Aaron Donald, Marvin Harrison, Mark Ingram Among Newest Inductees Into College Football Hall of Fame

Four coaches and 18 former players are the newest College Football Hall of Famers, which includes a current Pro Football Hall of Famer in Harrison.

Running back Mark Ingram (22) of the Alabama Crimson Tide poses with the Heisman Trophy during a press conference after being named the 75th Heisman Trophy winner at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on Dec. 12, 2009. Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Just days before college football will crown a new national champion in the CFP Title Game, the sport welcomes 22 men into the most prestigious club one can get into. The College Football Hall of Fame announced its newest members on Wednesday, which includes 18 former players and four coaches.

The list of names is highlighted by one current member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Marvin Harrison Sr., one Heisman winner in Mark Ingram, and two of the most dominant defensive linemen of all-time in Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh. The 18 players elected all come from 18 different college football programs, providing interest to fans from all across the nation.

Harrison’s selection to the College Football Hall of Fame comes 10 years after he was inducted into Canton, Ohio, after a stellar 13-year career with the Indianapolis Colts. While at Syracuse (1992-95), he operated as both a wide receiver and a kick returner, where he was a three-time All-Big East selection and also the conference’s Special Teams Player of the Year as a senior. His 2,718 receiving yards were a school record by the time he left Syracuse, and that mark still ranks second in program history, as do his 20 receiving touchdowns.

Ingram became Alabama’s first Heisman winner in 2009, in which he rushed for 1,678 yards and 17 touchdowns en route to helping the Tide win the national championship. At the time, the 19-year-old Ingram was the youngest player to ever win the award, and he did so with the closest vote ever, edging out Stanford’s Toby Gerhart by 28 votes. Over his three-year career in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Ingram was a two-time All-SEC selection and totaled 3,931 scrimmage yards and 46 touchdowns. He then became a first-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft and enjoyed a 12-year pro career, mostly with the New Orleans Saints, with Ingram making three Pro Bowls.

Donald is the most recent of the 18 player inductees to suit up as his college career at Pitt ended in 2013. He began his Panthers career as a defensive end before moving inside to tackle, where he would be a dominant force both in college and in the pros. Donald twice had 11-sack seasons while at Pittsburgh and had an astounding 66 tackles for loss. He led all of college football in the latter as a senior, in which he also racked up all of the major awards for his position, and for defenders as a whole. Donald was both First-team All-Big East (2012), as well as First-team All-ACC (2013) when Pitt switched conferences.

His college career only set the stage for an even better pro career, which is a lock to have him end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. No player in NFL history claimed more Defensive Player of the Year awards (three) than Donald during his decade-long run with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams, which concluded in 2023.

Suh was a predecessor to Donald in wreaking havoc on the defensive line during his five years at Nebraska (2005-09). He racked up 24 sacks, 49.5 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions, and even a pair of pick-sixes during his Cornhuskers career. The highlight of his run came in the 2009 Big 12 Championship Game when Suh had one of the greatest games ever seen in any level of college football. Suh had 12 tackles—including a school record of 7 tackles for loss—as well as 4.5 sacks, which remains a Big 12 Title Game record. He was named the game’s MVP, despite Nebraska losing, and the defensive tackle would also be named the 2009 AP College Football Player of the Year.

More success would follow for Suh once he entered the NFL as the No. 2 overall pick in 2010. He was a five-time All-Pro selection, named to the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team, and won a Super Bowl championship during the course of his 13-year pro career with five different franchises.

Other notable players on offense to get the call from the hall include RB Ki-Jana Carter (Penn State), who went on to become the first overall pick of the 1995 NFL Draft, as well as WR Peter Warrick (Florida State), who went 45-3 during his Seminoles career, won a national title, and finished his college stint as the ACC’s all-time leader in receiving yards.

Notable defensive players include LB James Laurinaitis (Ohio State), who is the only three-time All-American selection amongst the 18 players in this class, as well as CB Terence Newman (Kansas State). Newman was the 2002 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and then went on to a lengthy 15-year NFL career and retired three days before his 40th birthday.

The four coaches in the Class of 2026 are Jim Margraff of Johns Hopkins University, Gary Patterson of TCU, Chris Petersen of Boise State and the University of Washington, and Ken Sparks of Carson-Newman University. With the exception of Margraff and Sparks, every other member of this year’s class is still alive.

Archie Manning, himself a College Football Hall of Famer, extolled the newest inductees, who will all receive custom rings created by Jostens, the official supplier of National Football Foundation rings.

“We are thrilled to announce the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame Class,” said Manning. “Each of these legends ranks among the absolute best to have ever played or coached the game, and we look forward to adding their incredible accomplishments to those permanently enshrined in the NFF Hall of Fame.”

The College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will officially be inducted during the NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 8, 2026, in Las Vegas. They will also be enshrined in the brick-and-mortar Hall of Fame, which is located in Atlanta.