Heisman Trophy winners Robert Griffin III, Cam Newton and Mark Ingram headline the list of 79 players nominated by the National Football Foundation for the College Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.
Ingram rushed for 3,261 yards and 42 touchdowns in three seasons at Alabama, which included winning the Heisman and a national title as a sophomore in 2009. Newton started for just one season in college, but he maximized his 2010 season at Auburn by throwing for 2,854 yards and 30 touchdowns, rushing for 1,473 yards and 20 scores and leading the Tigers to the national championship. Griffin claimed the 2011 Heisman Award after piling up 4,293 passing yards and 37 touchdowns at Baylor.
All nominees for the College Football Hall of Fame must have earned at least one first-team All-American honor during their college career, but “post-football record as a citizen is also weighed.” National Football Foundation members also are allowed to place emphasis on a player’s academic record and whether he earned his diploma.
There are two nominees on the ballot who were three-time first-team All-Americans: Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis and Southern California safety Taylor Mays. Seventeen nominees earned All-American status in two seasons, a group that includes Florida wide receiver/returner Percy Harvin, Florida State wide receiver Peter Warrick, Clemson cornerback Donnell Woolford and Florida State kicker Sebastian Janikowski.
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o made the list as the only player to win the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Bednarik, Butkus, Lombardi and Nagurski awards in the same season (2012).
NFF members have until July 1 for vote for 12 players on the list, which runs the gamut from 1978 graduates (Tennessee receiver Larry Seivers and Arkansas lineman Leotis Harris) to 2014 graduates (Pittsburgh defensive lineman Aaron Donald and Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch).
Members also will vote for two of the nine Football Bowl Subdivision Coach candidates: Jim Carlen (West Virginia, Texas Tech, South Carolina), Pete Cawthon Sr. (Austin (TX) College, Texas Tech), Larry Coker (Miami, UTSA), Dennis Franchione (TCU and many more), Ralph Friedgen (Maryland), Gary Patterson (TCU), Chris Petersen (Boise State, Washington), Darryl Rodgers (Arizona State and more) and Tommy Tuberville (Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, Cincinnati).
The 2026 Hall of Fame class will be announced in January, one month after the Class of 2025 is officially enshrined at the NFF Awards Dinner in Las Vegas. Former Alabama coach Nick Saban and ex-Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick headlined the list of 18 former players and four coaches in the Class of 2025.
–Field Level Media
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