NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Storied Notre Dame greats, linebacker Manti Te’o and defensive back Todd Lyght, have been selected to the National Football Foundation’s 2025 College Football Hall of Fame ballot.
To be eligible for the ballot, a player must have been recognized as a First Team All-American and have completed his college football career at least ten full seasons ago.
Te’o and Lyght join a group of 77 players and nine coaches from the FBS, and 101 players and 34 coaches from the divisional ranks.
In total, 49 former Irish student-athletes and six former Irish coaches are in the College Football Hall of Fame, including Michael Stonebreaker, Notre Dame’s most recent inductee (2023). Notre Dame’s 55 hall of fame members are the most of any institution in the country.
Te’o was a unanimous First Team All-American in 2012, and the first player in history to sweep the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Bednarik, Butkus, Lombardi and Nagurski awards in the same season. He was the first exclusively defensive player to finish in the top two of the Heisman voting since 1980, and led Notre Dame to a national championship appearance in his senior season.
Te’o is one of 11 NFF National Scholar-Athletes on the 2025 ballot, having earned the honor in 2012. He was selected with the 38th-overall pick (second round) of the 2013 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers.
Lyght was a two-time First Team All-American, with unanimous honors in 1989 and a consensus nod in 1990. He helped lead Notre Dame to the 1988 National Championship and an appearance in the 1991 national championship. He was a finalist for the Thorpe Award in 1989, and his eight interceptions that season still rank tied for third in Irish records.
Lyght was the fifth-overall pick in the 1991 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams.
The announcement of the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be made in early 2025, with specific details to be announced in the future.