Manning Debuts On College Hall Of Fame Ballot

DENVER (CBS4)- Peyton Manning, Marshall Faulk and Steve Spurrier will be on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot this year for the first time.

The National Football Foundation released Wednesday the names of 75 former players and six retired coaches who competed in FBS that will be up for election. The latest Hall of Fame class will be announced on Jan. 6 in Tampa, Florida, the site of the College Football Playoff national championship game.

Manning, the former record-setting quarterback from Tennessee, and Faulk, who led the NCAA in rushing twice during his three seasons at San Diego State, are among 15 players making their first appearance on the ballot.

Spurrier retired during last season, finishing a 26-year career as the winningest coach at both South Carolina and Florida.

Other notable first-time players on the ballot include Southern California defensive back Troy Polamalu, California tight end Tony Gonzalez and Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer.

The holdover players on the ballot include three Heisman Trophy winners: Colorado running back Rashaan Salaam, Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch and Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart. Coaches on the ballot include Danny Ford, who led Clemson to its only national title, and Darryl Rogers, who had success at Fresno State, San Jose State, Michigan State and Arizona State.

The ballot also has 95 players and 29 coaches who competed outside of the highest division of college football, including former Mount Union coach Larry Kehres, who won 11 Division III national titles with the Purple Raiders.

To be eligible for the ballot, a player must have been a first-team All-American by one of the five organizations used by the NCAA to determine the consensus All-America team: The Associated Press; the American Football Coaches Association, the Football Writers of America Association; the Sporting News; and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

Coaches must have coached a minimum of 10 years and 100 games and won at least 60 percent of their games.

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