Former USC safety Dennis Thurman has been elected to the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame class.

He is the 47th inductee with USC ties in the College Football Hall of Fame, including 36 players.

Among others named to the 22-member class on Wednesday were coach Urban Meyer and players Michael Vick and Michael Strahan.

The National Football Foundation announced coach Nick Saban’s selection last week.

A consensus first-team All-American in 1976 and a unanimous selection in 1977, Thurman helped USC win the national title in 1974. He was a part of four consecutive bowl winners with victories over Ohio State in the 1975 Rose Bowl, Tennessee in the 1975 Liberty Bowl, Michigan in the 1977 Rose Bowl and Texas A&M in the 1977 Bluebonnet Bowl. The Trojans went 37-10-1 during his career.

Thurman, out of Santa Monica High School, was a two-time All-Pac-8 Conference first-teamer (1976 and 1977), He led the conference with eight interceptions in 1976 and finished his career with 13 picks..

He went on to play nine seasons in the NFL and is currently the defensive coordinator at Hawaii.

Saban retired last year as the NCAA’s active leader in wins with 292-71-1 over 28 seasons at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and Alabama. His seven national championships — one at LSU, six at Alabama — are most by a Football Bowl Subdivision coach.

Meyer was 187-32 with three national championships over 17 seasons at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State. He won 22 of 24 games at Utah before taking over at Florida, where he won national titles in 2006 and 2008. He moved to Ohio State in 2012, won his third national championship in 2014 and went 83-9 over seven seasons.

Vick was the consummate dual-threat quarterback in his two seasons at Virginia Tech, where he led the Hokies to a 22-2 record and the 1999 national championship game. Last month he was hired as Norfolk State’s head coach.

Strahan, now co-host on ABC’s Good Morning America and a FOX NFL Sunday analyst, was a terror as a defensive lineman for Texas Southern from 1989-92. He recorded 41.5 sacks in four seasons before he went on to play 15 seasons for the New York Giants. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

Terry Hanratty, 24-4-2 as Ara Parseghian’s quarterback at Notre Dame from 1966-68, also was selected. He helped lead the 1966 team to a share of the national championship.

Among other picks was Wisconsin’s Montee Ball, who won the 2012 Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. The year before he tied Barry Sanders’ NCAA record of 39 total touchdowns in a season. He finished his career with 5,140 rushing yards, averaging 104.9 per game, and 77 rushing touchdowns.

Other players in the 2025 class are Gregg Carr of Auburn, Blake Elliott of Saint John’s (Minnesota), Greg Eslinger of Minnesota, Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, John Henderson of Tennessee, Michael Huff of Texas, Jim Kleinsasser of North Dakota, Alex Mack of California, Terrence Metcalf of Mississippi, Haloti Ngata of Oregon, Steve Slaton of West Virginia, Darrin Smith of Miami and Ryan Yarborough of Wyoming.

Other coaches in the class are Larry Blakeney of Troy and Larry “Bub” Korver of Northwestern College (Iowa).

TEXAS QB EWERS DECLARES FOR DRAFT

Texas junior quarterback Quinn Ewers declared for the NFL draft on Wednesday, ending a Longhorns career in which he led the program to a Big 12 championship and twice to the College Football Playoff but was not always embraced by a fan base eagerly waiting for Arch Manning to take over.

Ewers passed for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns in a career that few Texas quarterbacks can match. He had hinted before the season ended that it would be his last in college.

“These past three years have been some of the best years I could have imagined,” Ewers said in a social media post announcing his decision. “The relationships I’ve built between coaches and teammates will last forever.”

His 27 career wins rank fourth as a starting quarterback at Texas, and he led the Longhorns to their first Big 12 title in 14 years in 2023 before the program moved to the Southeastern Conference. In their first season in the SEC, the Longhorns rose to their first No. 1 ranking since 2008 and played in the league championship game.

Ewers’ biggest legacy will be leading the program to the playoff semifinals in consecutive years, though it fell short of the championship game. He had a fumble on a sack that led to a game-clinching touchdown for Ohio State on Jan. 10 in the Cotton Bowl.