Orange Watch: Syracuse would join select company if Harrison is elected to HOF

harrison
Harrison is a Hall of Fame candidate
harrison
Former Orange and Indianapolis Colts standout Harrison is a 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate

Last month’s announcement that four former Syracuse football standouts, 2015 finalist Marvin Harrison (1992-95), along with Gary Anderson (1978-79, 1980-81), Daryl Johnston (1985-88) and in his first year of eligibility, Keith Bulluck (1996-99), were among the 108 modern day players for the 2016 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, serves a reminder that if indeed Harrison is elected in his third year on the ballot, Syracuse will join select company.

Following the Hall inclusion of wide receivers Andre Reed and Tim Brown the last two years to unlock a long logjam at the position, the consensus is that Harrison, the reclusive ex-Orange star and record-setting Indianapolis Colts great receiver, gets over the voting finish line this year for his inevitable enshrinement, and would become the eighth Syracuse member in Canton joining Jim Brown (1971), Jim Ringo (1981), Larry Csonka (1987), John Mackey (1992), Al Davis (1992), Art Monk (2008), and Floyd Little (2010).

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Only five other schools currently have eight or more Hall inductees, Notre Dame and Southern California with 12 each, Ohio State with nine, then Michigan and Pittsburgh also with eight (Alabama like SU currently has seven). That would be pretty impressive company among the biggest name schools in the sport’s history.

Besides the four SU nominees this year, other former Syracuse players likely to receive future Hall consideration are Donovan McNabb (1995-98), who officially retired from the NFL in 2013, and Dwight Freeney (1998-99, 2000-01), who’s unsigned after completing his 13th NFL season with San Diego last year.

The 2016 nominees will be paired down to 25 in November, then to 15 in January, before the voting results are announced Feb. 6 the night before Super Bowl 50.

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About Brad Bierman 848 Articles
Now in his sixth decade of covering SU sports, Brad was sports director of WSYR radio for eight years into the early 1990s, then wrote the Orange Watch column for The Big Orange/The Juice print publication for 18 years. A Syracuse University graduate, Brad currently runs his own media consulting business in the Philadelphia suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @BradBierman.