Monday, June 12, 2017

2017 College Football Hall Of Fame Voting

I voted for the first time last year. Looks like only one player and one coach I voted for made it in the class.

I'll use the same criteria this year:

  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 3 deserving Wolverines.
Jumbo Elliot - dominant offensive lineman that helped return M to a OL factory
Rick Leach - The Peach - The Guts and Glue of the Maize and Blue
Charles Woodson - Heisman Trophy winner

For the second criteria - there are 16 players I saw play in person on the ballot, so once again I won't have to go past this criteria:
  1. Tyrell Buckley - Great battle with Desmond Howard in 1991
  2. Keith Byars - Injured much of 1985, but played against M
  3. Mark Carrier - Don't remember him from the 1989 Rose Bowl
  4. Kerry Collins - Losing QB in M's first trip to Happy Valley in 1993 - I missed the 1994 game in Ann Arbor
  5. Robert Gallery - I always felt he was overrated at Iowa
  6. Moe Gardner - Stout D lineman from Illinois - I swear jiMpossible called him out on the sideline but he claims not to remember
  7. Dana Howard -Illini linebacker who I saw tie and beat M
  8. Raghib Ismail - shouldn't have kicked to him once, let alone twice
  9. Anthony Poindexter may have played in the Kickoff Classic in 1995
  10. Antwaan Randle El - Had a last second heave to defeat M in 1999 in Bloomington fall incomplete
  11. Simeon Rice - same as Dana Howard above
  12. Taylor Stubblefield - Purdue receiver did not have much success vs. M
  13. Aaron Taylor - DL from Notre Dame - lost to Desmond Howard in '91 and beat M in '93
  14. Troy Vincent - Wisconsin DB - M had no trouble with his Badgers
  15. Michael Westbrook - 1994 Colorado...
  16. Lorenzo White - 1987 at MSU
Easy votes are Buckley, Ismail, Randle El, Westbrook and White. That brings me to 8 votes - so 4 more to go.
I'll go with Byars for his 1984 season, Kerry Collins for his 1994 season, Moe Gardner and Taylor Stubblefield.

For coaches there are 2 options that I saw coach against M, so they get my vote. Frank Beamer - truly deserving even though his team lost to M, and Mack Brown - probably less deserving, but he did ride Vince Young to a Rose Bowl victory over Michigan.