate Charlie Flowers, the consensus selection at fullback and now a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. After Ole Miss, Grantham spurned the Baltimore Colts to sign with the New York Titans of the new American Football League. Eight years later, Grantham would sting the Colts again when he helped the now-New York Jets upset the NFL champions in Super Bowl III. In 13 seasons as an outside linebacker with New York, Grantham made All-AFL five times and was an all-star seven times.
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Auburn defensive end Kevin Greene
Kevin Greene is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and has the third-most sacks in the history of the NFL. However, he wasn't as highly lauded at Auburn, working his way from walk-on to breaking the Tigers' single-season sack record in 1984. But he never made All-SEC.
This post was edited on 6/3/18 at 7:14 pm
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Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:13 pm to TideSaint
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Ole Miss tackle Gene Hickerson
Hickerson was an All-SEC selection for Ole Miss' Sugar Bowl-winning 1957 team. But the All-American from the Rebels' line that season was guard Jackie Simpson. In his 16-year NFL career, Hickerson became the epitome of the pulling guard, clearing the way for Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Georgia linebacker Mo Lewis
Mo Lewis made second-team All-SEC at Georgia before entering the NFL, where he started 199 games at outside linebacker for the New York Jets. He also has a footnote in NFL history: He's the player who knocked New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe out of the game, triggering the Tom Brady Era.
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Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning
Here's an oddity: Manning won the Maxwell Award, presented annually since 1937 to college football's player of the year, in 2003. But he's not eligible for consideration for the College Football Hall of Fame because he was not a first-team All-American. That's because in 2003, each of the five organizations used to determine the consensus All-American team -- the American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of American, Sporting News and Walter Camp Football Foundation -- picked Oklahoma's Jason White as its first-team quarterback. After being the first player picked in the 2004 NFL Draft, Manning is preparing for his 15th season with the New York Giants.
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LSU center Kevin Mawae
A first-team All-SEC offensive tackle for LSU as a sophomore in 1991, Mawae made the move to center as a senior, when he was second-team All-SEC behind Alabama's Tobie Sheils. He went on to start 238 NFL games -- 211 of them at center -- and received eight Pro Bowl invitations.)
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Alabama quarterback Joe Namath
After finishing behind Georgia Tech's Billy Lothridge in 1962 and 1963 for All-SEC honors, Namath was the first-team all-conference QB in 1964 as Alabama compiled an undefeated regular-season record and won the SEC crown. In 1964, the NCAA used six selectors to compile the consensus All-American team, and because some of them still were choosing four-player backfields instead of individual positions, six quarterbacks qualified as first-teamers eligible for College Football Hall of Fame consideration. Namath was not one of them. The quarterbacks were Oregon's Bob Berry, Notre Dame's John Huarte, California's Craig Morton, Tulsa's Jerry Rhome, Virginia Tech's Bob Schweickert and Michigan's Bob Timberlake. Huarte, who won the 1964 Heisman Trophy, was picked in the second round of the 1965 AFL Draft by New York. The Jets had picked Namath in the first round and signed him to the most lucrative contract to that point in pro football history. The Jets also signed Huarte away from the Philadelphia Eagles, who'd picked him in the NFL Draft. Huarte didn't play a game as a rookie while Namath was an AFL all-star. After the season, the Jets traded Huarte to the Boston Patriots. Schweickert also served as a backup to Namath -- his entire NFL career consisting of three games in 1965 and three in 1967, both seasons when "Broadway Joe" was an all-star for the Jets on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Arkansas tight end Jason Peters
As a tight end, Peters was second-team All-SEC behind Florida's Ben Troupe in 2003. As an offensive tackle, he might be a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Peters made the position switch in the pros and, by his second NFL season, was a starter. Beginning with the 2007 season, Peters has been a Pro Bowler nine times -- every year but two, and in those two, he was injured. Peters is trying to come back for a 15th NFL season after suffering a torn ACL and MCL last year with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:13 pm to TideSaint
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LSU halfback Johnny Robinson
LSU's undefeated 1958 team -- the consensus national champion -- was the first in SEC history to put three players in the four-man All-SEC backfield, with Robinson joining halfback Billy Cannon and quarterback Walter Rabb. Cannon won the Heisman Trophy in 1959, when he repeated as a consensus All-American. Cannon and Robinson were picked first and third, respectively, in the 1960 NFL Draft, but they spurned the established league for the new AFL. Robinson spent his first two pro seasons as a halfback and flanker with the Dallas Texans. But after switching to safety in his third year, he was an all-star for eight straight seasons after the Texans moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs in 1964. Robinson made All-AFL five consecutive years, and when the AFL-NFL merger was completed in 1970, he earned All-Pro recognition, too.
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Georgia Tech tackle Billy Shaw
Shaw and Auburn's Ken Rice were the All-SEC tackles in 1960. Rice earned All-American recognition, too, prevented from unanimous selection because the Newspaper Enterprise Association preferred Utah State's Merlin Olsen. Shaw was not an All-American. Shaw and Rice also entered pro football together, joining the wave of SEC players who took the AFL's money over the NFL's tradition, and they ended up in the offensive line of the Buffalo Bills together. Although he was an all-star as a rookie, Rice played only two of his six AFL seasons with Buffalo. Shaw spent nine seasons as the Bills' left guard and was an all-star every season but his rookie campaign. He made All-AFL six straight years and has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1999.
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Alabama quarterback Ken Stabler
Stabler was the No. 2 QB on the SEC's 50th anniversary team, but he's not eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame even though he was a first-team All-American. In 1967, the Football News named Stabler as its All-American QB. The Football News was one of the organizations used to compile the consensus All-American teams in 1943 and 1944 and again from 1993 through 2001. But it wasn't one of the six consensus selectors in 1967. Stabler was the second-team All-American QB for two of the consensus selectors -- Central Press Association and Newspaper Enterprise Association-- behind UCLA Heisman Trophy winner Gary Beban. Beban is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Stabler is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Alabama quarterback Bart Starr
Belying Starr's future as the quarterback for five NFL championship teams as he and Vince Lombardi turned Green Bay into Titletown, Alabama had an 0-10 record in Starr's senior season in 1955. He played little that year, though -- the first of the three seasons of the J.B. "Ears" Whitworth disaster in Tuscaloosa that led to the hiring of Paul "Bear" Bryant. Starr had been the sophomore starter for Alabama's Cotton Bowl team in 1953, but he suffered a back injury in a hazing incident before his junior season that derailed his college career. The 200th player picked in the 1956 NFL Draft, Starr was the NFL MVP in 1966 and the MVP of the first two Super Bowls on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Alabama center Dwight Stephenson
Stephenson was the All-SEC center for the 1977, 1978 and 1979 seasons. Alabama did not lose a conference game in any of those years. Stephenson won the SEC's Jacobs Blocking Trophy as a senior, when he was the second-team center on the AP and UPI All-American selections -- behind North Carolina State's Jim Ritcher in both cases. Ritcher is in the College Football Hall of Fame, but Stephenson can't be because he doesn't have the necessary first-team All-American recognition. However, Stephenson is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his NFL career with the Miami Dolphins.
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LSU quarterback Y.A. Tittle
LSU dumped the single-wing for the T-formation to take advantage of Tittle's passing talents, and he left the Tigers holding virtually every school passing record -- and keeping them until Bert Jones came along. Jones is in the College Football Hall of Fame, and so are the three quarterbacks who earned the first-team All-American honors during Tittle's two All-SEC seasons -- Ole Miss' Charlie Conerly, Texas' Bobby Layne and Notre Dame's Johnny Lujack. In his Pro Football Hall of Fame career, Tittle played 17 seasons, was a Pro Bowler seven times and an All-Pro three times. He was the AP's NFL MVP in 1963 after winning the UPI's award in 1957 and 1962 and the NEA's award in 1961.
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LSU nose guard Henry Thomas
In his third season as a starter for the Tigers, Thomas earned All-SEC recognition for LSU's conference-championship team in 1986. Nationally, he came in third team on The Associated Press selections. Thomas then started 199 games during a 14-year career in the NFL trenches.
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LSU tailback Steve Van Buren
After three seasons as LSU's blocking back, Van Buren got his chance at tailback in 1943, and he finished first in points and second in rushing yards in the nation for the Tigers' Orange Bowl-winning team -- and still did not make first-team All-American. The running backs earning that honor were Michigan's Bill Daley, Notre Dame's Creighton Miller (the only player with more rushing yards than Van Buren in 1943) and Penn's Bob Odell, who's a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Joining the Philadelphia Eagles as the fifth player picked in the 1944 NFL Draft, Van Buren led the NFL in rushing four times and made All-Pro five times in his first six seasons. He's been in the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1965.
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Georgia wide receiver Hines Ward
In 14 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ward caught 1,000 passes, earned four Pro Bowl invitations and won two Super Bowls, receiving the MVP Award for Super Bowl XL. But he threw only two passes. At Georgia, Ward not only earned All-SEC recognition as a wide receiver, he also had starts at tailback and quarterback. He started the final four games of the 1995 season under center for the Bulldogs and set a school bowl record with 413 passing yards in the Peach Bowl despite playing with a broken wrist.
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LSU offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth
Whitworth started all 52 games of his LSU career, played for the Tigers' 2003 BCS national-championship team and made All-SEC in 2004 and 2005. So did Auburn's Marcus McNeill, who also earned first-team All-American recognition while Whitworth did not. Whitworth is preparing for his 13th NFL season. He's been a Pro Bowler for the past three and earned All-Pro recognition in 2017 for the second time in his career.
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Tennessee tight end Jason Witten
After 15 NFL seasons, Witten is leaving the Dallas Cowboys to join the ESPN announcing booth for "Monday Night Football" in 2018. His final season for Tennessee was in 2002, when he was the All-SEC tight end. However, Iowa's Dallas Clark was the All-American tight end that season.
This post was edited on 6/3/18 at 7:14 pm
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:19 pm to TideSaint
Interesting, I don't see my write up. I didn't have an all american run in the SEC either. frick me! Are you sure there is nothing in that article about Rocky Tiger?
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:20 pm to TideSaint
Is Patrick Willis a HOFer?
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:22 pm to RockyMtnTigerWDE
Jake Holland so overlooked.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:22 pm to RockyMtnTigerWDE
Nick Chubb and Sony Michel won't either.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:34 pm to Herman Frisco
Jake Holland was captured on film trying to tackle Manti T'eo's girlfriend several times during his career.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:41 pm to HTDawg
Which is a fricking crime. If ever there were an exception to this asinine rule about Ll American status Chubb should be it. Especially at the clip top flight RBs are coming out, you can’t put all of them on first team so you’re automatically discounting guys because of who their contemporaries happened to be
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:42 pm to TideSaint
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Tennessee tight end Jason Witten
Frickin' guy was unreal in college.
Tennessee had this tight end before him though, maybe 96ish, 98ish, I can't remember. Big black kid that could run .... I mean he was huge, fast and had moves. Seems like I remember him getting himself kicked-off the team though for behavioral issues ... wish I could remember his name. The two times I saw him play I told friends he was the best college TE prospect I had ever seen in my life. Had it all. Hands, balance, speed, footwork and ran great routes and he had to be 6-5 250 at the time ... would knock people down blocking. Wonder whatever happened to that guy.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:52 pm to RockyMtnTigerWDE
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Jake Holland was captured on film trying to tackle Manti T'eo's girlfriend several times during his career
Can you really blame him after the way she took out Anthony Swain's knee?
Posted on 6/3/18 at 7:55 pm to BowlJackson
Now that is an all timer.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 8:06 pm to BowlJackson
She ruined his career. I don't remember him playing another down after she took him out.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 8:19 pm to TideSaint
Cam Newton had probably the greatest season in college football history, but I do not think one years performance is worthy of the HOF.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 8:20 pm to TideSaint
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Kevin Greene is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and has the third-most sacks in the history of the NFL. However, he wasn't as highly lauded at Auburn, working his way from walk-on to breaking the Tigers' single-season sack record in 1984. But he never made All-SEC.
He wasn’t worthy of all sec
Posted on 6/3/18 at 8:23 pm to TideSaint
Some good players on that list.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 8:54 pm to TideSaint
Jason Peters. Isn’t he the guy that the ESPN announcers always talked about who would eat like 15 Big Mac’s in one sitting?
Posted on 6/3/18 at 9:06 pm to TideSaint
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Auburn defensive end Kevin Greene
WWE Hall of Fame, IMO
Posted on 6/3/18 at 9:47 pm to TideSaint
I'm fine with the list. Not any of those names outside of namath, Eli and snake really jumped out at u in college. Some had much better pro careers.
Posted on 6/3/18 at 9:51 pm to TideSaint
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Alabama quarterback Bart Starr
Belying Starr's future as the quarterback for five NFL championship teams as he and Vince Lombardi turned Green Bay into Titletown, Alabama had an 0-10 record in Starr's senior season in 1955. He played little that year, though -- the first of the three seasons of the J.B. "Ears" Whitworth disaster in Tuscaloosa that led to the hiring of Paul "Bear" Bryant. Starr had been the sophomore starter for Alabama's Cotton Bowl team in 1953, but he suffered a back injury in a hazing incident before his junior season that derailed his college career. The 200th player picked in the 1956 NFL Draft, Starr was the NFL MVP in 1966 and the MVP of the first two Super Bowls on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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