On ballot for first time for College Football Hall of Fame: Jeremy Maclin, Eric Berry
Former Missouri star wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is for the first time on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.
Maclin was a consensus All-America for the Tigers in 2007 and made the All-America team as an all-purpose player twice in his career. He led FBS in all-purpose yards with 202.4 in 2008 and set the Tigers’ career record in that department (5,609) in two seasons. He also played eight seasons in the NFL, including 2015-16 with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Maclin’s coach at Missouri, Gary Pinkel, is also on the ballot for the Class of 2022. He’s the winningest coach at Mizzou and Toledo, taking 11 teams to bowl games, including 10 in his 15 years in Columbia. Pinkel led the Tigers to two Big 12 and two SEC championship games.
Maclin is one of 78 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players on the ballot. On the ballot for a second time is Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop, the 1998 Davey O’Brien Award winner and 1998 consensus All-America.
Pinkel is among seven FBS coaches on the ballot. The ballot also includes another 99 players and 33 coaches from the divisional ranks.
“It’s an enormous honor to just be on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot considering more than 5.47 million people have played college football and only 1,038 players have been inducted,” said National Football Foundation President & CEO Steve Hatchell.
A spot on an All-America team as a first-team selection is a minimum requirement to reach the ballot. Players become eligible for the ballot 10 years after their final college season. A coach becomes eligible three years after retirement and requires at least a .600 winning percentage over a career than spanned at least 10 years.
Also on the ballot for the first time is Eric Berry, a former All-Pro safety for the Chiefs who was the 2009 winner of the Thorpe Award at Tennessee.
A notable first-time member of the ballot is Reggie Bush, the former Southern California running back who forfeited his 2005 Heisman Trophy in the wake of an NCAA investigation that revealed he and his family received gifts while Bush was in school, a violation of NCAA rules.
The class will be announced in early 2022.
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 10:15 AM.