Aaron Donald. Michael Longo / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Aaron Donald highlights 2026 College Football Hall of Fame class

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Jan 14, 2026 11:41 PM ET

Aaron Donald is best-known to the average football fan for the legendary NFL career he put together with the St. Louis Rams and then the Los Angeles Rams.

It culminated in him winning a Lombardi Trophy, but Donald was already an extremely accomplished football player even before the Rams took him with the 13th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Donald was a college superstar for the Pitt Panthers, where he became an All-American and a Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik award winner. Those are basically the defensive MVP awards for college football.

It's now come out that Donald, alongside 21 others, has been named as part of the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame class.

Darnold is arguably the biggest name, but he's far from the only one.

It's a list that includes former Alabama Crimson Tide running back Mark Ingram, a Heisman Trophy winner, and former Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh.

The honors and awards keep coming...

Aaron Donald has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. https://t.co/3mobLn3NDF pic.twitter.com/PLDURXsPht
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) January 14, 2026

Aaron Donald highlights the 2026 college football hall of famers

It's not just players being inducted, either. Former TCU head coach Gary Patterson as well as former Boise State head coach Chris Petersen, are being inducted and are two of the four coaches on the list.

Other notable players include James Laurinaitis (Ohio State), Olin Kreutz (Washington) Eric Weddle (Utah), Peter Warrick (Florida State) and Marvin Harrison (Syracuse).

Back to Donald, his senior season at Pitt was incredible. He notched 59 tackles (43 solo), 28.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks.

In all, this hall of fame class includes six consensus first-team All-Americans, so it's stacked.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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