Jumbo Elliott has found himself on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot for the third straight season.
Elliott graduated from Sachem in 1983, and was a two-time First Team All-American (consensus in ’87) at the University of Michigan. He was a two-time All-Big Ten First Team selection and a member of the 1986 Big Ten Co-Champion Michigan team that also lost in the Rose Bowl to Arizona State.
A Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants, Elliott spent more than a decade in the NFL. He was originally drafted by the Jets.
The ballot was mailed this week to the more than 12,000 NFF members and current Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF’s Honors Court, which deliberates and selects the class, according to a release from the National Football Foundation.
To be eligible for the ballot, players must have been named a First Team All-America 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 ten years prior; played within the last 50 years and cannot be currently playing professional football.
“It’s an enormous honor to just be on the ballot when you think that more than 4.99 million people have played college football,” said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell in a statement. “The Hall’s requirement of being a First-Team All-American creates a much smaller pool of only 1,500 individuals who are even eligible to be on the ballot, so being in today’s elite group means an individual is truly among the greatest to ever have played the game, and we are proud to announce their names.”
Other notable players on the ballott
- Eric Dickerson, Southern Methodist
- Kirk Gibson, Michigan State
- Ray Lewis, Miami
- Keyshawn Johnson, USC
- Cade McNown, UCLA
- Ron Rivera, California
- Warren Sapp, Miami
- Derrick Thomas, Alabama
- Zack Thomas, Texas Tech
- LaDainian Tomlinson, TCU
- Ricky Williams, Texas
- Jim Tressel, Youngstown State, Ohio State
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro