Photo by: Melissa Macatee, National Football Foundation
Figures Inducted Into College Football Hall of Fame
December 10, 2024 | Football, Alumni C Club
The 11th Buffalo Selected For Enshrinement
LAS VEGAS — University of Colorado All-American and Jim Thorpe Award winner in 1992, Deon Figures, became the 11th Buffalo along with 18 other players and three coaches to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame here this evening.
Figures, who lined up at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds as a collegian, recorded 27 pass deflections, the second-most in CU history when he completed his career, and his 12 regular season interceptions were fourth. In 44 career games (not including bowls), he was in on 176 tackles (128 solo), five for losses with 13 third down stops. He also recovered two fumbles and forced one and added six more tackles on special teams. The 176 tackles were the 11th-most by a defensive back at the time of his graduation, with the unassisted count seventh. In four bowl games, he had 18 tackles, four passes broken up and the most interception in CU's postseason history.
Several of his former teammates were present for his induction.
"To see the guys coming back, and this is the payoff here, being around them and talking football," he said. "It's surreal. I don't think it will really hit me until I go back to my every day life. You probably need to pinch me right now to wake me up, but hopefully I can stay in this dream a little while longer.
"And being up here with a lot of these guys I looked up to as a kid, like I said, it's surreal," he added. "I really grew up in baseball – I love baseball – I got into football for the most part just as a hobby, but it took over. It's been a part of my life for a long, long time. I love it that much."
He also spoke about the current state of the CU program.
"We've been struggling for a while, so it's good to see Deion Sanders up there and what he's done for Boulder and to bring back the attention," he said. "My generation, this is what we were used to, minus the social media. It's done a lot for the entire community, and it's given these students something they haven't had for a long, long time. It feels good with what he's done, and we're going bowling again. We're on the right track, I just hope it can continue."
His career was bookended by winning the Lee Willard Award as CU's outstanding freshman player (1988) and he concluded his collegiate time by playing in the 1993 Hula Bowl (1993). He was a honorable mention all-conference performer as a true freshman and was a second-teamer his junior year. The Buffaloes were 36-10-3 during his CU career, including a 22-4-2 record in Big Eight Conference games (not including the 1989 campaign that he sat out). In addition to the '90 national title, CU won the Big Eight Conference that season and shared the '91 crown. Despite not playing in 1989, he did have a vital role on CU's scout teams that led to the Big Eight title and an 11-0 regular season record.
A consensus first-team All-American at cornerback as a senior in 1992, when he was selected by the Associated Press, United Press International, FWAA, Walter Camp, NEA, Football News and The Sporting News, he was the seventh recipient of the Jim Thorpe Award, presented to the nation's top defensive back. That season, he had six interceptions with eight passes broken up, and allowed only 12 pass completions overall in 404 opponent snaps when CU was in man coverage. Along with making 38 tackles, he was selected as the Big Eight Conference's defensive player of the year.
Perhaps the two biggest plays of his career came during his sophomore season, and without either one, CU may not have been national champions as he made two late game-saving interceptions. In a 20-14 win over Washington in Boulder, UW had driven 70 yards for a first-and-goal at the CU 7. After two incomplete passes, Figures broke up a pass on third down, and with 59 seconds left in the game, his pick in the end zone ended the Husky threat. And in the 10-9 victory over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, the win that cemented CU's consensus national title, he intercepted Irish quarterback Rick Mirer with eight seconds remaining and proceeded to run out the clock; had the pass been completed, it was very likely Notre Dame would have had its star kicker, Craig Hentrich, try a field goal in the neighborhood of 55 yards.
He was a first round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1993 National Football League Draft, the 23rd selection overall, and played in 93 career NFL games with Pittsburgh (1993-96) and Jacksonville (1997-98). He had 260 career tackles (236 solo), with 58 pass deflections and nine interceptions. In the league for six years with as many winning records (teams combined to go 64-32), he helped the Steelers to three AFC Central titles and one AFC championship and the Jaguars to a pair of divisional crowns.
Figures was inducted into CU's Athletic Hall of Fame in the class of 2014, and actually finished 30th in the '92 Heisman Trophy balloting. He was also honored in 1992 with the Touchdown Club of Columbus' Jack Tatum Trophy as the top defensive back.
The previous 10 Buffaloes inducted were Byron White (in 1952), Joe Romig (1984), Dick Anderson (1993), Bobby Anderson (2006), Alfred Williams (2010), John Wooten (2012), Coach Bill McCartney (2013), Herb Orvis (2016), Michael Westbrook (2020) and Rashaan Salaam (2022). Figures is now the fourth player who was coached by McCartney to enter the Hall, joining Salaam, Westbrook and Williams who all played for him during his 13-year tenure as head coach from 1982-94.
More than 5.71 million people have played college football in more than 154 years, according to the NFF, but only 1,093 have been selected for the Hall (along with 233 coaches); that's .02 percent of those who have played the game. The most significant reason for this is that the Hall's rules for selection include that a player must have, at minimum, been selected as a first-team All-American by those organizations it recognizes as long-time selectors.
Figures, who lined up at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds as a collegian, recorded 27 pass deflections, the second-most in CU history when he completed his career, and his 12 regular season interceptions were fourth. In 44 career games (not including bowls), he was in on 176 tackles (128 solo), five for losses with 13 third down stops. He also recovered two fumbles and forced one and added six more tackles on special teams. The 176 tackles were the 11th-most by a defensive back at the time of his graduation, with the unassisted count seventh. In four bowl games, he had 18 tackles, four passes broken up and the most interception in CU's postseason history.
Several of his former teammates were present for his induction.
"To see the guys coming back, and this is the payoff here, being around them and talking football," he said. "It's surreal. I don't think it will really hit me until I go back to my every day life. You probably need to pinch me right now to wake me up, but hopefully I can stay in this dream a little while longer.
"And being up here with a lot of these guys I looked up to as a kid, like I said, it's surreal," he added. "I really grew up in baseball – I love baseball – I got into football for the most part just as a hobby, but it took over. It's been a part of my life for a long, long time. I love it that much."
He also spoke about the current state of the CU program.
"We've been struggling for a while, so it's good to see Deion Sanders up there and what he's done for Boulder and to bring back the attention," he said. "My generation, this is what we were used to, minus the social media. It's done a lot for the entire community, and it's given these students something they haven't had for a long, long time. It feels good with what he's done, and we're going bowling again. We're on the right track, I just hope it can continue."
His career was bookended by winning the Lee Willard Award as CU's outstanding freshman player (1988) and he concluded his collegiate time by playing in the 1993 Hula Bowl (1993). He was a honorable mention all-conference performer as a true freshman and was a second-teamer his junior year. The Buffaloes were 36-10-3 during his CU career, including a 22-4-2 record in Big Eight Conference games (not including the 1989 campaign that he sat out). In addition to the '90 national title, CU won the Big Eight Conference that season and shared the '91 crown. Despite not playing in 1989, he did have a vital role on CU's scout teams that led to the Big Eight title and an 11-0 regular season record.
A consensus first-team All-American at cornerback as a senior in 1992, when he was selected by the Associated Press, United Press International, FWAA, Walter Camp, NEA, Football News and The Sporting News, he was the seventh recipient of the Jim Thorpe Award, presented to the nation's top defensive back. That season, he had six interceptions with eight passes broken up, and allowed only 12 pass completions overall in 404 opponent snaps when CU was in man coverage. Along with making 38 tackles, he was selected as the Big Eight Conference's defensive player of the year.
Perhaps the two biggest plays of his career came during his sophomore season, and without either one, CU may not have been national champions as he made two late game-saving interceptions. In a 20-14 win over Washington in Boulder, UW had driven 70 yards for a first-and-goal at the CU 7. After two incomplete passes, Figures broke up a pass on third down, and with 59 seconds left in the game, his pick in the end zone ended the Husky threat. And in the 10-9 victory over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, the win that cemented CU's consensus national title, he intercepted Irish quarterback Rick Mirer with eight seconds remaining and proceeded to run out the clock; had the pass been completed, it was very likely Notre Dame would have had its star kicker, Craig Hentrich, try a field goal in the neighborhood of 55 yards.
He was a first round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1993 National Football League Draft, the 23rd selection overall, and played in 93 career NFL games with Pittsburgh (1993-96) and Jacksonville (1997-98). He had 260 career tackles (236 solo), with 58 pass deflections and nine interceptions. In the league for six years with as many winning records (teams combined to go 64-32), he helped the Steelers to three AFC Central titles and one AFC championship and the Jaguars to a pair of divisional crowns.
Figures was inducted into CU's Athletic Hall of Fame in the class of 2014, and actually finished 30th in the '92 Heisman Trophy balloting. He was also honored in 1992 with the Touchdown Club of Columbus' Jack Tatum Trophy as the top defensive back.
The previous 10 Buffaloes inducted were Byron White (in 1952), Joe Romig (1984), Dick Anderson (1993), Bobby Anderson (2006), Alfred Williams (2010), John Wooten (2012), Coach Bill McCartney (2013), Herb Orvis (2016), Michael Westbrook (2020) and Rashaan Salaam (2022). Figures is now the fourth player who was coached by McCartney to enter the Hall, joining Salaam, Westbrook and Williams who all played for him during his 13-year tenure as head coach from 1982-94.
More than 5.71 million people have played college football in more than 154 years, according to the NFF, but only 1,093 have been selected for the Hall (along with 233 coaches); that's .02 percent of those who have played the game. The most significant reason for this is that the Hall's rules for selection include that a player must have, at minimum, been selected as a first-team All-American by those organizations it recognizes as long-time selectors.
The 2024 HOF Class: Justin Blackmon (WR, Oklahoma State); Paul Cameron (TB, UCLA); Tim Couch (QB, Kentucky); Warrick Dunn (RB, Florida State); Armanti Edwards (QB, Appalachian State), Deon Figures (CB, Colorado); Larry Fitzgerald (WR, Pittsburgh); Toby Gerhart (RB, Stanford); Dan Hampton (DT, Arkansas); Steve Hutchinson (OG, Michigan); Antonio Langham (CB, Alabama); Randy Moss (WR, Marshall); Julius Peppers (DE, North Carolina); Paul Posluszny (LB, Penn State); Dewey Selmon (NG, Oklahoma), Alex Smith (QB, Utah); Kevin Smith (CB, Texas A&M); Chris Ward (OT, Ohio State); Danny Woodhead (RB, Chadron State).
Coaches: Mark Dantonio (Cincinnati, Michigan State); Danny Hale (West Chester, Bloomsburg); Frank Solich (Nebraska, Ohio)
Coaches: Mark Dantonio (Cincinnati, Michigan State); Danny Hale (West Chester, Bloomsburg); Frank Solich (Nebraska, Ohio)
MJ and Jon Boman talk 1990 National Championship Team Reunion #TheBuffaloStampede
Saturday, November 20
Colorado Hall of Fame Inductions 2014
Thursday, June 30
Darian Hagan
Thursday, June 30
Hall of Fame: Herb Orvis
Thursday, June 30