Larry Fitzgerald, Julius Peppers Among 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class

The College Football Hall of Fame announced its class of 2024, highlighted by former Marshall receiver Randy Moss, former Pittsburgh wideout Larry Fitzgerald, former Utah quarterback Alex Smith and former North Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers.

“We are extremely proud to announce the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class,” former Ole Miss quarterback and NFF Chairman Archie Manning said in a statement. “Each of these men has established himself among the absolute best to have ever played or coached the game, and we look forward to immortalizing their incredible accomplishments.”

Moss, who is also an NFL Hall of Famer, played only one season of Division I-A at Marshall, but he sure made it count, registering 90 catches for 1,647 yards and 25 touchdowns in 1997.

He was the Fred Biletnikoff Award winner as the nation’s top wideout, was a consensus All-America selection and finished fourth in the Heisman voting that year behind a pair of fellow NFL Hall of Famers, Michigan’s Charles Woodson and Tennessee’s Peyton Manning, along with Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf.

The Minnesota Vikings went on to select him with the No. 21 pick in the 1998 NFL draft.

Fitzgerald, a future NFL Hall of Famer, registered 161 catches, 2,677 yards and a whopping 34 touchdowns in just two seasons at Pittsburgh (2002-03), winning the Fred Biletnikoff Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year Award in 2003. He was a consensus All-America selection and the Big East Offensive Player of the Year that season after catching 22 touchdown passes and accumulating 1,672 receiving yards.

He went on to play 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL after being the No. 3 overall selection in the 2004 draft.

Smith, meanwhile, spent three seasons at Utah (2002-04), registering 5,203 yards, 47 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

He was the MWC Offensive Player of the Year in his junior year and finished fourth in the Heisman voting behind USC’s Matt Leinart and the Oklahoma pair of Adrian Peterson and Jason White, throwing for 2,952 yards and 32 touchdowns that season. He paired with head coach Urban Meyer to lead the Utes to a perfect season.

He went on to be the top overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 draft, spending 16 years in the NFL with the Niners, Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders.

Peppers was a consensus All-America selection in 2001, winning the Chuck Bednarik Award and Vince Lombardi Award that season. In his three seasons at North Carolina (1999-01) he posted 30.5 sacks and 53 tackles for loss.

He was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers and spent 17 seasons in the league with Carolina, Chicago and Green Bay. Like Fitzgerald, he’ll one day be enshrined in Canton.