The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Freeney, Eller on Hall of Fame ballot
Curtis Eller and Dwight Freeney, two of the most productive defensive players in Connecticut High School football history, are among eight players or coaches with ties to Connecticut on this year’s College Football Hall of Fame 2021 ballot.
Freeney is the newest addition to the ballot. He ranks second in Connecticut history with 60 sacks while at Bloomfield from 1994-97. But it was his work at Syracuse that landed him on the ballot.
Freeney was the 2001 Big East Co-Defensive Player of the Year who holds Syracuse’s record with 50.5 career tackles for loss.
Eller, a Stratford High All-State selection, was a two-time Yankee Conference Player of the Year at Villanova and was one of four linebackers on the Yankee Conference’s 50th anniversary team. He led Villanova in tackles in each of his final three seasons.
John Dorsey, UConn’s career leader with 495 tackles and the former general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns, recorded two of the three seasons in program history with at least 150 tackles, including a program record 184 in 1983.
Former Yale middle guard John Zanieski, who was fifth in Yale history with 288 career tackles when he graduated in 1985 and still stands 11th, is also on the ballot. Bob Heller, a two-time All-American center at Wesleyan who did not allow a sack in his collegiate career and helped the 1972 squad set a program record with 1,980 rushing yards is another former Connecticut college star in contention for the hall of fame.
Former UConn assistant coach Vincent Brown, who had a school record 570 tackles at Mississippi Valley State and led the team in tackles in his final three seasons, remains in contention for Hall of Fame induction.
In the coaching category, former Trinity coach Don Miller and former South
ern Connecticut State athletic director Darryl Rogers remain on the National Football Foundation’s ballot.
Miller had 28 winning seasons in his 32 years at Trinity. Miller was the winningest coach in New England Division III history with 174 wins when he retired in 1998.
Rogers was named the Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 1978 and finished with a record of 129-84-7 as a head coach with stops at Cal State Hayward, Fresno State, San Jose State, Michigan State and Arizona State. He posted winning records in 15 of his 20 seasons as a head coach and led his teams to either a first or second-place finish in conference play six times.
The Hall of Fame class will be announced early next year and will be officially introduced during the 64th annual NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 7, 2021 in New York.