Former Bowling Green State University All-American defensive lineman Andre Young appears on the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame ballot, the National Football Foundation announced on Monday. He is one of 101 players from the divisional ranks on the ballot.
NFF membership voting runs through June 30 and results will be submitted to the NFF’s Honors Court, which will deliberate and select the 2024 Class.
Young was a four-year letterwinner (1979-82) for the Falcons, earning Kodak Division I-AA All-America honors in 1982 after notching 78 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 13 sacks. His first-team All-MAC season led BGSU to a 1982 MAC Championship and an appearance in the 1982 California Bowl. Young was inducted into the BGSU Hall of Fame in 2004. After leaving BGSU, he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1983 NFL Draft. He also played with the Green Bay Packers, in the CFL (Calgary) and in the USFL (Denver). Young currently lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and is the owner of a home improvement company.
“It’s an enormous honor to just be on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot considering more than 5.62 million people have played college football and only 1,074 players have been inducted,” said NFF President & CEO SteveHatchell. “The Hall’s requirement of being a first-team All-American creates a much smaller pool of about 1,500 individuals who are even eligible. Being in today’s elite group means an individual is truly among the greatest to have ever played the game, and we look forward to announcing the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class early next year.”
Due to an obscure rule in 1982, multiple schools in the MAC, including Bowling Green, were classified as I-AA programs (a precursor to FCS) for one year due to stadium size and home attendance, and thus Young was deemed an I-AA All-American. This is why Young finds himself on the divisional ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame. The MAC considered itself an I-A (a precursor to FBS) league and did not send anyone to the I-AA playoffs. BGSU represented the league in the California Bowl as the MAC champion. By 1983, all MAC schools were reclassified back to I-A.
Former BGSU head coaches Doyt Perry and Don Nehlen are the only Falcons in the College Football Hall of Fame. The announcement of the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be made in early 2024, with specific details to be announced in the future.
The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 10, 2024, and permanently immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. They will also be honored at their respective schools with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during the 2024 season.
