Ah yes, with the lack of college football on Saturdays, for what is going to feel like an eternity, I figured that we should get a little nostalgic with it. Luckily, instead of playing endless hours of NCAA Football ’14 on the ol’ PS3 I decided to go down the list of this year’s College Football Hall of Fame list to see just how stacked it is. This will be a two part article series splitting up the 15 newest members into the Hall, 13 players and two coaches. Seven players and one coach in this article with six players and one coach in the next.
Terrell Buckley
First, we have Terrell Buckley, who was a poor man’s Deion Sanders. I shouldn’t make fun of the guy because he was the 1991 Jim Thorpe Award winner, the fifth pick in the 1992 NFL Draft (by my favorite team the Green Bay Packers), and Super Bowl XXXVI champion. He even finished 7th in the Heisman voting in 1991.
Buckley also played two years of baseball at Florida State, would play some minor league baseball for a while, and was an outdoor sprinter for the university for a year. While he had a decorated collegiate career, Buckley also currently holds some odd records in the NFL. The first being he is the youngest player to return a punt for a touchdown at 21 years and 105 days. This was the only one he would take to the house in the NFL. He also is the only player to EVER have 50 career INTs and not be selected to a pro bowl. His wiki page is an incredible read. If you love sports, check it out. Congrats Mr. Buckley.
Ricky Dixon
Second on the list is Rickey Dixon. The guy was a phenom and one hell of a ball player. He played in the Orange Bowl every year from 1985 to 1988, two of which were National Championship games. He won one of those National Championship Games. He would win the Jim Thorpe Award just four years before our friend Mr. Buckley in 1987.
He was also the fifth pick in the 1988 Draft. He went and played in Super Bowl XXIII. After playing in the NFL for 6 seasons, he retired and coached at W.T. White High School. He retired form teaching in 2007. In 2014, Dixon was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Dixon had a wonderful career and I hope he is doing well. Congrats Mr. Dixon.
London Fletcher
Next on the list is one of the baddest linebackers of all-time, London Fletcher. Doubted most of his life, Fletcher played at John Carroll, an NCAA Division III school. Known as Ironman, he played both basketball and football in high school, winning two Ohio State Championships. He continued that into college and played both while at John Carroll. He was named the Division III Linebacker of the Year as a senior. He finished that season with 202 tackles, a school record.
Professionally, the St. Louis Rams first had their hands on him as an undrafted free agent who signed for a measly $158,000. That was after running a 4.38 in the 40-yard dash at the Combine. Fletcher would finish as a four time Pro Bowler, two time second team All-Pro, and Super Bowl XXXIV champion. He also is only one of five NFL players to ever start 250 consecutive games. Congrats, Mr. Fletcher, aka Ironman.
Jacob Green
Moving onto former Texas A&M defensive lineman, Jacob Green. The future 10th pick of the 1980 NFL Draft started by dominating and terrorizing at the collegiate level. He was an All-American selection in 1979 after a season where he compiled 134 tackles and what was, at the time, a school record 20 sacks. His 37 all-time collegiate sacks still rank second at A&M.
Green would later play 12 seasons in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks and compile 97.5 career sacks. If you include those before the sack became an official stat in 1982, he’d have 116. That would’ve be good enough for third all-time at the time of his retirement. Congrats Mr. Green.
Torry Holt
Following Mr. Green is one of the most decorated wide receivers of all-time and former NC State wide receiver, Torry Holt. Coming out of high school, Holt was destined for greatness. He was a prep All-American and was an All-State player as well. He attended Hargrave Military Academy straight out of high school. The next year he became a member of the Wolfpack. His senior year, he was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year while setting a couple school records and conference records. He would become a First Team All-American that year.
Holt was the sixth pick in the 1999 Draft. He didn’t stop his success after college. He had 920 career catches, 13,380 yards, and 74 TDs. In the NFL, Holt was a seven time Pro Bowler, a First and Second Team All-Pro selection, XXXIV Super Bowl champion, and named to the 2000’s All-Decade Team. Congrats Mr. Holt.
Raghib “Rocket” Ismail
Now don’t get confused because next is “Rocket”. No, not the baseball one, I mean Raghib “Rocket” Ismail. The speedster who is aptly named was a receiver, but was better known for his returning. Unlike the others, Ismail wasn’t a high profile draft pick. However, he had multiple kick returns for touchdowns and was an All-American in 1990. The most infamous of the returns for the Notre Dame alum came in 1991 in the Orange Bowl against Colorado. With under a minute to go Ismail took a punt from his own 10 to the house. That would have been the game winning score, BUT there was a clipping penalty that brought back the touchdown and the hopes of Notre Dame winning that game. Congrats Mr. Ismail.
Darren McFadden
The final of the players for this article is a little more modern and one I got to see be dominant in college. Fondly known as Run DMC, Darren McFadden was an electric factory as an Arkansas Razorback in the mid-2000’s. Compiling 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns as a true freshman, you knew McFadden was on his way to being great. Over his three year Razorback career, McFadden ran for 4,590 yards and found pay dirt 41 times.
One of the most decorated players on this list, the trophy case includes a Walter Camp Award, Jim Brown Trophy, two Doak Walker Awards, three first team All-SEC selections, two All-American honors, and he was a two time SEC Player of the Year. He has one of the most fun college highlight tapes to watch on the list. Congrats Mr. McFadden.
Coach Joe Taylor
Lastly, we switch gears and go to one of the two coaches on the list, Joe Taylor. He had a 70% winning percentage, spread out over 29 years, with an career record of 233-96-4. The record is incredible, but consider this for minute, in his first season as a head coach at Howard University, Taylor went 1-9. That means 10% of his losses came in year one. Let that soak in. He coached seven years at Virginia Union and in only his third year he led the team to an undefeated season.
It is amazing to see the success he had and should be embraced by those in the college football world for the work he did at a historically African-American universities. During a time when major universities didn’t always give minorities a chance to coach, this great offensive mind wanted to make a difference. He did just that for many men. Congrats, Mr. Taylor.
Stay tuned – Part two will be coming out shortly after this part gets posted!
