We might not be seeing Steve Smith Sr. in Canton, Ohio, this year, but there are two other Carolina Panthers greats that will be going into a hall of fame in 2023.
As announced by the National Football Foundation on Monday, Luke Kuechly and DeAngelo Williams are set to be inducted as part of the College Football Hall of Fame’s 2023 class. The pair will be joined by 16 other first-team All-America players and four coaches during the 65th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 5.
Kuechly played linebacker for three years at Boston College, where he totaled 532 tackles (35.5 for a loss), 2.5 sacks, seven interceptions and two touchdowns. That helped him earn two Consensus All-America nods, three first-team All-ACC nods and a bunch of hardware in 2011, including the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Lombardi Award, the Lott Trophy, the Butkus Award and the Jack Lambert Trophy.
Williams ran wild at Memphis from 2002 to 2005. He was a three-time Conference-USA Offensive Player of the Year, accumulating 6,014 yards from scrimmage and 55 total touchdowns.