Former Philadelphia Eagles Brian Westbrook, Jeremy Maclin, Troy Vincent Enter College Football Hall of Fame
PHILADELPHIA – Before they made their mark on the Philadelphia Eagles, running back Brian Westbrook, receiver Jeremy Maclin, and cornerback Troy Vincent were collegiate standouts, and that trio was honored on Tuesday night when they were enshrined in the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame.
Maclin and Westbrook were drafted by the Eagles; Vincent by the Miami Dolphins.
Here’s more on the three of them:
VINCENT. Originally drafted by the Miami Dolphins, Maclin was the seventh overall pick out of the University of Wisconsin in 1992, but came to Philadelphia in 1996. He spent eight of his 16-year NFL career with the Eagles, for whom he recorded 28 of his 47 career interceptions and 518 of his 893 career tackles.
At Wisconsin, he was a first-team All-American and was named Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Year and a runner-up for the 1991 Thorpe Award.
A two-time All-Big Ten selection, he earned First Team honors as a senior and Second Team honors as a junior. He led the league in punt returns (17 for 235 yards) in 1989, and he is tied for ninth all-time in punts returned for touchdowns with three in the Big Ten. In 1990, he set the UW season record for pass breakups with 13.
Brian Westbrook (left) and Jeremy Maclin
USA TODAY
MACLIN. He was drafted in the first round (19th overall) by the Eagles in 2009 out of the University of Missouri, a year after Philly had taken the recently retired DeSean Jackson in the second round.
Before leaving for the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent following the 2014 season, Maclin made 343 receptions for 4,771 yards and 36 touchdowns in five seasons with the Eagles.
His best season with them was his last one in 2014 when, coming off a missed year while rehabbing a torn ACL, he had 85 catches for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns.
At the University of Missouri, Maclin impacted the game on offense and special teams during one of the most successful runs in school history. He is the only Tiger ever to be named a two-time First Team All-American and holds the NCAA record for all-purpose yards as a freshman (198.3 ypg in 2007).
Playing for College Football Hall of Fame Coach Gary Pinkel, Maclin and the Tigers amassed a 22-6 record during his run in Columbia.
WESTBROOK. The somewhat undersized Westbrook did it all at Villanova from 1997-98 through 2000-01, becoming the first player in college history to finish with at least 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
He is the first player from the Main Line school just outside of Philadelphia to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
In 2001, he claimed the Walter Payton Award as the best Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) player in the nation after being a finalist the preceding season and finished his time at Villanova with 41 school records.
The Eagles drafted him in the third round (91st overall) in 2002. He played for them from 2002-2009 and appeared in Super Bowl XXXIX.
Westbrook was a Pro Bowl selection twice (2004, 2007), a first-team All-Pro pick in 2007, and was elected to the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Eagles 75th Anniversary Team.
