Irving, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Former Walter Payton Award winners Michael Payton of Marshall and Archie Amerson of Northern Arizona are part of the 2014 ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation announced Thursday.
The ballot includes 75 players and six coaches from the FBS level and 87 players and 26 coaches from the divisional ranks, which includes the FCS. There are 38 former FCS players and six former FCS head coaches on the list.
The ballot was sent to the more than 12,000 NFF members and current Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF's 17-member Honors Court, which deliberates and selects the class.
"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," NFF president and CEO Steven J. Hatchell said. "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."
Payton, a quarterback, won the 1992 Payton Award, while Amerson, a running back, was voted as the outstanding player in the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) in 1996.
Former Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore and former Youngstown State coach Jim Tressel, who both won multiple FCS national titles and an Eddie Robinson Award as national coach of the year, also are on the ballot.
The 2014 Hall of Fame class will be announced in May and its members will be inducted at the 57th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Dec. 9 in New York. The inductees will be enshrined in the new College Football Hall of Fame at a date to be determined next year. The new Hall, currently under construction, is scheduled to open in Atlanta before the 2014 college football season.
Former FCS players on the ballot:
Archie Amerson, RB, Northern Arizona
Rennie Benn, WR, Lehigh
Carl Boyd, RB, Northern Iowa
Joe Campbell, RB, Middle Tennessee State
Bruce Collie, OT, Texas-Arlington
Case deBruijn, P, Idaho State-Punter
John Dorsey, LB, Connecticut
Tom Ehrhardt, QB, Rhode Island
Curtis Eller, LB, Villanova
Richard Erenberg, RB, Colgate
Don Griffin, S, Middle Tennessee State
Don Hass, HB, Montana State
Conway Hayman, OG, Delaware
John Hill, C, Lehigh
John Huard, LB, Maine
Rene Ingoglia, RB, Massachusetts
Garry Kuhlman, OT, Delaware
Steve McAdoo, OL, Middle Tennessee State
Bill McGovern, DB, Holy Cross-Defensive Back
Robert Morris, DE, Georgetown
John Ogles, FB, Austin Peay State
Chris Parker, RB, Marshall
Michael Payton, QB, Marshall
Martin Peterson, OT, Penn
Charlie Pierce, P/PK, Central Florida
Michael Renna, DE, Delaware
Kirk Roach, PK, Western Carolina
Terry Schmidt, DB, Ball State
Larry Schreiber, RB, Tennessee Tech
Steve Schubert, WR, Massachusetts
Joe Skladany, LB, Lafayette
Leonard Smith, CB, McNeese State
Tom Stenglein, WR, Colgate
Freddie Thomas, DB, Troy (formerly Troy State)
Markus Thomas, TB, Eastern Kentucky
Billy Thompson, DB, Maryland Eastern Shore
Lee White, FB, Weber State
John Zanieski, DL, Yale
Former FCS head coaches on the ballot:
Bill Bowes, New Hampshire (1972-98)
Jim Feix, Western Kentucky (1968-83)
Rudy Hubbard, Florida A&M (1974-85)
Jerry Moore, North Texas (1979-80), Texas Tech (1981-85), Appalachian State (1989-2012)
Jim Tressel, Youngstown State (1986-2000), Ohio State (2001-2010)
John Whitehead, Lehigh (1976-86)
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