Urban Meyer, James Laurinaitis Among Nominees for 2025 College Football Hall of Fame Class

By Dan Hope on June 3, 2024 at 11:30 am
Urban Meyer
17 Comments

Two Ohio State greats are nominees for the College Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2025.

Former Ohio State linebacker and current OSU linebackers coach James Laurinaitis is among the player nominees for the sixth year in a row. Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is among the coaches on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

Laurinaitis is one of just eight players in Ohio State history to earn first-team All-American honors three times. He was also a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, the 2007 Butkus Award winner and the 2006 Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner, recording 375 tackles across his four-year Buckeye career (2005-08).

Meyer had one of the most successful tenures ever for an Ohio State coach. He led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2014 and won 83 of the 92 games he coached over seven seasons (2012-18), including all seven games he coached against Michigan. Across his 17 total seasons as an FBS head coach at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and OSU, Meyer won 85.4% of the games he coached – the third-highest FBS winning percentage ever – also winning two national championships at Florida.

If Laurinaitis is selected, he would become the 29th former Ohio State player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Chris Ward will become Ohio State’s 28th inductee when he is officially enshrined in the Hall of Fame later this year.

Buckeyes In The College Football Hall of Fame
PLAYER POSITION YEARS INDUCTED
CHIC HARLEY HB 1916-17, 19 1951
WES FESLER E 1928-30 1954
LES HORVATH QB 1940-42, 44 1969
BILL WILLIS T 1942-44 1971
GAYLORD STINCHCOMB HB 1917-20 1973
JIM PARKER G 1954-56 1974
GUST ZARNAS G 1935-37 1975
VIC JANOWICZ HB 1949-51 1976
JIM DANIEL T 1939-41 1977
GOMER JONES C 1934-35 1978
HOPALONG CASSADY HB 1952-55 1979
WARREN AMLING G/T 1944-46 1984
ARCHIE GRIFFIN RB 1972-75 1986
AUREALIUS THOMAS G 1955-57 1989
JIM STILLWAGON MG 1968-70 1991
BOB FERGUSON FB 1959-61 1996
RANDY GRADISHAR LB 1971-73 1998
JOHN HICKS T 1970-73 2001
JACK TATUM DB 1968-70 2004
JIM HOUSTON E 1957-58 2005
REX KERN QB 1968-70 2007
CHRIS SPIELMAN LB 1984-87 2009
EDDIE GEORGE RB 1992-95 2011
ORLANDO PACE LT 1994-96 2013
TOM COUSINEAU LB 1975-78 2016
KEITH BYARS RB 1982-85 2020
MIKE DOSS S 1999-02 2022
CHRIS WARD OT 1974-77 2024

Meyer would become the eighth Ohio State head coach inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach, joining Howard Jones (1910), John Wilce (1913-28), Francis Schmidt (1934-40), Woody Hayes (1951-78), Earle Bruce (1979-87), John Cooper (1988-2000) and Jim Tressel (2001-10).

Voting for the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame class is now open to National Football Foundation members and Hall of Fame inductees through July 1. Their votes will be sent to the NFF’s Honors Court, a panel of administrators, Hall of Famers and media members chaired by Ohio State legend Archie Griffin, which will make the final selections for the class. The Class of 2025 will be announced early next year.

17 Comments
View 17 Comments