AUSTIN (KXAN) — One of the all-time great Longhorns defensive backs is on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.
Michael Huff, the 2005 Jim Thorpe Award winner given to the nation’s top defensive back and two-sport athlete at Texas, is one of 78 players and nine coaches on the ballot from the FBS level, the National Football Foundation announced Monday.
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Huff played for Texas football from 2002-05 where he was a two-time All-American and he competed a year on the track and field team. He qualified for the NCAA regional meet in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.48 seconds and ran a leg on the Longhorns’ 400-meter relay team that finished third at the NCAA Midwest regional meet.
Huff helped make the key play to set up the game-winning drive for the Longhorns in the 2005 BCS National Championship game against Southern California. Huff read the Trojans’ inside run and stuffed Lendale White before he got to the line to gain on 4th-and-2. The turnover on downs gave Texas the ball with about two minutes left in the game, and as they say, the rest was history. Huff was named the defensive MVP of the game to help lead the Longhorns to the national championship.
Huff started in 50 of his 51 career games as a Longhorn and compiled 318 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, seven interceptions, 44 pass breakups, six forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He also returned four interceptions for touchdowns in his career.
He was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders and played eight seasons in the NFL, seven with the Raiders. He racked up 446 tackles (368 solo) and 11 interceptions as a professional and was the Raiders’ Water Peyton Man of the Year nominee for the 2012 season. Huff is currently the assistant director of player development for the Longhorns football program.
