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Oklahoma football: Three former OU greats on 2022 College HOF ballot

By Chip Rouse

3 Jan 2001: Quarterback Josh Heupel #14 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to pass the ball during the Orange Bowl Game against the Florida State Seminoles at the Pro Players Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Sooners defeated the Seminoles 13-2.Mandatory Credit: Eliot J. Schechter /Allsport
3 Jan 2001: Quarterback Josh Heupel #14 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to pass the ball during the Orange Bowl Game against the Florida State Seminoles at the Pro Players Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Sooners defeated the Seminoles 13-2.Mandatory Credit: Eliot J. Schechter /Allsport /
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Three former Oklahoma football players are on the ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Dewey Selmon, Rocky Calmus and Josh Heupel, all standout names from the Sooners’ glorious past, are among 80 former college players and personnel who are candidates for the Hall of Fame’s 2023 class of inductees.

If elected, Selmon would join brother Lee Roy, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988 after a sensation career at OU. Dewey was part of the famed Selmon Brothers defensive trio that was a major part of the Sooners’ stellar defenses of the early to mid-1970s under head coach Barry Switzer. During Dewey’s four seasons at OU (1972-75), the Sooners were an incredible 43-2-1 and won two national championships.

Calmus and Heupel also played on a national championship Oklahoma team. Heupel was the starting quarterback and Calmus a star linebacker on the 2000 Sooner national championship team in Bob Stoops second season as head coach.

Calmus ended his OU career, which spanned four seasons (1998-2001) with 431 tackles and still holds the program record for career tackles for loss (59). He was the AP Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American in the championship 2000 season, and the following year, Calmus was the Butkus Award winner as college football’s best linebacker as well as a finalist for both the Nagurski and Bednarik awards at the sport’s top defensive player.

Heupel transferred to Oklahoma from the junior college ranks and was at the controls as quarterback in the Sooners’ first and only 13-win season. He passed for 7,456 yards and 53 touchdowns in two seasons at OU (1999-2000) and ranks in the top five in school history in passing yards.

His senior season, aside from leading the Sooners to the school’s seventh national championship, Heupel was voted runner-up for the Heisman Trophy and was Oklahoma’s first consensus All-American quarterback since Jack Mildren in 1971.

After his playing career, Heupel want into coaching. He was Oklahoma’s quarterbacks coach from 2006-10 and served as offensive coordinator from 2011-14. He left OU to become head coach at Utah State (2011), and since then he has served as offensive coordinator at Missouri (2016-17), head coach at UCF (2018-20) and is now head coach at Tennessee.

The HOF ballot was mailed on Monday this week to more than 12,000 National Football Foundation members and current Hall of Famers.

The 2023 HOF class will be announced early next year, and the official induction ceremony will take place in December 2023 at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner.

Former Sooner All-American safety Roy Williams will be inducted this December as part of the 2022 HOF class.

Including Williams’ impending induction, 22 former Sooner players and six head coaches, including Switzer and Stoops, are members of the College Hall of Fame.

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