College Football Hall of Fame Votes

After hearing Dr. Sap talk about Rick Leach not being in the College Football Hall of Fame on WTKA one morning, I joined the National Football Foundation so I could vote. Spoiler alert, he's still not on the ballot.

There are 75 Division I players on the ballot. I can vote for up to 12. Additionally there are 6 division I coaches (vote for 2), 95 lower division players (vote for 4) and 29 lower division coaches (vote for 2) on the ballot.

Here is my decision making process as I vote for division I players.

1. Did they play for Michigan
2. Have I seen them play in person and the level of success they had against Michigan
3. Under recognized player I saw enough on TV or heard enough about to earn my vote
4. "Star" who is likely to get enough votes from others

Criteria 1 yields 2 players, Jumbo Elliott and Mark Messner. In my opinion Elliott helped restart Michigan as an offensive lineman factory. Messner was amazing as a redshirt freshman on the 1985 defense and was dominant on the 1988 Rose Bowl Champs. That's two of my votes.

Criteria 2 adds 16 more players, so I shouldn't need to go past here to complete this part of the ballot.

• Terrell Buckley - Dominant performance in Florida State's (closer than the final score) 51-31 victory of Desmond Howard and the 1991 Wolverines.
• Keith Byars -injury plagued for most of 1985, but he did play against Messner and Elliott in the first M-OSU game I attended.
• Mark Carrier - on the roster for the 1989 Rose Bowl game  but I admit to not remembering him play.
• Kerry Collins - Losing QB in M's first trip to Happy Valley. He did lead an undefeated squad to victory in Ann Arbor in 1994, but I missed that game for a wedding.
• Tim Dwight - his punt return for a touchdown just before the half was as close to a loss for the 1997 MNC Wolverines.
• Moe Gardner - big DT for Illinois, I swear I remember jiMpossible telling me that he trashed talked Moe on the sidelines in 1988 or 1989. But now he claims to not remember this story.
• Dana Howard - Part of the Illini defense that tied M in 1992 and beat them in 1993, but I don't remember much about him.
• Raghib Ismael - I was supposed to babysit my nieces in Southfield, but was able to get out of it when I scalped tickets to the 1989 M-ND game that saw Ismael return 2 kickoffs for touchdowns.
• Matt Leinart - destroyed Michigan in the 2004 Rose Bowl
• Anthony Poindexter - defensive back for Virginia, he would have been a freshman in the 1995 season opener. I do not remember him if he did play.
• Antwaan Randle-El - Michigan has had some close victories over Indiana lately. Randle-El had a Hail Mary throw into the endzone to knock off Tom Brady's team in Bloomington in 1999.
• Simeon Rice - Another Illini defender, like Howard part of a tie and victory over M.
• Rashaan Salaam - Heisman trophy winner for the 1994 Buffaloes that came all teh way back to knock off M on the Kordell Stewart Hail Mary.
• Aaron Taylor - Notre Dame lineman was 1-1 in the 2 games I saw his team face M.
• Troy Vincent - Defensive back for the Badgers back when M dominated the Badgers
• Lorenzo White - was dominant for the Spartans in the 1987 victory (although they still needed 7 interceptions to win).

Buckley, Dwight, Ismael, Leinart, Randle-El, Salaam and White all had strong enough performances when I saw them to definitely earn my vote, 9 down 3 spots left.

Byars, Carrier, Collins, Gardner, Howard, Poindexter, Rice, Taylor and Vincent are vying for the final 3 spots. Is there anyone to add from next 3rd criteria?

• Eric Bienemy - helped start the Colorado resurgence. 
• Matt Cavanaugh - good at handing off to Tony Dorsett
• Bobby Humphrey had that epic battle with Jamie Morris the in the Hall of Fame Bowl
• Dat Nguyen - that's fun to say

I'll go with Rice - never saw M beat him. Gardner - still holding out hope that jiMpossible trash-talked him and Bobby Humphrey.

Only Spurrier gets my vote in the coaches group and I decided I'm even less qualified to vote on the lower division selections.