Dickerson finally inducted to College Football Hall of Fame

Make no mistake. Eric Dickerson is glad to be going into the College Football Hall of Fame after all these years. He will take the stage and be cemented in the sport’s lore.

“Am I happy to be here? Yeah,” Dickerson said Tuesday.“do I really care? No, honestly.”

The former SMU running back, who played for the Mustangs from 1979-82, was one of 27 players invited to Tuesday’s induction ceremony in Las Vegas. Dickerson was voted into the 2020 class, but the ceremony was canceled.

Other inductees included Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Eric Crouch, former Eastern Illinois quarterback and current CBS analyst Tony Romo, and longtime Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops.

It’s an honor long overdue to Dickerson. The Pro Football Hall of Famer ran for 4,450 yards and 47 touchdowns at SMU, going from a 5-6 team as a freshman to an 11-0-1 club that won the Cotton Bowl his senior year.

Romo’s rise from a small school to Dallas Cowboys starter might not have happened if his coach at Eastern Illinois had his way. Romo said Bob Spoo tried to convert him to tight end after his freshman year.

“He was right, though, because when I came in as a freshman,

I was a terrible thrower of the football. I remember after that first year, he goes, ‘Tony, we’re thinking of moving you to tight end.’ I said, ‘Just give me three months. If I don’t come back better or I haven’t improved, we can have this discussion again.’”

Romo went on to be a threetime Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year from 2000 to 2002.