Good in the Game Presented by the National Football Foundation - 10/15

Good morning, football fans! The National Football Foundation’s Good in the Game Podcast hosted by Lavar Arrington, the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Penn State, has officially launched with the first episode out now — scroll below to find the full podcast on YouTube!

Julius Peppers refused to rest on his laurels

Julius Peppers was already a generational athlete when he enrolled at North Carolina — it didn’t take a talent evaluator to see that.

It was Peppers’ growth mindset, which was instilled by defensive coordinator Ken Browning, that turned him from a generational athlete into a generational football player and now, a member of the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame.

Click here to read more about Peppers’ legacy in his 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Spotlight!

Almost everyone wanted Warrick Dunn to play defensive back

Warrick Dunn was typically the smallest player on the field, and as such, most college coaches wanted him in their defensive backfield, not the offensive backfield.

When legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden came calling, Dunn made a deal with him — if Bowden allowed Dunn a chance to play running back, he would switch to the defensive side of the ball if it didn’t work out. Almost 4,000 yards later, it’s safe to say it worked out.

Click here to read more about Dunn’s legacy in his 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Spotlight!

Paul Cameron did everything for his UCLA Bruins

A jack of all trades, Paul Cameron ran, threw, defended and even punted for UCLA from 1951-53, and did it all as well as anyone ever had in a Bruin uniform.

When he left the university, he was the all-time program leader in total offense (3,332 yards), touchdown passes (25) and yards per punt (41.83).

Click here to read more about Cameron’s legacy in his 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Spotlight!

It's the debut episode of the Good in the Game podcast! 2022 College Football Hall of Famer LaVar Arrington hosts and is joined by the MAN at Ohio State still to this day, Archie Griffin. The guys dive into Archie’s career; his influences as a kid; fumbling on his first career carry at OSU; playing for Woody Hayes; and what the game has meant to him on and off the field. Griffin, a 1986 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, has served on the NFF Board of Trustees since 2006.

B1G movement in this week’s FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll!

The Big Ten Conference owns three of the top four spots in this week’s FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll, with No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Penn State representing the league. Texas continues to hold the top spot.

🏈 Week 7 FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll

COME JOIN US IN LAS VEGAS!

The 66th National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner presented by Las Vegas will be here before we know it, and tickets are going fast — buy yours now to ensure you get the NFF discounted rate!

🏈 Buy your tickets now

COVID, NIL, realignment and the transfer portal have all changed college football, with Dillon Gabriel’s journey the perfect example. That change isn’t necessarily bad, NFF CEO Steve Hatchell said.

"To focus on it in a negative light is wrong,” Hatchell said. “We had that interruption, and these guys still went on to play football. I think that the story is, 'So what if they took five, six, seven, eight years?' That is rare, but they are still getting a degree." 

📰: Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel has thrived among the chaos of COVID, NIL, transfer portal and realignment
^{The Sporting News}

The 100th anniversary of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame will be commemorated when the Irish play Army on Nov. 23 at Yankee Stadium.

New York Herald-Tribune writer Grantland Rice, who also served as the first president of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame from 1948-52, penned the famous phrase: "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden…."

Rice wrote the unforgettable phrase after the Irish backfield of Jim Crowley, Elmer Layden, Don Miller and Harry Stuhldreher helped produce a stunning 13-7 upset of Army in New York on Oct. 18, 1924.

📰: Notre Dame Football — Shamrock Series Information
^{Experience Notre Dame}

City Moms has partnered with Future For Football, an initiative of the NFF, to tell stories of how football has impacted their communities in a positive way.

Vickie Enriquez, who is in her 10th season as a coach’s wife in El Paso, Texas, wrote recently about watching her husband instill values into his players that will help them through life’s most difficult situations.

📰: Football Beyond the Friday Night Lights
^{El Paso Moms}

Doyle Parker, who spent 12 of his 39 years coaching football at Texas Tech, has passed away. He was 87.

Tylee Craft, who played wide receiver at North Carolina from 2020-23, has passed away after a two-year battle with lung cancer. He was 23.

Pat Fischer, who played defensive back for Nebraska in the late 1950s before becoming a two-time First-Team NFL All-Pro, has passed away. He was 84.

Abdul Salaam, who starred at Kent State before becoming a member of the New York Jets’ memorable ‘Sack Exchange’ defensive line, has passed away. He was 71.

The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced this past week that Coach Buddy Teevens, who headed the football programs at Dartmouth, Stanford, Tulane, and Maine, will be posthumously honored as the 2024 recipient of the NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award.

Teevens will officially be recognized Dec. 10 during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas at the Bellagio Resort & Casino.

You can read more about Teevens’ life and legacy here.

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