Good in the Game 7/22

All the Good in the Game -- in your inbox each Monday!

July 22, 2024

Good morning, football fans! You have found the first edition of the weekly Good in the Game newsletter — we’ll be here each Monday morning keeping you up to date on everything happening at the National Football Foundation, as well as pointing out all the good that is happening in the game we love.

So without further ado, here’s your first update!

More than 200 of the best college football players and coaches of all time, all in one spot — the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame recently released the ballot for the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame!

Do you know how incredibly difficult it is to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame? We crunched the numbers, and think it might shock you — scroll to the bottom of our newsletter to see it put into perspective!

“It’s an enormous honor to just be on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot considering more than 5.7 million people have played college football and only 1,093 players have been inducted,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “The Hall’s requirement of being a First-Team All-American creates a much smaller pool about 1,500 individuals who are even eligible.”

The 66th Annual National Football Foundation Awards Dinner will be here before we know it — join us on December 10 at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas!

You’re here, so you know about the newsletter — but did you hear we’re also launching a podcast hosted by College Football Hall of Fame member Lavar Arrington?

(And while we have you, give us a follow on social so you never miss any of the Good in the Game!)

Photo: Des Moines Register

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht just held a youth camp in Perry, Iowa, a community still in recovery after a shooting on January 4.

Becht donated more than $7,000 of his NIL earnings to the Perry Youth Football program, and brought along several of his Cyclone teammates to coach up 90 or so campers from grades three through eight.

“I was glad to come out here and put out this camp for them,” Becht said in an article from the Des Moines Register. “Being able to give that donation to them fills my soul.”

Photo: Don Leach

Tom Hatch is a man of his community. For 36 years he’s worked in municipalities, including a stint as Costa Mesa city manager from 2011 to 2018. It wasn’t until recently that he got his dream job, though — Hatch is now an assistant coach for the Costa Mesa High School freshman football team.

“I always had a dream of being a football coach,” Hatch said, “to try to instill some values of life and develop grit in kids and help them overcome things and prepare them for life.”

Photo: Lester Barnes/USA Football

When Maci Joncich started playing flag football four years ago, there were no opportunities to play in college. There were no dreams of playing in the Olympics.

All of that has now changed thanks to the exponential growth of the sport.

Photo: Gary Cosby Jr./Tuscaloosa News

Jalen Milroe is In The Game™️ — the Alabama quarterback recently spent time at the McDonald Hughes Center in Tuscaloosa to play the new EA Sports College Football game with young members of the community.

Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire

Well that didn’t take long — the University of Alabama’s board of trustees has voted to name the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium after six-time national champion head coach (and 2025 College Football Hall of Fame nominee) Nick Saban!

A Major League Baseball player is basically 100x more likely to make the Baseball Hall of Fame than a college football player is to make the College Football Hall of Fame!