Michael Crabtree Set for Nov. 26 NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute

IRVING, Texas (NEWS RELEASE) - Texas Tech and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor 2022 College Football Hall of Fame electee Michael Crabtree with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments®. The Salute will take place this Saturday, Nov. 26, during the Red Raiders’ home football game against Oklahoma, which will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT on FS1.

“On behalf of Texas Tech University, we could not be prouder that Michael Crabtree will be the latest Red Raider enshrined in the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame,” Texas Tech Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt said. “We can’t congratulate him and his family enough on this tremendous accomplishment, and we look forward to his formal induction in December.”

The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in the Hall of Fame experience.

During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each electee returns to his respective school to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will stay on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many Hall of Famers cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and be recognized in front of their home crowd.

The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 6 at Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Click here for more information on the Awards Dinner, including options to purchase tickets online, special travel rates to the event from Delta Air Lines and a concierge service provided by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“Michael Crabtree was one of the most electrifying wide receivers in college football history,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “We are thrilled to honor him at Jones AT&T Stadium for his upcoming College Football Hall of Fame induction.”

The first two-time winner of the Biletnikoff Award, Crabtree is the only two-time unanimous First Team All-American (2007, 2008) in Texas Tech history, and he finished fifth in the 2008 Heisman Trophy voting.

The 2007 Freshman All-American burst onto the scene by setting still-standing freshman single-season FBS records for receiving yards (1,962), receptions (134), receiving yards per game (150.9), touchdown receptions (22), receptions per game (10.3) and 100-yard receiving games (11).

Crabtree still ranks in the top 15 all-time in nine FBS receiving categories, with his 1,962 receiving yards in 2007 currently third in FBS single-season history. A two-time recipient of the Paul Warfield Award, Crabtree was named CBSSports.com’s National Freshman of the Year and the AT&T All-America Player of the Year in 2007.

A two-time First Team All-Big 12 selection, Crabtree was named the Big 12 Co-Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2007. Despite playing just two seasons, he remains Texas Tech’s all-time leader with 41 career receiving touchdowns and 15 career 100-yard receiving games while ranking second with 3,127 career receiving yards.

His 1,962 receiving yards and 134 receptions in 2007 are both Big 12 and Red Raider records, and he owns the top two single-season receiving touchdown marks in school history (22 in 2007, 19 in 2008). The 2007 Texas Tech team MVP owns nearly every freshman receiving record in the Big 12 and Red Raider record books.

In 2008, Crabtree led Texas Tech to a share of the Big 12 South Division title, an 11-2 record and the No. 12 final ranking. His highlight moment came against Texas that season, in which he hauled in the game-winning 28-yard touchdown with one second remaining to shock No. 1 Texas.

Crabtree led the Red Raiders to two bowl games, including a win in the 2008 Gator Bowl. The 2020 Texas Tech Hall of Fame inductee was named to the school’s Football Ring of Honor in 2021.

The 10th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, Crabtree played 11 seasons with the 49ers (2009-14), Oakland Raiders (2015-17), Baltimore Ravens (2018) and Arizona Cardinals (2019).

Off the field, he established the Crab5 Foundation, which hosts numerous events each year for underprivileged youth. Crabtree also fully endowed a scholarship at Texas Tech in 2019.

Crabtree becomes the sixth Red Raider player in the College Football Hall of Fame, joining Donny Anderson (1963-65), E.J. Holub (1958-60), Dave Parks (1961-63), Gabe Rivera (1979-82) and Zach Thomas (1992-95). Former Texas Tech coach Jerry Moore, who led the team from 1981-85, is also in the Hall.

The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class includes LaVar Arrington (Penn State), Champ Bailey (Georgia), Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Sylvester Croom (Alabama), Mike Doss (Ohio State), Chuck Ealey (Toledo), Kevin Faulk (LSU), Moe Gardner (Illinois), Boomer Grigsby (Illinois State), Mike Hass (Oregon State), Marvin Jones (Florida State), Andrew Luck (Stanford), Mark Messner (Michigan), Terry Miller (Oklahoma State), Rashaan Salaam (Colorado), Dennis Thomas (Alcorn State), Zach Wiegert (Nebraska), Roy Williams (Oklahoma) and coaches John Luckhardt (Washington & Jefferson [PA], California [PA]), Billy Jack Murphy (Memphis) and Gary Pinkel (Toledo, Missouri).

The accomplishments of the 2022 Class will be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, and each inductee will receive a custom ring created by Jostens, the official and exclusive supplier of NFF rings.

Including the 2022 Hall of Fame Class, only 1,056 players and 226 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.62 million who have played or coached the game during the past 153 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have earned this distinction.

Fidelity Investments has served as the national presenting sponsor of the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes since 2010. The salutes are one component of a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education. Fidelity is also the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, and it helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes in 2011, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives around the country.

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