Albuquerque Journal

HALL CALL

Former Lobo Brian Urlacher has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

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Brian Urlacher is going where no Lobo football player has ever gone.

The Lovington High School grad and collegiate All-American has been named to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Urlacher is one of 13 college standouts elected. Tennessee’s Peyton Manning, former Florida coach Steve Spurrier and San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk also headline the class.

Urlacher will be inducted on Dec. 5, 2017 at the National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner in New York City.

Urlacher was born in Pasco, Wash., and raised in Lovington. Playing a variety of positions, he helped the Wildcats win the 1995 Class 3A title.

He had hoped to play for Texas Tech, but after the Red Raiders did not recruit him, he took an offer from New Mexico and then-coach Dennis Franchione.

“He could play eight or 10 different things for us,” Franchione said at the time. “Linebacker, defensive end, defensive tackle. He’d be a great tight end. If he lost weight, he could be a receiver. You can’t get enough Brian Urlachers. I wish I had 10 more like him.”

But Franchione left after the 1997 season.

“I wasn’t sure if I would have a spot on the team,” Urlacher said then.

It was under coach Rocky Long, who took over the program, that Urlacher blossomed.

In 1998, as a hybrid linebacker-safety (known as the “Lobo” position), Urlacher led the nation in tackles with 178. NFL scouts approached him about leaving after his junior season, but he declined.

“A lot of the guys were coming back, and I didn’t want to let them down,” Urlacher said in 1998.

In 1999, he was a Jim Thorpe Award finalist and was 12th in the Heisman Trophy voting. That season Urlacher recorded 154 tackles, five forced fumbles, three recovered fumbles, seven pass breakups, seven touchdowns, 42 points and had a 15.8-yard average on punt returns.

He had 442 career tackles at UNM with 11 forced fumbles.

After being named to the 1999 AP All-America team, Urlacher said:

“It’s awesome. I came from a small town and got looked over by a lot of schools. This is the only one that gave me a chance to play. … Hopefully, those other schools will be kicking themselves in the rear right now, wishing they had given me a scholarshi­p. But I’m glad they didn’t. I’m glad I came here.”

He was picked ninth in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears and went on to have an All-Pro career.

UNM retired his jersey No. 44 in 2013.

Urlacher was a Hall nominee last year, but was not elected.

Two New Mexico State Aggies are in the Hall. The late Warren Woodson, who coached the Aggies from 1958-67, was inducted in 1989. Running back Pervis Atkins, who played for Woodson at NMSU from 1959-60, was elected in 2009.

Manning started for four seasons at Tennessee and set school records for yards passing (11,201) and touchdown passes (89). He led the Volunteers to four consecutiv­e bowl games and was Heisman Trophy runner-up as a senior in 1997.

“His stats were incredible … but as we all know his legacy goes much, much further than that,” former Tennessee coach and Hall of Famer Philip Fulmer said. “He was absolutely the ultimate team player, the ultimate teammate, the ultimate greatest guy you could possibly want to coach.”

But Manning never did beat Spurrier’s Gators, going 0-3. Spurrier built Florida into an SEC powerhouse from 1990-2001, winning six conference titles and the school’s first national championsh­ip in 1996. He also was never shy about taking verbal jabs at his rivals such as Tennessee (“You can’t spell Citrus without U-T”) and Florida State (“Free Shoes University”).

“Steve and I, people think we’re bitter enemies, we really aren’t,” Fulmer said. “We’re actually pretty good friends. I’ve said this before - until somebody puts a microphone in front of him, he’s a pretty good guy.”

Also to be inducted in December at the National Football Foundation banquet are:

Notre Dame linebacker Bob Crable (1978-81)

Michigan State wide receiver Kirk Gibson (1975-78)

Texas offensive tackle Bob McKay (1968-69)

Texas A&M linebacker Dat Nguyen (1995-98)

Georgia Southern running back Adrian Peterson (1998-2001)

Boston College nose guard Mike Ruth (1982-85)

Mount Union coach Larry Keheres, who won 93 percent of his games and 11 Division III national championsh­ips from 1986-2012.

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