Jan 11, 2021 Former USC quarterback Carson Palmer was named to the College Football Hall of Fame’s 2021 class on Monday. The 2002 Heisman Trophy winner is the 45th Trojan to earn his spot in the Hall of Fame. Carson Palmer, who won the 2002 Heisman Trophy with USC and played 15 years in the NFL, is now living a quiet life in Idaho with his wife and kids.
In an honor which was long overdue, USC legend Carson Palmer was finally voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
On the last day of this college football season — as the Ohio State Buckeyes prepare to meet the Alabama Crimson Tide in Miami for the national championship — the College Football Hall of Fame and the National Football Foundation announced the new Hall of Fame class, to be inducted in December of this year.
The list of players, as presented on the National Football Foundation Website:
Harris Barton – OT, North Carolina (1983-86)David Fulcher – DB, Arizona State (1983-85)Dan Morgan – LB, Miami (1997-2000)Carson Palmer – QB, Southern California (1998-2002)Tony Romo – QB, Eastern Illinois (1999-2002)Kenneth Sims – DT, Texas (1978-81)C.J. Spiller – RB/KR, Clemson (2006-09)Darren Sproles – RB, Kansas State (2001-04)Aaron Taylor – OT, Notre Dame (1990-93)Andre Tippett –FanSided
DE, Iowa (1979-81)Al Wilson – LB, Tennessee (1995-98)Carson Palmer Brother
There are just two coaches who will enter the College Football Hall of Fame this year: Bob Stoops of Oklahoma, and Ruby Hubbard of Florida A&M (1974-1985).
Carson Palmer won the 2002 Heisman Trophy for USC, becoming at the time the Trojans’ fifth Heisman winner. Matt Leinart in 2004 and Reggie Bush in 2005 became subsequent winners. Bush’s 2005 trophy was officially stripped, but it remains a fact that seven USC players have been announced as Heisman Trophy winners. Whether those announcements have stuck is a separate question.
Carson Palmer’s Heisman was a product of his individual prowess, but it was also the result of USC’s rise to national prominence. Only one of USC’s seven victories at a Heisman Trophy ceremony existed outside of considerable football achievements, and even then, one could debate that point. The 1965 USC team didn’t make a bowl game, losing twice and tying once, but even then, it finished 10th in the season-ending polls. Mike Garrett won the Heisman in spite of USC’s lack of a conference championship or Rose Bowl berth.
The other six USC Heisman seasons were all accompanied by major bowl berths. Palmer is part of that proud tradition: His Heisman was attached to team success.
Palmer and the emergent roster which had been recruited and assembled by Pete Carroll’s staff were able to destroy opponents in the second half of the 2002 season, following losses to Kansas State and Washington State. The Trojans missed the Rose Bowl, but they reached the Orange Bowl and hammered Iowa to announce that Troy had fully returned to prominence.
What Carson Palmer started in 2002, USC continued through the 2008 season in one of the great seven-year runs not only for the Trojans, but for any college football program, anywhere and anytime.
Carson Palmer Usc
Palmer always deserved Hall of Fame recognition. Now he has it. Congratulations to him and all the other HOF honorees.