Plummer named to College Hall of Fame ballot

SANDPOINT — Idaho native Jake Plummer, who lived briefly in Sandpoint, was one of a handful of former college football players named on the initial ballot for the 2017 College Football Hall of Fame class.

Plummer, who played quarterback at Capital High School in Boise and was succeeded there by current Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin, was a four-year starter at quarterback for Arizona State, setting a number of school record and leading the team to the brink of a national championship.

Plummer was a 1996 first team All-American, Pac-10 Player of the Year and finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting. The Sun Devils were unbeaten before facing Ohio State in a memorable Rose Bowl, remembered most for Plummer scrambling into the end zone for the go-ahead score, before the Buckeyes drove the length of the field in the final 90 second to steal what would have been a national championship.

He threw for 8,827 yards in his college career. There are 75 Football Bowl Subdivision players on the ballot, and it is Plummer’s first appearance.

Selected in the second round of the 1997 draft, Plummer played 10 NFL seasons for the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos, throwing for 29,253 yards with 161 TDs and 161 interceptions.

The 2017 class for the Hall of Fame will be announced Jan. 6. Among those on the ballot are Peyton Manning and his old college football nemesis, Steve Spurrier.

Sixteen players appear on the ballot for the first time. Other notable first-timers include San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk, Southern California defensive back Troy Polamalu, California tight end Tony Gonzalez and Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer.

The holdover players on the ballot include three Heisman Trophy winners: Colorado running back Rashaan Salaam, Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch and Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart. Coaches on the ballot include Danny Ford, who led Clemson to its only national title, and Darryl Rogers, who had success at Fresno State, San Jose State, Michigan State and Arizona State.

The ballot also has 95 players and 29 coaches who competed outside of the highest division of college football, including former Mount Union coach Larry Kehres, who won 11 Division III national titles with the Purple Raiders.

To be eligible for the ballot, a player must have been a first-team All-American by one of the five organizations used by the NCAA to determine the consensus All-America team: The Associated Press; the American Football Coaches Association, the Football Writers of America Association; the Sporting News; and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

Coaches must have coached a minimum of 10 years and 100 games and won at least 60 percent of their games.