SEC stars who wonât be College Football Hall of Famers

Twelve former SEC stars were included on the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024 ballot released by the National Football Foundation on Monday.

The nominees included Alabama’s Antonio Langham, Auburn’s Gregg Carr, Ed King and Takeo Spikes, Florida’s Brad Culpepper, Georgia’s Garrison Hearst and Richard Seymour, Kentucky’s Tim Couch, LSU’s Bradie James, Ole Miss’ Michael Oher and Tennessee’s Willie Gault and Larry Seivers.

They represent the more than 200 former SEC players who played between 1974 and 2012 and were eligible to appear on the ballot by virtue of being first-team All-American selections by at least one of the organizations used by the NCAA to compile the annual consensus All-American team. The eligibility window for the Class of 2024 is open for All-Americans who played in the past 50 years but haven’t played in 10 seasons and aren’t playing in the NFL.

Beyond that group, there’s another group of more than 200 former SEC stars who meet the All-American requirement but aren’t in the current eligibility window.

But even with all those Hall of Fame candidates from the conference, some SEC stars never will appear on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame because despite their accomplishments and statistics, they never made first-team All-American for a qualifying organization.

The SEC players who can’t be enshrined include:

Georgia running back Nick Chubb

With 4,769 rushing yards from 2014 through 2017, Chubb ranks second in SEC history to another former Georgia star. But while Herschel Walker is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Chubb cannot be. He’s the only one of the conference’s top five career rushers who isn’t already enshrined. Joining Walker are Arkansas’ Darren McFadden, LSU’s Kevin Faulk and Auburn’s Bo Jackson.

No. 6 on the SEC rushing list, Vanderbilt’s Ralph Webb, can’t be a Hall of Famer. Neither can No. 8 Dalton Hilliard of LSU and No. 10 Anthony Dixon of Mississippi State.

No. 9 Charles Alexander of LSU is in the College Football Hall of Fame. No. 7 Errict Rhett of Florida is eligible. He appeared on the ballot last year but didn’t make it this time around.

Alabama quarterback Ken Stabler

Florida running back Errict Rhett is eligible for consideration for the College Football Hall of Fame because the Football News named him a first-team All-American in 1993. In 1967, the Football News picked Stabler as its first-team All-American quarterback, but he is not eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame.

For each player, the Football News provided his only first-team All-American recognition. The NCAA included the Football News among its consensus selectors in 1943 and 1944. The publication did not return to the list until 1993 – just in time to make Rhett Hall of Fame eligible – and it stayed in the rotation through 2001.

In 1967, the NCAA’s consensus selections were the American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, Central Press Association, Football Writers Association of America, Newspaper Enterprise Association and United Press International. Each of those organizations named UCLA’s Gary Beban as its first-team All-American QB, and he’s been a member of the College Football Hall of Fame since 1988. Stabler was the second-team selection of the CP and NEA.

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett

Quarterback Ken Stabler led Alabama to an 11-0 record in 1966. But after the Crimson Tide had been crowned the national champion for the 1964 season by the AP and UPI and for the 1965 season by the AP and FWAA, the voters abandoned Alabama in 1966, with the AP, FWAA and UPI awarding their national championships to Notre Dame and the National Football Foundation splitting its title between the Fighting Irish and Michigan State.

Notre Dame and Michigan State played to an infamous 10-10 tie on Nov. 19, 1966. Each team finished with a 9-0-1 record, and neither played in a bowl that season. The Irish did not go to bowls at that time. A Big Ten rule that barred members from playing in the Rose Bowl in consecutive seasons kept the Spartans from representing the conference in Pasadena.

Today, of course, the three teams would be involved in the College Football Playoff. Georgia has won the past two CFP crowns with Stetson Bennett at quarterback, and he led the Bulldogs through an undefeated season in 2022.

Bennett joined Alabama’s AJ McCarron as the only SEC quarterbacks to start for two national championship teams in the playoff era. McCarron can be included on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot when his eligibility window opens. But Bennett, like Stabler, will not be considered. While Bennett was winning, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett and Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams were claiming the first-team All-American recognition at quarterback.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts

Hurts joins AJ McCarron and Stetson Bennett as the SEC quarterbacks who have started more than one national championship game in the playoff era.

Like McCarron, Hurts finished as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy (after he transferred to Oklahoma for the 2019 season). But like Bennett, Hurts is not eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame.

Hurts compiled a 38-4 record as a starting college quarterback, and he’s 21st in NCAA FBS history for touchdown responsibility.

The season that Hurts finished as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, LSU’s Joe Burrow, who won the Heisman Trophy and led the Tigers past Hurts and the Sooners in the CFP semifinals, swept the quarterback All-American honors.

Ole Miss wide receiver A.J. Brown

As the Philadelphia quarterback last season, Jalen Hurts formed one of the NFL’s best passing combinations with wide receiver A.J. Brown, and their production helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl.

Before becoming a 1,000-yard receiver in the NFL, Brown became the career leader in receiving yards at Ole Miss, and he ranks eighth in SEC history in that category with 2,984. But like most of the players in the conference’s all-time top 10, Brown isn’t eligible for the College Football of Fame.

None of the top 10 receivers in SEC are enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. LSU wide receiver Josh Reed, the first player in SEC history to reach 3,000 receiving yards, is eligible but has not been chosen for enshrinement. Alabama wide receivers DeVonta Smith and Amari Cooper, who are first and third on the league list, will be eligible when their time comes.

The other six receivers in the top 10 have the same Hall of Fame status as Brown — none.

Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning

Like Brown, Manning is a former Rebels star who is a career leader in the program and a top 10 producer in SEC history. Manning is Ole Miss’ career leader in passing yards and ranks 10th in conference history in that statistic.

Also like Brown, Manning is not eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. But there’s something especially odd about Manning’s exclusion from eligibility.

In 2003, Manning won the Maxwell Award. That means the selectors of the alternative Heisman considered him the nation’s best college football player that season. But became the player who won the Heisman in 2003, Oklahoma’s Jason White, was the first-team selection at quarterback for all of the consensus All-America organizations, Manning has no path to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Of the first six SEC winners of the Maxwell Award, including two-time recipient Tim Tebow of Florida, five are enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. Manning is the exception.

Of the seven SEC players who have won the Maxwell since Tebow received his second in 2008, all will be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration when their time comes.

LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson

Like Eli Manning, Hodson holds the career record for passing yards for one of the SEC programs. He’s the longest reigning player in the conference in the position, too.

His 9,115 passing yards have stood as the LSU record since 1989, and he also held the LSU record for career touchdown passes for 30 years until the Tigers’ Joe Burrow set the conference’s single-season mark in 2019.

Hodson was an All-SEC first-team selection in 1986, 1987 and 1989. During Hodson’s all-conference seasons, the All-American quarterbacks were West Virginia’s Major Harris, Syracuse’s Don McPherson, Miami (Fla.)’s Vinny Testaverde and Houston’s Andre Ware. All four players are enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray

Not only is Murray the career leader in passing yards for Georgia, his 13,166 passing yards are the most by any SEC player as are his 121 touchdown passes. But like the next three players behind him on the career passing-yards list, Murray is not eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. That covers Missouri’s Drew Lock, Georgia’s David Greene and Florida’s Chris Leak.

The No. 5 passer in SEC history, Tennessee QB Peyton Manning, is enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, No. 6 Eric Zeier of Georgia is eligible to be, and No. 7 Danny Wuerffel of Florida also is in the Hall.

No. 8 Will Rogers of Mississippi State still has a chance to become eligible because he’s still playing. But No. 9 Jared Lorenzen of Kentucky and No. 10 Eli Manning of Ole Miss don’t.

Ole Miss running back Deuce McAllister

Of the 14 players who are the program leaders in career passing yards for the current SEC members, only Tennessee QB Peyton Manning is in the College Football Hall of Fame, and the only one with eligibility is Alabama QB AJ McCarron (although Mississippi State’s Will Rogers still has a chance to become a first-team All-American in 2023).

The Hall of Fame fortunes of the 14 players who are the program leaders in career rushing yards for the SEC’s current members have been better. Arkansas’ Darren McFadden, Auburn’s Bo Jackson, Georgia’s Herschel Walker, LSU’s Kevin Faulk and South Carolina’s George Rogers (from the Gamecocks’ pre-SEC days) have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and Alabama’s Najee Harris, Florida’s Errict Rhett and Texas A&M’s Darren Lewis (from the Aggies’ pre-SEC era) have the All-American requirement covered.

But that leaves six players who are the career rushing leader at an SEC member who are not eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. That includes McAllister, who remains the only Ole Miss player with more than 3,000 rushing yards and also still has scored 10 more touchdowns than any other Rebels player even though his last season was in 2000.

Vanderbilt wide receiver Jordan Matthews

For the 14 players who are the career leaders in receiving yards at the current SEC programs, the two longest-standing members are members of the College Football Hall of Fame – Auburn’s Terry Beasley and Florida’s Carlos Alvarez. The No. 3 player in time served in that position – LSU’s Josh Reed – is eligible for enshrinement, and the one with the most receiving yards – Alabama’s DeVonta Smith – will be, too, when his window opens. But the other 10 career receiving leaders are not eligible for consideration.

That includes Vanderbilt wide receiver Jordan Matthews. The former Madison Academy standout held the SEC record for career receiving yards before being surpassed by Smith, and Matthews had left the Commodores with the ninth-most receiving yards for a player from a Power 5 program.

Matthews was a first-team All-American in his senior season, but that recognition was bestowed by USA Today and Athlon, which were not on the NCAA’s list of consensus selectors that season.

The consensus All-American wide receivers in 2013 were Oregon State’s Brandin Cooks and Texas A&M’s Mike Evans, who finished second to Matthews in receiving yards among SEC players that season. Penn State’s Allen Robinson and Clemson’s Sammy Watkins also qualified for future consideration as College Football Hall of Fame wide receivers by being first-team All-American selections by The Sporting News and American Football Coaches Association, respectively, in 2013.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.