Three Former Oklahoma Players Included on 2026 College Football Hall of Fame Ballot

Three Oklahoma Sooners are back on the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame ballot.

Linebackers George Cumby and Rocky Calmus and quarterback Josh Heupel are all on this year’s ballot for induction again into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. All three were included on last year's ballot as well.

Another familiar name — former Miami-FL head coach Larry Coker — is also on this year’s ballot. Coker is a native of Okemah, OK, played at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and was Gary Gibbs’ offensive coordinator at OU from 1990-92. He was also an assistant coach at Oklahoma State and Tulsa.

In all, 79 FBS players and 10 head coaches are on this year's ballot for induction into the Hall, as well as 100 players and 35 coaches from all other divisions. Votes will be tabulated from among the more than 12,000 NFF members and Hall of Famers and submitted to the NFF Honors Court, which will deliberate and select the next class, which will be revealed in January.

Currently, Oklahoma has 30 former players and four coaches who have been enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, most recently defensive lineman Dewey Selmon in 2024 and safety Roy Williams in 2022.

Here are Sooners On SI’s capsules on this year’s Hall of Fame candidates:

George Cumby (1976-79)

Cumby came to Oklahoma from Tyler, TX, and became a two-time All-American inside linebacker for the Sooners’ famed 5-2 Okie defense. 

He was named Big Eight Defensive Newcomer of the Year in 1976, earned All-America honors as a sophomore in 1977, then repeated two years later as a senior, when he was accorded consensus honors. He also earned All-America recognition in 1978 from the Newspaper Enterprise Association. 

The 6-foot, 220-pound Cumby was a two-time Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year in 1978 and ’79 and finished his career fifth in school history with 405 tackles, including 160 as a senior in 1979, still fourth in school history. 

Cumby was a first-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 1980, No. 26 overall, and played in 92 NFL games with 67 starts. In his second season in the league, Cumby had three interceptions and was named second-team All-Pro by NEA. He played six seasons with the Packers, one in Buffalo and one in Philadelphia, ending his career with five interceptions and six fumble recoveries.

Rocky Calmus (1998-2001)

Calmus was a star running back at Jenks, OK, but when he signed with John Blake and the Sooners, he knew he would become one of the elite linebackers. 

Fortunes changed when Bob Stoops was hired in 1999, and Calmus became a three-time All-Big Eight and two-time consensus All-American at weakside linebacker. 

The 6-3, 235-pound Calmus was also a two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and restored OU linebacker glory in 2001 when he won the Butkus Award as the nation’s best college linebacker.

Calmus’ contributions to the Sooners’ 2000 national championship run were unforgettable — especially his pick six interception in the Red River Blowout of Texas. 

Calmus, who always had a nose for the football, still owns the school record with seven career fumble recoveries. 

Calmus was drafted in the third round (No. 77 overall) by Tennessee in 2002, and he played for the Titans for three seasons before signing with Indianapolis in 2005. He never played for the Colts and finished an injury-plagued career with just 27 NFL games, 12 starts, two interceptions, one fumble recovery and 89 career tackles.

Josh Heupel (1999-2000)

Transferring in to Oklahoma from Snow College, Josh Heupel helped Bob Stoops usher in the next great era of OU football after forming an immediate bond with new offensive coordinator Mike Leach. 

Helping Stoops convert to Leach’s Air Raid offense, Heupel completed 63 percent of his passes in 1999, throwing for 3,850 yards and 33 touchdowns and rewriting every OU passing record. 

The next year, Heupel put together a season that would be remembered for generations of Sooner fans to come. Tossing 20 touchdowns and racking up 3,606 yards, Heupel helped lead the Sooners through “Red October,” where Stoops’ upstart team toppled No. 11 Texas, No. 2 Kansas State and No. 1 Nebraska in consecutive contests. 

After surviving an upset bid against Oklahoma State in Stillwater and beating Kansas State again in the Big 12 Championship, the Sooners punched their ticket to the BCS National Championship game, where they were cast as heavy underdogs against the Florida State Seminoles in the Orange Bowl. 

Heupel had finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to FSU’s Chris Weinke, but Heupel had the last laugh. Oklahoma outlasted the Seminoles 13-2 in a defensive struggle, and Stoops later described him as the team’s single most important player in delivering Oklahoma’s seventh National Championship.

Unable to stick on a roster in the NFL after a devastating elbow injury, he quickly returned to Norman to enter the coaching ranks. Working his way up from quarterbacks coach, where he played a key role in developing Sam Bradford, Heupel was eventually named co-offensive coordinator under Stoops. 

After getting dismissed at the end of the 2014 season, Heupel worked his way back through the coaching ranks with stops at Utah State and Missouri as the offensive coordinator before landing the head coaching job at UCF. Heupel parlayed his success with the Knights, and is now entering his fifth season as the head coach at Tennessee with a 37-15 record in Knoxville and an overall record of 65-23.