All Sooners

Three Oklahoma Legends Land on 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Ballot

On Monday, three Sooners were included in the 78-person ballot that will decide the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame inductees.

Randall Sweet

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OU legends Rocky Calmus, Josh Heupel and Dewey Selmon were included in the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame ballot on Monday morning, the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame announced.  

The trio of Sooners are among 78 total players and coaches to be included on this year's ballot, which will be sent to National Football Foundation members to vote for who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. After the National Football Foundation members submit their votes, the group's Honors Court will dictate who makes the cut this year. 

To be eligible for the hall of fame, players must have been named a first-team All-American at some point in their career. Steve Hatchell, the National Football Foundation's President and CEO, said that the inductees will be announced in early 2024.

Calmus played linebacker for the Sooners from 1998-2001, winning the Butkus Award and the Jack Lambert Trophy in his final year at OU while helping lead his team to a national title. Calmus, who hails from Tulsa, was a two-time consensus All-American and four time All-Big 12 honoree while racking up a school record 59 career tackles for loss.

The 2000 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year recorded 431 collegiate tackles before being selected in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. Calmus' son, Casen, will be a freshman on the Oklahoma football team this fall. 

Heupel, Calmus' teammate at OU, is also on the ballot this year. The QB from Aberdeen, South Dakota, led the Sooners to their seventh national championship victory, picking up a handful of awards along the way. 

In the 2000 season, Heupel was a consensus All-American, the AP College Football Player of the Year and the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Additionally, Heupel won the Archie Griffin Award, the Walter Camp Award and the Harley Award for his efforts that season. 

Heupel was named All-Big 12 First Team in 2000 after making the second team in 1999. Now Tennessee's head coach, Heupel was also the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 1999, throwing for over 3400 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Selmon, the brother of fellow OU legends Lee Roy and Lucious Selmon, is up for the College Football Hall of Fame after earning consensus First Team All-American honors in 1975. Selmon helped lead the Sooners to two consecutive national titles, anchoring a defense that allowed 11 points per game. 

With two 100-tackle seasons earning the Eufaula, OK, native two First Team All-Big Eight selections, it is no surprise that the former Sooners' defensive lineman is on this year's Hall of Fame ballot.

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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