Troy University football legend Larry Blakeney, an Alabama native, will be considered on the 2020 College Football Hall of Fame ballot.
Blakeney was the Trojans’ head football coach from 1991-2014. He is a graduate of Auburn University, where he was a three-year letterman in football and two-year letterman in baseball.
Born in Birmingham, Blakeney coached at three different Alabama high schools before becoming an assistant football coach at Auburn in 1977. He served there until taking over the head job at then-Troy State.
State Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City), a former sideline reporter for the Troy Sports Radio Network, tweeted his support for Blakeney’s candidacy.
Easiest vote anyone could ever make! https://t.co/ej0ldShXk1
— Chris Blackshear (@chrisblackshear) June 3, 2019
One of only two coaches to have taken a college football program from NCAA Division II to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Blakeney has previously been inducted into the Wiregrass Sports Hall of Fame, the Troy University Sports Hall of Fame and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
His blurb on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot as follows:
Larry Blakeney-Troy (1991-2014)-All-time winningest coach in Sun Belt Conference history…Four-time conference Coach of the Year who led the Trojans to eight conference titles (5 – Sun Belt, 3 – Southland) and seven FCS playoff appearances in eight seasons…Led Troy to four bowl games, including wins at the 2006 and 2010 New Orleans Bowl.
Only 219 individuals have previously been named as coaches to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Before the deadline of June 21, over 12,000 members of the National Football Foundation and current members of the Hall of Fame will submit their ballots. The National Football Foundation’s FBS Honor Court will then determine the fate of Blakeney’s 2020 candidacy.
The announcement of the 2020 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be made in January in the days leading up to the College Football Playoff National Championship in New Orleans.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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