Santa Clara, Calif. - The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced Monday the 2019 College Football Hall of Fame Class, which includes two players and a coach with ties to the Atlantic Coast Conference.  Florida State defensive back Terrell Buckley and NC State wide receiver Torry Holt were named to the 2019 class and will be joined by former Miami head coach Dennis Erickson.  

The 15 total inductees (13 players and two head coaches) were selected from the national ballot of 76 All-America players and six elite coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and the 100 players and 32 coaches from the divisional ranks.

TERRELL BUCKLEY
Florida State University
Defensive Back, 1989-91
 
An absolute terror to opposing quarterbacks throughout his Florida State career, Terrell Buckley cemented his name among the all-time greats when he took home the 1991 Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the nation. He becomes the seventh Seminole player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
A unanimous First Team All-American in 1991, Buckley took home the Thorpe Award and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting after leading the nation with 12 interceptions and 238 interception return yards (both single-season school records). The Pascagoula, Mississippi, native's 501 career interception return yards remain an NCAA record while his 21 career interceptions remain atop the Florida State record books. A second-team All-American in 1990, Buckley helped the Seminoles finish with a top four national ranking in each year of his career. The two-time All-South Independent first-team selection guided the Seminoles to three consecutive bowl victories, including wins over Nebraska in the 1990 Fiesta Bowl and Texas A&M in the 1992 Cotton Bowl.
 
Leading the Seminoles to an overall record of 31-6 during his career, Buckley is tied for many other Florida State records, including career punt returns for a touchdown (three), career interceptions returned for a touchdown (four) and consecutive games with an interception (five in 1991). He played for College Football Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden and alongside Hall of Famers Derrick Brooks and Charlie Ward during his remarkable career in Tallahassee. A member of the Florida State Hall of Fame, Buckley's No. 27 jersey was retired by the Seminoles in 2011.
 
The fifth overall pick by the Green Bay Packers in the 1992 NFL Draft, Buckley played 14 years (1992-2005) in the NFL with the Packers, Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, New York Jets and New York Giants. He won Super Bowl XXXVI with the Patriots following the 2001 season.
 
A multi-sport athlete, Buckley also played two seasons for Florida State's baseball team and ran track for the Seminoles. Off the field, he has been active with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Feed the Children. Following his NFL career, Buckley returned to Florida State to earn his bachelor's degree in 2007 while starting his coaching career in various roles on the Seminoles' staff from 2007-11. After stints as the cornerbacks coach at Akron (2012-13) and Louisville (2014-15), he has served in the same role at Mississippi State since 2016.


TORRY HOLT
NC State University
Wide Receiver, 1995-98
 
A human highlight reel at NC State, Torry Holt rewrote the school and conference record books during a legendary career in Raleigh. He is the sixth Wolfpack player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
A consensus first-team All-American in 1998, Holt was a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award and the only receiver in the top 10 of the Heisman Trophy voting that year. The 1998 ACC Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year remains NC State's all-time leader in career (3,379), single-season (1,604 in 1998) and single-game (255 vs. Baylor, 1998) receiving yards as well as single-season (88 in 1998) and single-game (15 vs. Wake Forest, 1998) receptions. A two-time first-team All-ACC selection at wide receiver, Holt also earned first team all-conference laurels as a punt returner in 1998 and led the Wolfpack to a berth in the MicronPC Bowl.
 
A two-year team captain, Holt owns other Wolfpack records, including single-season all-purpose yards (1,979 in 1998) and career (31), single-season (16 in 1997) and single-game (five vs. Florida State, 1997) touchdown receptions. The Gibsonville, North Carolina, native's career receiving yards were a then-ACC record (now rank sixth), and he still holds conference marks for single-season receiving yards, single-season receiving yards per game (145.8) and single-game touchdown receptions. A member of the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame, Holt's No. 81 jersey was retired by the school, and the team named its Offensive MVP award in his honor. He was named an ACC Football Legend in 2012.
 
The St. Louis Rams selected Holt with the sixth overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, and he played for the franchise from 1999-2008 before a final season with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009. The seven-time Pro Bowl selection led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV following his rookie season. A member of the NFL All-Decade Team for the 2000s, Holt retired from the league with the 10th most receiving yards in history.
 
Holt remains busy with Holt Brothers Inc., which he founded with his brother, Terrence, who also played at NC State. Their companies include Holt Brothers Construction (Torry serves as vice president), Holt Brothers Football Camps and the Holt Brothers Foundation. Torry serves as president of the foundation, which supports programs for children who have a parent with cancer. He can also be heard on SiriusXM's NFL Radio and Fantasy Sports Radio stations.

DENNIS ERICKSON
University of Idaho (1982-85, 2006), University of Wyoming (1986),
Washington State University (1987-88), University of Miami [Fla.] (1989-94),
Oregon State University (1999-02), Arizona State University (2007-11)
Head Coach, 179-96-1 (65.0%)
 
Highlighted by two national titles at Miami, Dennis Erickson led his teams to 12 bowl games and at least a share of six conference titles in 23 successful seasons as a head coach. In addition to his success with the Hurricanes, he became the first coach to earn Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors at three different institutions.
 
Erickson began his head-coaching career at Idaho from 1982-85, where he became the first coach since 1938 to post consecutive winning seasons at the school and the first coach in Vandals history to have four-consecutive winning seasons. Erickson led Idaho to the Big Sky Conference title in 1985 and two trips to the FCS Playoffs. Following a one-year stint as the head coach at Wyoming in 1986, he took over the program at Washington State for two seasons. In his second year, Erickson was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year after leading the Cougars to their first nine-win season since 1930 and their first bowl victory in 73 seasons - a win over Houston in the 1988 Aloha Bowl.
 
Erickson would see his greatest success at Miami from 1989-94, posting a 63-9 record and an 87.5 winning percentage, which remains the highest in school history. The only coach to win two national titles at Miami, his Hurricanes took home the crown following the 1989 and 1991 seasons while playing in two other national championship games in 1992 and 1994. The 1989 national title earned Erickson the distinction of being only the second Division I head coach to win a national crown in his first season at a school. The 1991 Miami squad would be named national champion after becoming the second team in school history to finish 12-0. Erickson claimed conference coach of the year honors and guided the Canes to conference titles in three-of-four seasons after Miami joined the BIG EAST in 1991. Boasting a 35-1 home record at Miami, he led the team to bowl games in all six seasons and the Canes never finished lower than No. 3 in the final polls from 1989-92.
 
After a four-year stint as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Erickson took over the program at Oregon State in 1999 and sparked a massive turnaround. In his first season, he led the Beavers to their first winning season in 29 years and their first bowl appearance in 35 years. Erickson's best season at Oregon State came in 2000, when helped the program snap its 33-year losing streak to USC and earn a share of the Pac-10 Conference title for the first time since 1964. The Pac-10 Coach of the Year that season, he guided Oregon State to an 11-1 record, a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl (the school's first major bowl appearance since 1965) and the No. 4 final ranking (the highest finish in school history). Erickson's 64.6 win percentage is the highest among Oregon State coaches with more than three seasons at the helm.
 
After two seasons as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and one return season at Idaho, Erickson took his final head-coaching job at Arizona State in 2007. In his first season, he once again claimed Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors after leading the Sun Devils to a 10-win season and a share of the Pac-10 title.
 
Over his entire career, Erickson's teams boasted 10 top 25 finishes, including five in the top five. The two-time Sporting News College Coach of the Year coached 67 first team all-conference selections, three NFF National Scholar-Athletes and 21 First Team All-Americans, including College Football Hall of Famers Russell Maryland and Gino Torretta at Miami and Mike Utley at Washington State.
 
A native of Everett, Washington, Erickson was a two-time All-Big Sky quarterback while leading Montana State to three conference titles. Before his first head-coaching job at Idaho, he served as an assistant coach at Montana State, Idaho, Fresno State and San Jose State as well as one season as a high school head coach when he was just 23 years old. From 2013-16, Erickson came out of retirement to serve as an assistant coach at Utah. He is a member of the University of Miami Sports, State of Washington Sports, University of Idaho Athletics and State of Montana Football halls of fame. Erickson has once again come out of retirement to be the head coach of the Salt Lake Stallions in the Alliance of American Football, a new professional league that will kick off in February 2019.

Statement from ACC Commissioner John Swofford:
“The ACC congratulates this year’s College Football Hall of Fame class which includes Terrell Buckley, Torry Holt and Dennis Erickson,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “We are pleased that each of these individuals are being recognized by the National Football Foundation and we look forward to celebrating their outstanding careers throughout this year.”