Running back Mark Ingram, the first University of Alabama player to win the Heisman Trophy, and Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh, two of the most fearsome defensive linemen of their era, highlight the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame class announced Wednesday.
Gary Patterson, who led TCU from 2000-21, and Chris Petersen of Boise State (2006-13) and Washington (2014-19) are among four coaches who will be inducted at the National Football Foundation’s awards dinner in December in Las Vegas. The others are the late Jim Margraff, who led NCAA Division III’s Johns Hopkins from 1990 to 2018, and the late Ken Sparks, a Knoxville native who was in charge from 1980 to 2016 at Carson-Newman, which transitioned from NAIA Division I to NCAA Division II competition during his tenure in Jefferson City, Tennessee.
The class includes six consensus first-team All-Americans, four multiyear first-team All-Americans and eight major award winners.
Ingram won the Heisman in 2009 while leading Alabama to a 14-0 record and that season’s BCS national championship. He led the Southeastern Conference in rushing with a program-record 1,658 yards and scored 20 touchdowns. He finished his Crimson Tide career as their all-time leader in rushing touchdowns with 42, and played 12 seasons in the NFL.
Nebraska’s Suh turned in one of the most dominant seasons by a defensive lineman in 2009, when he recorded 12 sacks and 21 tackles for loss, swept the Bednarik, Lombardi, Nagurski and Outland trophies, was voted Associated Press national player of the year and was the first defensive lineman in 15 years to be a Heisman finalist. Suh went on to play 13 NFL seasons, and last August, he was named to the All-Time AP All-America first team.