• Complete College Football Hall of Fame Ballot Press Release and Bio Sketches | PDF
Five former OVC football student-athletes and two former coaches are among those on the 2026 ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame recently announced.
In total there were 79 players and nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 100 players and 35 coaches from the divisional ranks on the ballot.
The former OVC players include Middle Tennessee's
Joe Campbell,
Don Griffin and
Steve McAdoo, Western Kentucky's Paul Gray and Eastern Kentucky's
Markus Thomas. The former coaches are Western Kentucky's
Jim Feix and Middle Tennessee's
Charles Murphy.
There are currently three former OVC players (Tony Romo, George Floyd Jr. and Jim Youngblood) and three former coaches (Roy Kidd, Boots Donnelly and Frank Beamer) in the College Football Hall of Fame.
The ballot was emailed 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 Courts, which will deliberate and select the class. The announcement of the 2026 Class will be made in early 2026.
The 2026 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 68th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 8, 2026, at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, and they will be honored at their respective schools with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during the 2026 season.
The criteria for Hall of Fame consideration include:
• First and foremost, a player must have received First-Team All-America recognition by a selector that is recognized by the NCAA and utilized to comprise its consensus All-America teams.
• A player becomes eligible for consideration by the Foundation's Honors Courts 10 full seasons after his final year of intercollegiate football played.
• While each nominee's football achievements in college are of prime consideration, his post-football record as a citizen is also weighed. He must have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community. Consideration may also be given for academic honors and whether the candidate earned a college degree.
• Players must have played their last year of intercollegiate football within the last 50 years. For example, to be eligible for the 2023 ballot, the player must have played his last year in 1973 or thereafter. In addition, players who are playing professionally and coaches who are coaching on the professional level are not eligible until after they retire.
A coach becomes eligible three full seasons after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years of age. Active coaches become eligible at 75 years of age. He must have been a head football coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage.
• Nominations may only be submitted by the current athletics director, head coach or sports information director (SID) of a potential candidate's collegiate institution. Nominations may also be submitted by the president/executive director of a dues-paying chapter of the National Football Foundation.
Of the 5.78 million individuals who have played college football since Princeton first battled Rutgers on Nov. 6, 1869, only 1,111 players have earned induction into the NFF College Football Hall of Fame, or less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of those who have played the game during the past 155 seasons. From the coaching ranks, 237 individuals have achieved NFF Hall of Fame distinction.
Former OVC Players on College Football Hall of Fame Ballot
Joe Campbell, Middle Tennessee
Paul Gray, Western Kentucky
Don Griffin, Middle Tennessee
Steve McAdoo, Middle Tennessee
Markus Thomas, Eastern Kentucky
Former OVC Football Coaches on College Football Hall of Fame Ballot
Jim Feix, Western Kentucky (1968-83)
Charles Murphy, Middle Tennessee (1947-68)