Florida Gators

 
IRVING, Texas – Former University of Florida offensive lineman Lomas Brown and defensive linemen Kevin Carter and Brad Culpepper are among 101 players and 33 coaches from the NCAA divisional and NAIA ranks that are up for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020, the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced Monday.
 
This marks Brown's fifth-straight year on the ballot. Meanwhile, Carter and Culpepper will appear on it for the first time.
 
Lomas Brown

• A 1984 consensus First Team All-American and two-time All-SEC performer, Brown led the Gators to three consecutive bowl berths and top 10 national final rankings in 1983 and 1984.
• He was the recipient of Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the SEC's top blocker in 1984. During that season, Brown anchored the Gators' outstanding offensive line that helped Florida to a 9–1–1 overall win-loss record and a 5-0-1 mark in conference play.
• Inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1995.
• His success did not stop following his college career. In 18 seasons in the NFL, he was a Super Bowl Champion (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2002), seven-time Pro Bowl pick (1990-96), three-time First Team All-Pro selection (1989, 1990, 1994) and a three-time Second Team All-Pro honoree.
• Following his playing career, Brown spent time with the NFL Network and ESPN as an analyst.

 
 
Brad Culpepper

• Helped the Gators win the program's first SEC Championships during his senior season in 1991. Garnered First Team All-SEC honors and was a consensus First Team All-American that season as well.
• Finished his career with 18 sacks and 47.5 tackles-for-loss and set a school record as a senior with 21.5 TFLs.
• A four-year SEC Academic Honor Roll member, Culpepper received the Draddy Trophy in 1991 recognizing him as college football's most outstanding student-athlete.
• Inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2001.
• The Gainesville Sun ranked him as the No. 47 all-time greatest player of the first 100 seasons of the Florida Gators football team in 2006.
• Culpepper was a 10th round selection (264th overall pick) in the 1992 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. Overall, he played nine seasons for three teams and totaled 34 sacks during his professional career.
• Following his playing career, Culpepper earned his law degree from UF and is now a trial lawyer for the Culpepper Kurland law firm in Tampa, Florida.

 
 
Kevin Carter

• Helped the Gators win three SEC Championships (1991, 1993, 1994) during his career.
• Over the course of his career, Carter totaled 42.5 career tackles-for-loss and 21.5 sacks, which rank seventh and fifth in Gators history.
• As a senior in 1994, Carter was a First Team All-SEC selection and a consensus First Team All-American. Football News named him one of five finalists for its 1994 Defensive Player of the Year Award, and he was a semifinalist for the 1994 Lombardi Award, presented to the nation's top lineman.
• In 2000, Carter was voted to the Florida Gator All-Century Team and in 2006 he was voted to the University of Florida Gator 100th Anniversary Team.
• Inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2004.
• A 1995 NFL first-round selection by the St. Louis Rams, he was named an All-Pro in 1999 and led the Rams in sacks that season and to a Super Bowl victory.
• The two-time Pro Bowler finished his career after 14 years in the NFL and played in 224 consecutive games and never missed a game in his NFL career, tallying 104.5 sacks.
• He played for St. Louis, Tennessee, Tampa Bay and Miami during his long career in the NFL.
• Following his playing career, Carter has spent time with ESPN and FOX as an analyst.

 
What's Next?
The ballot will be emailed the week of June 2 to the more than 12,000 NFF members and current Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF's Honors Courts, which deliberate and select the class. The FBS Honors Court, chaired by NFF Board Member and College Football Hall of Famer Archie Griffin from Ohio State, and the Divisional Honors Court, chaired by former Marshall head coach, longtime athletics director and NFF Board Member Jack Lengyel, include an elite and geographically diverse pool of athletic administrators, Hall of Famers and members of the media.
 
As part of a continuing tradition, the NFF has partnered with the College Football Playoff (CFP) to announce the new College Football Hall of Fame class during festivities prior to the National Championship in the host city. The announcement of the 2020 Class will be made in January 2020 in New Orleans, and they will be inducted during the 63rd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 8, 2020, at the New York Hilton Midtown. The inductees will be permanently enshrined at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

Gators in the College Football Hall of Fame

• 1975 – Dale Harris Van Sickel (DE)
• 1986 – Steve Spurrier (QB)
• 1990 – Ray Graves (Coach)
• 1992 – Jack Youngblood (DE)
• 2003 – Doug Dickey (Coach)
• 2006 – Emmitt Smith (RB)
• 2008 – Wilber Marshall (LB)
• 2011 – Carlos Alvarez (WR)
• 2013 – Danny Wuerffel (QB)
• 2015 – Wes Chandler (WR)
• 2017 – Steve Spurrier (QB)

Criteria for Hall of Fame Consideration:

• First and foremost, a player must have received First-Team All-America recognition by a selector organization that is recognized by the NCAA and utilized to comprise their consensus All-America teams.
• A player becomes eligible for consideration by the Foundation's Honors Courts 10 full seasons after his final year of intercollegiate football played.
• While each nominee's football achievements in college are of prime consideration, his post-football record as a citizen is also weighed. He must have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community and his fellow man, with love of his country. Consideration may also be given for academic honors and whether the candidate earned a college degree.
• Players must have played their last year of intercollegiate football within the last 50 years.* For example, to be eligible for the 2020 ballot, the player must have played his last year in 1969 or thereafter. In addition, players who are playing professionally and coaches who are coaching on the professional level are not eligible until after they retire.
• A coach becomes eligible three full seasons after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years of age. Active coaches become eligible at 75 years of age. He must have been a head coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage.

 
*Players who do not comply with the 50-year rule may still be eligible for consideration by the Football Bowl Subdivision and Divisional Veterans Committees.
 
Once nominated for consideration, all player candidates are submitted to one of eight District Screening Committees, depending on their school's geographic location, which conducts a vote to determine who will appear on the ballot and represent their respective districts. Each year, approximately 15 candidates, who are not selected for the Hall of Fame, will be named automatic holdovers and will bypass the district screening process and automatically appear on the ballot the following year. Additionally, the Veterans Committee may make recommendations to the Honors Court for exceptions that allow for the induction of players who played more than 50 years ago.
 
Of the 5.26 million individuals who have played college football since Princeton first battled Rutgers on Nov. 6, 1869, only 997 players have earned induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, or less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of those who have played the game during the past 149 years. From the coaching ranks, 217 individuals have achieved Hall of Fame distinction.