Torretta, Brown make 2009 College Football Hall of Fame Subdivision

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame announced the 2009 College Football Hall of Fame Football Bowl Subdivision Class and former Heisman winners Gino Toerretta and Tim Brown made the list.

Tim BrownPLAYERS

•PERVIS ATKINS – HB, New Mexico State (1958-60)
•TIM BROWN – WR, Notre Dame (1984-87)
•CHUCK CECIL – DB, Arizona (1984-87)
•ED DYAS – FB, Auburn (1958-60)
•MAJOR HARRIS – QB, West Virginia (1987-89)
•GORDON HUDSON – TE, Brigham Young (1980- 83)
•WILLIAM LEWIS* – C, Harvard (1892-93)
•WOODROW LOWE – LB, Alabama (1972-75)
•KEN MARGERUM – WR, Stanford (1977-80)
•STEVE McMICHAEL – DT, Texas (1976-79)
•CHRIS SPIELMAN – LB, Ohio State (1984-87)
•LARRY STATION – LB, Iowa (1982-85)
•PAT SWILLING – DE, Georgia Tech (1982-85)
•GINO TORRETTA – QB, Miami (Fla.) (1989-92)
•CURT WARNER – RB, Penn State (1979-82)
•GRANT WISTROM – DE, Nebraska (1994-97)
* Selection from the FBS Veterans Committee, deceased

COACHES

•DICK MacPHERSON – 111-73-5 (.601) – Massachusetts (1971-77), Syracuse (1981-90)
•JOHN ROBINSON – 132-77-4 (.629) – Southern California (1976-82, 1993-97), Nevada-Las Vegas (1999-2004)

It’s always amazing to me that a guy like Torretta can put up such great numbers in college, yet never made it in the NFL. (Teams didn’t even consider him as a top pick despite passing for more than 3,000 yards during his Heisman-winning senior season.) But you see examples of it every year (this year’s was Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, who went undrafted), so I guess I shouldn’t be too amazed.

Good to see Pat Swilling on this list. The late Swilling was always fun to watch and I thought he was a little underrated as a player. You have to appreciate self-made players like Chris Spielman, too. Scouts said he was too small, yet he went on to appear in four Pro Bowls.

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Best all-time franchise players for all 32 NFL teams

ESPN.com did a cool feature recently when they asked SportsNation to select an all-time player for each NFL team. Some players were obvious choices for teams, including Brett Favre for the Packers and Barry Sanders for the Lions, but there were some question picks, as well.

The site added links to video of each player, as well as a chance to debate each choice.

Here were some of the more obvious selections:

49ers: Joe Montana, QB
Packers: Brett Favre, QB
Lions: Barry Sanders, RB
Browns: Jim Brown, RB
Dolphins: Dan Marino, QB
Patriots: Tom Brady, QB
Broncos: John Elway, QB
Chargers: LaDainian Tomlinson, RB
Colts: Peyton Manning, QB

And some of the more questionable choices:

Ravens: Matt Stover, K
Saints: Bobby Hebert, QB

As a colleague pointed out, it’s hard to argue with any of these picks because they were chosen by fans. But Matt Stover over Ray Lewis? Bobby Hebert over Archie Manning?

Lewis has been the face of Baltimore’s franchise for almost a decade and Stover is a kicker (albeit a very good kicker) for Jonathan Ogden’s sake. And I know Hebert was a fan favorite that led the team to the playoffs in 1988, but if Manning had a better team around him, he might have led the Saints to their first ever Super Bowl. I thought Pat Swilling would have gotten more love, too. (Swilling only got 2.4% of votes.)

Cool feature, though.

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