College Football Hall of Fame Ballot Features Flozell Adams, Mark Dantonio and Darryl Rogers

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Former Michigan State All-America offensive tackle Flozell Adams and former head coaches Mark Dantonio and Darryl Rogers are featured on the National Football Foundation's 2024 ballot (Football Bowl Subdivision) for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

In addition, former Spartan Gideon Smith, the first African American to play intercollegiate athletics at Michigan State and a three-year letterwinner from 1913-15, is on the ballot in the divisional coaching category. Smith coached at Hampton University from 1921-40 and led the Pirates to the 1922 Black College National Championship. He recorded four CIAA titles and two unbeaten seasons in his career. The longest tenured coach in Hampton history, Smith has the second-most wins all-time at the school.

This year's ballot includes 78 players and nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 101 players and 32 coaches from the divisional ranks.

The ballot was emailed Monday (June 5) 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 Court, which will deliberate and select the class. The Honors Court, chaired by NFF Board Member and College Football Hall of Famer Archie Griffin from Ohio State, includes an elite and geographically diverse pool of athletic administrators, Hall of Famers and members of the media.

The announcement of the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be made in early 2024, with specific details to be announced in the future.

The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 10, 2024, and permanently immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. They will also be honored at their respective schools with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during the 2024 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 2024 ballot, the player must have played his last year in 1974 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.

*Players who do not comply with the 50-year rule may still be eligible for consideration by the Football Bowl Subdivision and Divisional Veterans Committees. Veterans Committee candidates must still meet First Team All-America requirement.

Once nominated for consideration, all FBS player candidates are submitted to one of eight District Screening Committees, depending on their school's geographic location, which conducts a vote to determine who will appear on the ballot and represent their respective districts. Each year, approximately 15 candidates, who are not selected for the Hall of Fame but received significant votes in the final selection, will be named automatic holdovers and will bypass the district screening process and automatically appear on the ballot the following year. Additionally, the Veterans Committee may make recommendations to the Honors Court for exceptions that allow for the induction of players who played more than 50 years ago. The Honors Court annually reviews the Hall of Fame criteria to ensure a fair and streamlined process.

Of the 5.62 million individuals who have played college football since Princeton first battled Rutgers on Nov. 6, 1869, only 1,074 players have earned induction into the 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 153 seasons. From the coaching ranks, 230 individuals have achieved Hall of Fame distinction.

Below are bio sketches for Adams, Dantonio and Rogers:

Flozell Adams (OT, 6-7, 300, Bellwood, Ill.): Earned first-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Foundation as a senior in 1997 . . . one of only three Spartans to be named the Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year . . . started all 12 games at left tackle in 1997 and helped the Spartans to a No. 24 ranking in rushing offense (199.5 ypg) . . . also opened holes for MSU running backs who tallied 100 or more yards seven times during the season . . . allowed just two sacks and recorded 37 pancakes . . . in his final game at Spartan Stadium, he graded out 89 percent overall with a season-high six pancakes vs. Penn State as MSU gained 452 yards on the ground, the most ever allowed by the Nittany Lions . . . named recipient of MSU's President's Award in 1997 . . . three-year starter (left tackle in 1997; right tackle in 1995-96) . . . four-year letterwinner (1994-97) . . . was an honorable mention All-Big Ten choice in 1995, a second-team All-Big Ten pick in 1996, and a first-team all-league honoree in 1997 . . . drafted in the second round (No. 38 overall) by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1998 NFL Draft . . . played 13 seasons in the NFL, 12 with Dallas (1998-2009) and one with Pittsburgh (2010) . . . five-time Pro Bowler played in 198 career games, including 194 starts . . . his final game was in Super Bowl XLV with the Steelers.

Mark Dantonio (Head Coach; Michigan State, 2007-19): After a storied 13 seasons as head coach of the Michigan State football program, Dantonio retired as the winningest coach in Spartan history on Feb. 4, 2020 . . . finished his career with a record of 114-57 (.667) in East Lansing and 132-74 (.641) in 16 seasons overall . . . during his time at the helm of the Spartan program, Dantonio compiled an impressive list of accomplishments, including three Big Ten Championships (2010, 2013, 2015), two victories in the Big Ten Championship Game (2013, 2015), victories in the 2014 Rose Bowl and the 2015 Cotton Bowl, and an appearance in the 2015 College Football Playoff . . . beyond his record for most victories at MSU, Dantonio won more Big Ten Championships (three) and bowl games (six) than any other coach in school history, while also ranking first with 12 bowl appearances . . . his .639 (69-39) winning percentage in Big Ten games is a school record, while he stands tied for first in AP Top 25 finishes (seven) and second in Big Ten wins (69), home wins (67) and AP Top 25 wins (21) . . . a two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year (2010, 2013), Dantonio led Michigan State to Top 25 finishes seven times (2008: No. 24 in both polls; 2010: No. 14 in both polls; 2011: No. 10 USA TODAY/No. 11 AP; 2013: No. 3 in both polls; 2014: No. 5 in both polls; 2015: No. 6 in both polls; 2017: No. 15 AP/No. 16 USA TODAY) . . . the seven AP Top-25 finishes tied for first in school history, along with Duffy Daugherty . . . MSU was the only school to finish in the top-six of the national polls from 2013-15 (No. 3 in 2013, No. 5 in 2014, No. 6 in 2015) and the 36 wins from 2013-15 marked the winningest three-year stretch in the history of the program . . . the 2010s decade was the greatest in Michigan State history based on total wins, as the Spartans posted a 92-40 (.697) record from 2010-19 . . . had 11 winning seasons in his 13 years in East Lansing, tying Daugherty for the most winning seasons by a Spartan head coach . . . a Zanesville, Ohio, native with Midwest ties, Dantonio spent 40 years in collegiate coaching, including 16 seasons as a head coach (three at Cincinnati from 2004-06; 13 at Michigan State from 2007-19) and 19 seasons overall in East Lansing (served as the Spartan secondary coach from 1995-2000).

Darryl Rogers (Head Coach; Michigan State, 1976-79): Guided the Spartans to a 24-18-2 record (.568) in four years as head coach at Michigan State from 1976-79 and coached three first-team All-Americans (wide receiver Kirk Gibson, tight end Mark Brammer and punter Ray Stachowicz) . . . led the Spartans to the 1978 Big Ten championship, claiming the school's fourth conference title . . . honored as the 1978 Big Ten Coach of the Year after the Spartans closed the championship season on a seven-game winning streak, which started with a 24-15 victory at Michigan, to finish the year 8-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten . . . 1978 team featured one of the top offenses in school history, setting then MSU single-season records for points scored (411) and scoring average (37.4 points per game) . . . spent 20 seasons as a college head coach (Cal State Hayward, 1965; Fresno State, 1966-72; San Jose State, 1973-75; Michigan State, 1976-79; Arizona State, 1980-84) . . . passed away at the age of 84 on July 11, 2018.

In 2019, running back Lorenzo White was the 10th Spartan inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, joining halfback John Pingel (inducted in 1968), tackle Don Coleman (1975), linebacker George Webster (1987), defensive end Bubba Smith (1988), safety Brad Van Pelt (2001), wide receiver Gene Washington (2011), linebacker Percy Snow (2013), running back Clinton Jones (2015) and wide receiver Kirk Gibson (2017). MSU has four former coaches enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame: Clarence "Biggie" Munn, Charles Bachman, Duffy Daugherty and Frank "Muddy" Waters.