College Football

Gators Wuerffel selected to college HOF

NEW YORK, (AP) — Heisman Trophy winners Danny Wuerffel of Florida and Ron Dayne of Wisconsin, along with two-time national champion Tommie Frazier of Nebraska, were selected Tuesday for the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
   They are part of a class of 12 players and two coaches chosen by the National Football Foundation and revealed Tuesday.
 
   The rest of the players to be inducted in December are: Miami Heisman winner Vinny Testaverde, whose selection was announced Monday; Ted Brown of North Carolina State; Tedy Bruschi of Arizona; Jerry Gray of Texas; Steve Meilinger of Kentucky; Orlando Pace of Ohio State; Rod Shoate of Oklahoma; Percy Snow of Michigan State; and Don Trull of Baylor.
 
   The new Hall of Fame coaches are Wayne Hardin, who led Navy and Temple, and Bill McCartney of Colorado.
 
   Florida and Nebraska fans have been eagerly awaiting the inductions of their beloved quarterbacks for years.
 
   Wuerffel won the Heisman in 1996, when he led the Gators to the national championship, throwing for 3,625 yards and 39 touchdowns in coach Steve Spurrier's Fun-n-Gun offense.
 
   "I'm thankful for what college football has meant in my life ... and how it allowed me to help other people," said Wuerffel, who was appeared at a news conference with Bruschi at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in Times Square.
 
   He finished with college career as one of the most prolific passers in major college football history with 10,875 and 114 touchdown passes.
 
   After a short NFL career, he retired to dedicate himself to ministry work in New Orleans, where he played from 1997-99 with the Saints.
 
   In 2011, Wuerffel was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disorder -- GuillainBarrΘ syndrome, which causes paralysis and problems with the nervous system but is treatable.
 
   Frazier was a four-year starter running coach Tom Osborne's option attack, and helped the Huskers to national championships in 1994 and `95. His tackling-breaking 75-yard touchdown run put an exclamation point on Nebraska's 62-24 victory over Wuerffel and Florida in the 1996 Orange Bowl national title game.
 
   "You never play the game and think you are going to be in the Hall of Fame one day," Frazier said in a statement released by Nebraska. "You just go out and try to be the best you can and whatever happens happens. I was fortunate good things happened."
 
   Frazier finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1995 as a senior and finished his career with 5,476 total yards of offense and 79 total touchdowns.
 
   Dayne is the NCAA's career rushing leader with 6,397 yards rushing, though his bowl game yards would boost his career total past 7,000 yards if he played at a time when the NCAA counted them in regular season stats. The burly tailback won the Heisman for the Badgers in 1999.
 
   Brown left North Carolina State as the Atlantic Coast Conference's leader in rushing yards (4,602) and touchdowns (51).
 
   Bruschi had 52 sacks as part of Arizona's Desert Swarm defenses during the mid-1990s.
 
   Gray is one of the top defensive backs to play at Texas. He finished his career with 16 interceptions and 297 tackles.
 
   Steve Meilinger was a star on offense, defense and special teams for Paul "Bear" Bryant at Kentucky in the early 1950s.
 
   Orlando Pace is considered one of the most dominant offensive linemen in college football history. He finished fourth in the Heisman voting in 1996.
 
   Shoate led the Sooners in tackles for three straight seasons during his career from 1972-74.
 
   Snow became the first player to win the Butkus award as the nation's top linebacker and the Lombardi as the top linemen or linebacker as a senior with Michigan State in 1989.
 
   Trull passed for more than 4,000 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Bears from 1961-63.
 
   Hardin coached Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach to the Heisman Trophy at Navy in the 1960s, and then went on to become the most successful coach in Temple history.
 
   McCartney helped turn Colorado from a cellar dwellar to a national title contender in the 1990s.