Two Red Raider Greats Are Close to the College Football Hall of Fame
There are no two Red Raiders whose legacies are interwoven more than Michael Crabtree and Graham Harrell. The moments, the raw stats, the awards, the Heisman candidacy. None of that happens for one guy without the other guy being there.
That's why it's incredibly fitting that both Crabtree and Harrell entered the College Football Hall of Fame Ballot together. The National Football Foundation announced the ballot for the 2022 class earlier this week.
It's the first time on the ballot for both players, who are arguably the best pass-catching duo in Texas Tech history and one of the greatest duos in college football history, period. It's honestly a surprise that they aren't already in the CFB Hall of Fame, but that's the deal with so many great players.
Harrell and Crabtree are two of 78 former college football players on next year's ballot.
Crabtree was the first player to ever win the Biletnikoff Award for the nation's top receiver twice in a career, doing so in both 2007 and 2008, which were his only two collegiate seasons. He was also a two-time All-Big 12 first-team honoree and a two-time Unanimous All-American, making him the only Red Raider in school history to earn the distinction twice in a career. Again, Crabtree only played two seasons at Texas Tech.
People may forget just how dominant Crabtree was in 2007. As a redshirt freshman, he set Texas Tech and NCAA records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns by a freshman. He backed that up by having another monster season in 2008. Crabtree's career receiving yards record stood until Jakeem Grant broke it in 2015.
Again, Crabtree played two seasons. Grant played four.
Graham Harrell wasn't too shabby himself. While Crabtree had just over 3,000 yards receiving, Harrell spread the ball around plenty, torching teams for 15,793 total passing yards as a Red Raider. Harrell is one of five players in college football history to have three seasons of more than 4,000 yards passing.
Harrell had 20 400-yard games, the most in college football history. Eleven of those games came in 2007. Harrell also owns the record for most completions in a single season. He still ranks third in NCAA history for career touchdown passes and fourth for career passing yards.
Harrell owns the Red Raiders career records in passing yards, touchdown passes, pass attempts, completions, passing yards per game, 300-yard games, and 400-yard games.
The pair both finished top 5 of Heisman voting in 2008.
The duo entered the Texas Tech Hall of Fame together last year and should absolutely be enshrined together into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2022.
The duo won't be the first Red Raiders in the CFB Hall of Fame. Texas Tech currently has five former players enshrined. E.J. Holub was inducted in 1986, followed by Donny Anderson in 1989, Dave Parks in 2008 and Gabe Rivera in 2012. Zach Thomas became Texas Tech’s most recent inductee as part of the 2015 class.