Two former UNC Tar Heels are on the 2021 College Football Hall of Fame ballot

The College Football Hall of Fame could induct two more former University of North Carolina players in 2021.

Former defensive end Julius Peppers and offensive tackle Harris Barton were named to the 2021 ballot, released Tuesday morning. The ballot includes 78 players and seven coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 99 players and 33 coaches from divisional ranks.

Peppers was the 2001 Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Year and finished 10th in Heisman Trophy voting. He was also awarded the Bednarik Award for Defensive Player of the Year and the Lombardi Award for best college football player. A two-time all First-Team All ACC player, Peppers led the conference his sophomore year with 15 sacks and 24 tackles for loss, a single-season school record.

Peppers also has the second-most career tackles for loss in UNC history (53) and second-most career sacks (30.5).

The Carolina Panthers selected Peppers second overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played with the Panthers until 2014, when he signed with the Green Bay Packers, before returning In 2017 and retiring in 2019.

In 2002, Peppers was named the NFL AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Barton was a First-Team All-ACC selection in 1986 and was named the league’s most outstanding offensive lineman. He helped the Tar Heels rank first in ACC and sixth nationally in total offense that same season.

The San Francisco 49ers drafted Barton as the 22nd pick in the 1987 NFL Draft, and he played with them his whole career. Barton retired following the 1998 season.

There have been five UNC players inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame, as well as coach Carl Grey Snavely.

Also on the ballot in the divisional category are Western Carolina place kicker Kirk Roach and Winston-Salem State running back Timmy Newsome.

Roach was a three-time First-Team All-American and four-time First-Team All-Conference pick. He holds five Division I-AA kicking records, 10 Southern Conference records and 18 school records, including the all-time scoring record with 302 career points. He was also named to the 2019 ballot.

Newsome finished his career as the all-time leading rusher in school and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association history. The Rams won back-to-back CIAA championships with Newsome, who was a three-time CIAA Offensive Player of the Year and two-time Division II All-American.

Criteria for Hall of Fame consideration includes recognition as First-Team All-America by an NCAA selector, “post-football record as a citizen,” and nomination by a current school athletic director, head coach or sports information director.

Only 1,027 players have been inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame. The 2021 class will be announced in early 2021 and officially inducted on December 7, 2021.

This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 12:38 PM.