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Which SEC stars should join Peyton Manning in 2017 College Football Hall of Fame class?

John Crist

By John Crist

Published:

The National Football Foundation announced Wednesday the names of 75 former players that will be on the 2017 ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

RELATED: Spurrier one of 3 SEC coaches on ballot

Needless to say, the SEC is well represented — 12 have ties to the best conference in America.

The class will be revealed Jan. 6 in Tampa, three days before the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Raymond James Stadium.

Among the 14 players who were enshrined a year ago, two were SEC alumni: LSU quarterback Bert Jones and Georgia defensive back Scott Woerner. Expect that number to be challenged during the voting process.

In alphabetical order, here are the 12 candidates this year from the SEC: Lomas Brown (Florida), Tim Couch (Kentucky), Brad Culpepper (Florida), Dan Hampton (Arkansas), Bobby Humphrey (Alabama), E.J. Junior (Alabama), Peyton Manning (Tennessee), Buddy McClinton (Auburn), Dat Nguyen (Texas A&M), Larry Seivers (Tennessee), Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia) and Jackie Walker (Tennessee).

(Note: Hampton and Nguyen played for the Razorbacks and Aggies, respectively, before either program was a part of the SEC. Hampton left Fayetteville in 1979, while Nguyen departed College Station in 1998. Arkansas joined the conference in 1991. Texas A&M came aboard in 2012.)

According to the NFF, here is the criteria for immortal status:

To be eligible for the ballot, players must have been named a First Team All-American by a major/national selector as recognized and utilized by the NCAA for their consensus All-America teams; played their last year of intercollegiate football at least 10 full seasons prior; played within the last 50 years and cannot be currently playing professional football.

Voters may select up to 12 players, so no matter how deserving each of the aforementioned SEC graduates may be, their chances can be strengthened or weakened on an annual basis by the rest of the field. Former San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk, for example, should be a lock based on what he did for the Aztecs.

Speaking of locks, Manning can comfortably start putting together some thoughts for his acceptance speech.

Manning is the most accomplished quarterback in Tennessee lore, earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 1994 and the conference’s Player of the Year nod in 1997. The New Orleans native took home the Maxwell, Davey O’Brien and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards as a senior and finished among the top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting three consecutive seasons. He finished second in 1997.

The No. 1 pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, Manning is the most statistically dominant signal caller to ever play the game and retired recently after capturing his second Super Bowl title — the first with the Indianapolis Colts, the last with the Denver Broncos.

After Manning, there will be more suspense.

The top selection in the draft a year after Manning, the case for enshrinement isn’t nearly as open-and-shut for Couch.

Unquestionably, Couch put together two incredible seasons from a numbers perspective for the Wildcats, leading the country in completions in back-to-back years (1997-98) and throwing 73 touchdown passes during that time. However, Kentucky’s record usually hovered around .500 and the Wildcats never entered the national rankings with Couch at the controls.

While his professional career shouldn’t factor into the decision, the fact that he was a colossal bust on Sunday will be difficult for voters to forget.

Between the two offensive tackles being considered, Stinchcomb has a more impressive résumé than Brown.

Brown was a recipient of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, which is awarded to the best blocker in the conference, but so was Stinchcomb. Brown was an All-American once — Stinchcomb was a first-teamer on two occasions.

Humphrey and Seivers are the lone skill-position players on offense getting a long look.

A sensation for the Crimson Tide as a sophomore and junior when he ran for 1,200 or more yards each season, Humphrey played just two games as a senior due to injury and likely lost his Hall of Fame argument as a result. Seivers may have been the best receiver in the SEC during his time in Knoxville, but he played (1974-76) when the conference focused almost exclusively on the running attack.

Defensively, among the three linemen who made the cut, Hampton is a stronger choice than Culpepper or Junior. Already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame following a stellar career with the Chicago Bears, Hampton led the Hogs to upset wins over Georgia in the January 1976 Cotton Bowl and Oklahoma in the 1978 Orange Bowl.

That being said, Culpepper still has more tackles for loss (47.5) than any D-lineman in Gators history. Junior was first-team All-SEC three times and won a pair of national championships in Tuscaloosa.

As far as the back seven is concerned, Nguyen led Texas A&M in tackles four years in a row — no other Aggie has accomplished that feat — and won the Bednarik Award and Lombardi Trophy as a senior. His Vietnamese heritage makes him all the more memorable on the college football landscape and potentially a more story-worthy selection for voters.

Both Walker and McClinton were interception artists. Walker set the NCAA record for INTs returned for touchdown by a linebacker with five from 1969-71. Despite hanging up his spikes as a defensive back in 1969, McClinton has still picked off more passes (18) than anyone on The Plains before or since.

Best-case scenario, the SEC gets four more enshrinees in Manning, Stinchcomb, Hampton and Nguyen.

For the players left on the cutting-room floor, the CFF reminds us that of the 5.12 million college football players who have suited up since Princeton vs. Rutgers in 1869, only 977 have made it to the Hall of Fame — approximately 5,000-to-1 odds.

College football is yet to construct a Hall of Very Good, even if some of the legendary names and mammoth numbers above suggest the need for one.

John Crist

John Crist is an award-winning contributor to Saturday Down South.

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