Terrence Metcalf Honored with NFF Hall of Fame Salute at Ole Miss Opener

OXFORD, Miss. –(Release)  Ole Miss and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame will jointly honor 2025 NFF College Football Hall of Fame electee Terrence Metcalf on Saturday with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments®.

The Salute will take place during halftime of the Rebels’ home opener against Georgia State, which will kick off at 6:45 p.m. CT. Prior to the game, Metcalf will precede the team down its traditional Walk of Champions at approximately 4:30 p.m.

A consensus First Team All-American in 2001 and two-time First Team All-SEC selection, Metcalf helped lead Ole Miss to three bowl appearances (1997 Motor City, 1999 Independence, 2000 Music City Bowl) and two final national rankings (No. 22 in 1997 and No. 22 in 1999). Click here for his full NFF Hall of Fame bio.

The Clarksdale, Mississippi, native becomes the 10^th Ole Miss player inducted into the Hall, joining Bruiser Kinard (1935-37), Parker Hall (1936-38), Charlie Conerly (1942, 1946-47), Barney Poole (1942-48), Charlie Flowers (1957-59), Jake Gibbs (1958-60), Archie Manning (1968-70), Wesley Walls (1985-88), and Patrick Willis (2003-06).

Johnny Vaught remains the only Ole Miss head coach ever inducted into the NFF Hall of Fame.

“Playing at 6-foot-4 and 315 pounds, Terrence Metcalf used a unique blend of size, technique, and agility to become one of the most formidable linemen in Ole Miss history,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “We are thrilled to honor him at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium as a member of the 2025 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class.”  

The 2025 class also includes Montee Ball (Wisconsin), Gregg Carr (Auburn), Blake Elliott (Saint John’s [MN]), Greg Eslinger (Minnesota), Terry Hanratty (Notre Dame), Graham Harrell (Texas Tech), John Henderson (Tennessee), Michael Huff (Texas), Jim Kleinsasser (North Dakota), Alex Mack (California), Haloti Ngata (Oregon), Steve Slaton (West Virginia), Darrin Smith (Miami, FL), Michael Strahan (Texas Southern), Dennis Thurman (Southern California), Michael Vick (Virginia Tech), Ryan Yarborough (Wyoming), and coaches Larry Blakeney (Troy), Larry Korver (Northwestern College [IA]), Urban Meyer (Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, Ohio State), Nick Saban (Toledo, Michigan State, LSU, Alabama).

The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in the Hall of Fame experience.

The 2025 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class will officially be inducted during the 67th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 9, 2025, at Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Please click here to purchase tickets.

Including the 2025 NFF Hall of Fame Class, only 1,111 players and 237 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.86 million who have played or coached the game during the past 157 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (0.02%) of the individuals who have played/coached the game have earned this distinction.

Fidelity Investments has served as the national presenting sponsor of the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes since 2010. The salutes are one component of a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education. Fidelity is also the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, and it helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes in 2011, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives around the country.

-Courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics