COLUMN: Simeon Rice Should Easily Get Call From CFB Hall of Fame

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Illinois currently has 17 former players selected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Shortly after we flip the calendar to 2021, that number better be at least 18 or I can’t fathom what the electorate are doing.

The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced Tuesday the names on the 2021 ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, including two former Illinois players. Illini defensive greats Moe Gardner and Simeon Rice are among the 78 players and seven coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision while another 99 players and 33 coaches represent the divisional ranks. While both men have a significant case to be voted in quick, fast and in a hurry, it’s the latter that I’d like to point out is the definition of a no-brainer.

Short of people with the last name of Butkus, Rice is the most dominant defensive player to ever put on a set of shoulder pads covered by an Illinois football jersey.

The defensive record book for Illini football should all but be considered the Simeon Rice appreciation sheets. Here’s the perfect example: Rice, who is the second-highest drafted Illinois player of all-time (just behind his teammate Kevin Hardy, who was drafted No. 2 overall in the 1996 NFL Draft), is the all-time sack leader in school history.

And that’s impressive in its own right, correct? Yeah, I’m not done.

Rice leads that all-time statistical category by 21.5 sacks. If one of the most coveted in-state recruits in Illinois football history had never played a down in 1994, which was the season he set the school’s single-season sack record, he’d still be Illinois’ all-time sack leader by 5.5.

Wait, I’m still not done here.

Let’s imagine Rice had only played three seasons for the Illini because the NFL came calling with an offer he couldn’t refuse. First of all, nobody in Champaign-Urbana would’ve blamed him and he would’ve likely still been a high draft pick but he’d also still own the all-time sacks record by DOUBLE DIGITS.

Rice’s 44.5 is the most by any player in the Big Ten Conference. That’s right - that record is owned by a player at Illinois. Not Ohio State. Not Michigan. Not anywhere else that the nation tends to focus when it comes to Power Five Conference in the Midwest. If then-head coach Lou Tepper could’ve put a competent offense on the field in the mid-90s, not only may Illinois have been playing on Jan. 1 and possibly in Pasadena but Rice would be remembered in the same way South Carolina alum Jadeveon Clowney is, Pittsburgh's Hugh Green is thought of and the way Miami (Fla.) alum Warren Sapp is honored.

Imagine the all-time sacks statistical category at Illinois being like a famous automobile race like the Indianapolis 500. Rice’s mark is like winning that race by three or four laps. The word never is a taboo word when coming to records but I’m struggling to imagine Rice’s mark will ever be touched.

So was Rice a one-dimensional pass rusher? Um, no. First of all, one-dimensional players don’t typically get drafted in the Top 5 overall and if they do, they don’t typically finish their professional career with 122 sacks (20th on the NFL’s all-time list), 25 forced fumbles, eight fumble recoveries and five interceptions in a 12-year tenure.

You want a guy that can play the run? Rice holds the school's single-season and career record tackles for loss with 23 and 69. You want forced fumbles? Yup, Rice leads that all-time record too with 13. In 1994, Rice led the Illini with six passes broken up (a stat normally reserved and led by defensive backs after the pass cross the line-of-scrimmage) with six.

According to the release sent out by the National Football Foundation, “the ballot was emailed Tuesday to the more than 12,000 NFF members and current Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF's Honors Courts, which will deliberate and select the class”.

Guys, I’m sure you have some hard decisions but debate isn’t needed on this one. Let me spell it out for you: four letters, R-I-C-E, like sack. It’s easy.

Let me put it another way, don’t let Rice get his gold jacket from the NFL as a Pro Football Hall of Fame selection before Rice is honored by the leaders of college football.