Andy BackstromContributing writerThu, January 15, 2026 at 12:45 AM UTC·3 min readNick Saban was front and center of last year's College Football Hall of Fame class. He coached seven national championship teams, including six at Alabama.
The first of those title-winning Crimson Tide squads featured running back Mark Ingram, who will be enshrined among this year's group of 22 inductees.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIngram headlines a 2026 class announced Wednesday, along with defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh. They starred at Pitt and Nebraska, respectively, before enjoying prolific NFL careers.
Here's the complete list of 18 players and four coaches headed to the Hall in Atlanta.
Players
RB Jerry Azumah – University of New Hampshire (1995-98)
RB Ki-Jana Carter – Penn State (1991-94)
OT Bruce Collie – University of Texas at Arlington (1981-84)
LB George Cumby – Oklahoma (1976-79)
DT Aaron Donald – Pittsburgh (2010-13)
WR/KR Marvin Harrison – Syracuse (1992-95)
RB Garrison Hearst – Georgia (1990-92)
DB Chris Hudson – Colorado (1991-94)
RB Mark Ingram – Alabama (2008-10)
C Olin Kreutz – Washington (1995-97)
LB James Laurinaitis – Ohio State (2005-08)
QB Jordan Lynch – Northern Illinois (2010-13)
WR Herman Moore – Virginia (1988-90)
CB Terence Newman – Kansas State (1999-2002)
OG Bob Novogratz– United States Military Academy (1957-58)
DT Ndamukong Suh – Nebraska (2006-09)
WR Peter Warrick – Florida State (1996-99)
S Eric Weddle – Utah (2003-06)
Coaches
Jim Margraff – Johns Hopkins (1990-2018)
Gary Patterson – TCU (2000-21)
Chris Petersen – Boise State (2006-13); Washington (2014-19)
Ken Sparks – Carson-Newman University (1980-2016)
Important notes
Ingram rushed for 1,658 yards and piled up 20 total touchdowns (17 rushing and three receiving) during the 2009 season. He became the first Alabama player to win the Heisman Trophy, and the Crimson Tide won the BCS national championship. He went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL.
Long before Donald was a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, he was ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a whole lot more. In fact, he swept the sport's major defensive awards during his final college season in 2013, when he stacked 28.5 TFLs, 11 sacks and 4 forced fumbles.
Suh went on to earn All-Pro honors five times as a defensive stalwart in the NFL during the 2010s. But first, his play made him a must-watch sensation at Nebraska. In 2008, he recorded two pick 6s, and he notched a receiving touchdown while lining up as a fullback. The next season, he amassed 85 total tackles, 20.5 TFLs and 12 sacks before collecting hardware as college football's top defensive player.
Warrick overlapped with FSU's dominance in the '90s. During the two-time first-team All-American receiver's four seasons with the Seminoles, they were a mainstay at the top of the national polls. He mounted 1,232 receiving yards and 13 total touchdowns in 1998 and then helped FSU win it all in 1999.
Harrison is a Pro Football of Famer, too. He became a household name with the Indianapolis Colts. Before that, however, he developed at Syracuse, where he eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards and tallied two punt return touchdowns in 1995.
Patterson was a TCU staple. He coached the Horned Frogs for 22 seasons, compiling a 181-79 record along the way. He guided them to 11 bowl victories — including a win in the Rose Bowl during the 2010 season another in the Peach Bowl during the 2014 season — and helped them navigate their transitions from Conference USA to the Mountain West and then to the Big 12.
Similarly, Petersen helped transform Boise State into the football power that it is today. He's the winningest-coach in the Broncos' history. From 2006-13, he went 92-12. In that span, he piloted Boise State to a pair of Fiesta Bowl victories: Those came in 2006 and 2009, each capping undefeated seasons and top-five finishes in the AP Poll. He later led Washington to three straight double-digit-win seasons from 2016-18, picking up a pair of Pac-12 titles in the process.