Trio of former Sooners on College Football Hall of Fame ballot

USA Today

2 days ago

Trio of former Sooners on College Football Hall of Fame ballot
A trio of Oklahoma Sooners players are once again on the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame ballot.
After also being included on last year's ballot, quarterback Josh Heupel and linebackers Rocky Calmus and George Cumby are back on the list for induction into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
In all, 79 FBS players and 10 head coaches are on this year's ballot for induction into the Hall, as well as 100 players and 35 coaches from all other divisions. Votes will be tabulated from among the more than 12,000 NFF members and Hall of Famers and submitted to the NFF Honors Court, which will deliberate and select the next class, which will be revealed in January.
Over the years, OU has had 30 players and four coaches inducted into the Hall. The most recent inductee is defensive lineman Dewey Selmon in 2024.
Heupel was the first starting quarterback of the Bob Stoops era in 1999. After playing college football for Weber State in 1996 and 1997 and Snow College (a community college) in 1998, he transferred to Oklahoma for his final two collegiate seasons.
After guiding the Sooners to a 7-5 record in 1999, the Aberdeen, South Dakota native helped lead OU to an undefeated 13-0 record and a consensus national championship in 2000. He was the runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting after an excellent season in Year 2 under Stoops. Heupel helped usher in the Air Raid offense to Oklahoma, a place that had relied heavily on the triple option for its entire history up until 1999. The Sooners have been running some form of the Air Raid or Spread offenses ever since.
Despite going undrafted, Heupel spent time with the NFL's Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, but never saw the field in the pros from 2001 to 2002. He returned to OU as a grad assistant in 2004 before coaching tight ends at Arizona in 2005 under head coach Mike Stoops.
Heupel returned to Oklahoma to coach quarterbacks from 2006 to 2010, where he mentored Paul Thompson, Heisman-winner Sam Bradford, and Landry Jones. He earned the role of co-offensive coordinator (along with Jay Norvell) once Kevin Wilson left to take the Indiana head coaching job, and called the plays for the Sooners from 2011 to 2014, while also coaching the quarterbacks.
Despite a solid first two seasons with Landry Jones still under center, Heupel's offenses fell off in the last two seasons with the trio of Trevor Knight, Blake Bell and Cody Thomas starting games. Stoops fired Heupel and Norvell after the 2014 season, replacing them with Lincoln Riley.
Heupel spent a season as Utah State's OC and two years as Missouri's OC. He became UCF's head coach in 2018, spending three years there before landing his current gig, head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. He's done an excellent job on Rocky Top, leading the Vols out of the wilderness they were in before his arrival.
Calmus was a local product from Jenks, Oklahoma who played for the Sooners from 1998 to 2001. He saw the final season of the John Blake era and the first three seasons under Stoops. He too was a big part of OU's 2000 national title team, and ended his career as a two-time consensus All-American.
Calmus' position coach was none other than Brent Venables, who was the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in Norman back in those days. Calmus was a two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and won the 2001 Butkus Award that is given annually to the nation's best linebacker.
One of the best defensive players in the modern era of OU Football (1999 to present), Calmus spent three NFL seasons with the Tennessee Titans and one with the Indianapolis Colts, after being selected in the third round of the 2002 NFL Draft with the 77th overall pick.
Calmus dealt with plenty of injuries during his pro career, but that certainly doesn't diminish what he did at the college level. He was an integral part of those early Stoops-Venables defenses in Norman.
Cumby was a two-time All-American at linebacker for Oklahoma from 1976 to 1979 under head coach Barry Switzer. He was a two time Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year as well.
The Tyler, Texas native finished fifth in school history with 405 tackles, including 160 as a senior in 1979, still fourth in school history. He was a first round pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 1980 NFL Draft (26th overall). In his second season in the league, Cumby had three interceptions and was named second-team All-Pro. He played six professional seasons with the Packers, one for the Buffalo Bills and one for the Philadelphia Eagles, ending his NFL career with five interceptions and six recovered fumbles.
Another familiar name on the ballot to Sooner fans is Larry Coker, who coached the Miami Hurricanes to the 2001 national title. He was Oklahoma's offensive coordinator under head coach Gary Gibbs from 1990 to 1992. Coker is Oklahoma through and through. He is a native of Okemah, played football at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, and coached at both of the state's other FBS programs, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.
Additionally, former Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2027. The Hall lowered the win percentage eligibility criteria from .600 to .595, meaning Leach can now get in. "The Pirate" passed away in 2022 with a .596 win percentage.
Leach was the first offensive coordinator Stoops hired upon getting the OU job, and he was the pioneer of the Air Raid at Oklahoma. Though he spent just the 1999 season in Norman, his impact is still being felt at Oklahoma to this day, as the Sooners just hired a young Air Raid disciple named Ben Arbuckle to be the new offensive coordinator.
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