According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, former Alabama linebacker Derrick Thomas has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The official 2014 class will be announced in full Thursday.
Former Alabama LB Derrick Thomas finally makes College Football Hall of Fame
Thomas has the NCAA records for sacks in a season and a career, among other accolades.
I don’t know about you guys, but do you think it was about time?
Good, so we’re in agreement.
Thomas has been considered a Hall of Fame snub ever since the first year he was eligible four years ago. He was one of the best defensive players of his generation while he was with the Crimson Tide, and as Roll Bama Roll describes it, “Thomas was a linebacker ahead of his time. He was big as a defensive end (6-3, 255) but fast like a safety.”
He set the NCAA record for single season sacks at 27 in 1988 (for reference, the leader this past year was Stanford’s Trent Murphy with 15). He also had a career record 52 sacks. Roll Bama Roll has more of his accolades:
2014 College Football Hall of Fame
- 1988 SEC Defensive Player of the Year
- 1988 Consensus All-America
- 1988 Dick Butkus Award
- 1988 one of two permanent team captains commemorated with handprints and footprints in front of Denny Chimes (QB David Smith was the other)
- 10th in the 1988 Heisman voting (He had some pretty big names ahead of him)
- 74 career tackles for loss, 39 in 1988
- Seven career blocked kicks
- 1989 1st round pick (4th overall) of the Kansas City Chiefs
Thomas was the fourth overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft and played 11 NFL seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, in which he made nine Pro Bowls and set an NFL single-game record with seven sacks, among other accolades. He died from the effects of a car crash in 2000, but was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
Finally, the College Football Hall of Fame also got it right.
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