Players must have played their last year of intercollegiate football within the last 50 years.* For example, to be eligible for the 2017 ballot, the player must have played his last year in 1967 or thereafter.
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Manning, of course, retired from the National Football League earlier this year – active players are not eligible for the CFB HOF. Manning was a consensus First Team All-American and Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1997 who won the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards and the NFF Campbell Trophy. The inductees will be permanently enshrined at the new College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta later that December and honored on the field during the 13th Annual National Hall of Fame Salute during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Among the 75 FBS players included in the ballot are Penn State standouts Kerry Collins, D.J. Dozier, and Steve Wisniewski.
He would become the seventh FSU player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, joining receivers Fred Biletnikoff and Ron Sellers, defensive tackle Ron Simmons, linebacker Derrick Brooks, quarterback Charlie Ward and fellow cornerback Deion Sanders. More than 12 thousand foundation members and current Hall of Famers will be voting to cull the list down to special Honors Courts that will make the final selections. Other notable first-timers include San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk, Southern California defensive back Troy Polamalu, California tight end Tony Gonzalez and Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer.
Kerry Collins was a first-team All-American in 1994, winning the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards along the way. Each year, approximately 15 candidates, who are not selected for the Hall of Fame, will be named automatic holdovers and will bypass the district screening process and automatically appear on the ballot the following year. He must have been a head coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a.600 winning percentage.
– A coach becomes eligible three full seasons after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years of age. Coaches who are 75 or more years old can be elected while still active, a la Kansas State’s Bill Snyder in 2015.
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The inductees will be announced on January 6 in Tampa as part of the festivities for the January 9 national championship game at Raymond James Stadium.
