Former Michigan football players Jumbo Elliott and Steve Hutchinson are on the 2019 ballot to be voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
The offensive linemen are two of 76 FBS players on the ballot, which will be voted on by the 12,000 National Football Foundation members, 997 current player inductees and 217 coaching inductees.
The voting deadline is June 22, but the announcement of the new honorees won't come until Jan. 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, Calif. before the national championship game. The actual induction will take place 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10, 2019, at the New York Hilton Midtown.
The inductees will be permanently enshrined at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta later that December and honored on the field during the 15th Annual National Hall of Fame Salute during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
“It’s an enormous honor to just be on the ballot when you think that more than 5.26 million people have played college football and only 997 players have been inducted,” NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell said in a press release. “The Hall’s requirement of being a First-Team All-American creates a much smaller pool of about 1,500 individuals who are even eligible. Being in today’s elite group means an individual is truly among the greatest to have ever played the game, and those actually elected to the Class will be part of a momentous year as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of college football in 2019.”
The selection criteria, as laid out by the NFF on their website, is as follows:
• First and foremost, a player must have received First-Team All-America recognition by a selector organization that is recognized by the NCAA and utilized to comprise their 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 and his fellow man, with love of his country. 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 2019 ballot, the player must have played his last year in 1969 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 coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage.
At Michigan, Elliott was a two-time first-team All-American, two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection, was a part of the 1986 Big Ten champion Wolverines and was a key blocker for star running back Jamie Morris, who tallied three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
Hutchinson was a unanimous first-team All-American in 2000 at U-M. He played and won four bowl games, including the 1997 Rose Bowl, where Michigan was declared national champions. He was a three-time Big Ten champion and is one of only seven players in conference history to be named a four-time first team All-Big Ten selection.
Currently, Michigan has 33 former players or coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame:
• Benjamin Friedman, QB, 1951
• Adolph Schulz, C, 1951
• Fielding Yost, Coach, 1951
• Herbert Crisler, Coach, 1954
• Benjamin Oosterbaan, DE, 1954
• Thomas Harmon, RB, 1954
• William Heston, RB, 1954
• Harry Kipke, RB, 1958
• Neil Snow, DE, 1960
• Francis Wistert, OT, 1967
• Albert Wistert, OT, 1968
• Albert Benbrook, OG, 1971
• John Maulbetsch, FB, 1973
• Harry Newman, QB, 1975
• Ronald Kramer, DE, 1978
• Alvin Wistert, OT, 1981
• Mervin Pregulman, OT, 1982
• Henry Vick, C, 1983
• Robert Westfall, FB, 1987
• Robert Chappuis, RB, 1988
• Chalmers Elliott, RB, 1989
• Ronald Johnson, RB, 1992
• Glenn (Bo) Schembechler Jr., Coach, 1993
• Peter Elliott, QB, 1994
• Daniel Dierdorf, OT, 2000
• Anthony Carter, WR, 2001
• Reginald McKenzie, OG, 2002
• James Mandich, TE, 2004
• Thomas Curtis, S, 2005
• David Brown, S, 2007
• Desmond Howard, WR, 2010
• Lloyd Carr, Coach, 2011
• Robert Lytle, RB, 2015
For a full list of players on the ballot, click here.
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