Urlacher NFF College Football HOF Set for Tues.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — A native son of New Mexico, and one of the greatest student-athletes in the history of The University of New Mexico, Brian Urlacher will be formally inducted into the into the NFF College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday in New York City. The original announcement was made on January 9 during SportsCenter on ESPN.
Urlacher will officially be inducted at the National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner held at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. Not only is he the first player from UNM to have be named to the Hall of Fame, but he is the first player to have played in the Mountain West. He joins two Mountain coaches, Fisher DeBerry of Air Force and LaVell Edwards of BYU in the College Hall of Fame.
Urlacher had a brilliant four-year career for the Lobos under Dennis Franchione and Rocky Long who will both be in attendance at the ceremonies in New York. He mostly played the hybrid “Lobo” back, which was a cross between a linebacker and a free safety. The Lovington, New Mexico, native played from 1996-99, earning All-America honors in both 1998 and 1999, including being named a Concensus First Team All-America in 1999 after one of the greatest seasons in Lobo history.
In 1999, Urlacher not only won Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, but he was a three-way superstar, playing wide receiver and returning punts. How good was he? Urlacher led the team in tackles with 154, with forced fumbles with five, with recovered fumbles with three, with pass breakups with seven, and then he also led the team with seven touchdowns, 42 points and with a 15.8-yard average on punt returns.
Urlacher’s senior season saw him advance as a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award for the top defensive back in college football, and he finished 12th in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year. His final college game was in the 2000 Senior Bowl.
Overall, Urlacher’s 442 career tackles was good for fourth all-time at UNM, and his 11 forced fumbles are second. He also was a three time WAC/Mountain West Player of the Week. In 2013, Urlacher’s number 44 was retired, the fourth such honor to be given to a Lobo football player.
His brilliant collegiate career at UNM led to his selection in the 2000 NFL Draft, where he was the ninth overall selection, selected by the Chicago Bears. He would go on to have a brilliant 13-year career in Chicago, starting 180 of 182 games and setting a franchise record with 1,353 tackles, including 153 in 2002, which is still a Bears single-season record. He also recorded five touchdowns in his career along with 41.5 sacks, 22 interceptions and 12 forced fumbles.
Among his NFL honors, he was voted to eight NFL Pro Bowls, was named the Associated Press and The Sporting News Defensive Rookie of the Year (2000), NFL Defensive Player of the Year (2005), and was named the Ed Block Courage Award winner for commitment to sportsmanship and courage (2012). He was a member of the 2000s All-Decade Team, and he was named First Team All-Pro in 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006, and he was a Second Team All-Pro in 2010.
2017 COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS
Players:
- BOB CRABLE – LB, Notre Dame (1978-81)
- MARSHALL FAULK – RB, San Diego State (1991-93)
- KIRK GIBSON – WR, Michigan State (1975-78)
- MATT LEINART – QB, Southern California (2003-05)
- PEYTON MANNING – QB, Tennessee (1994-97)
- BOB McKAY – OT, Texas (1968-69)
- DAT NGUYEN – LB, Texas A&M (1995-98)
- ADRIAN PETERSON – RB, Georgia Southern (1998-2001)
- MIKE RUTH – NG, Boston College (1982-85)
- BRIAN URLACHER – DB, New Mexico (1996-99)
Coaches:
- DANNY FORD – 122-59-5 (66.9%); Clemson (1978-89), Arkansas (1993-97)
- LARRY KEHRES – 332-24-3 (92.9%); Mount Union (Ohio) (1986-2012)
- STEVE SPURRIER – 228-89-2 (71.8%); Duke (1987-89), Florida (1990-2001), South Carolina (2005-15)