Two Pitt Legends Now Eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame

A small class was announced for the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Thursday night, and now the class of 2026 is officially on the clock.

It’s a star-studded class, as are all of the classes, but this class has some serious star power. And there are two familiar candidates who have a pretty good chance of being inducted into the grandest Hall of them all.

Larry Fitzgerald and LeSean McCoy are both eligible for the class of 2026.

McCoy will be a Hall of Famer, but it may take a couple of years to be selected for enshrinement. Fitzgerald will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Regardless, it’s just a couple more Pitt Panthers who will enter the Hall.

Former Pitt stars Darrelle Revis, Jimbo Covert, Mike Ditka, Chris Doleman, Tony Dorsett, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Dan Marino, Curtis Martin and Joe Schmidt are already enshrined. And eventually Aaron Donald will join their ranks when he’s eligible.

First-time eligibles for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 include:

🏈Larry Fitzgerald
🏈Drew Brees
🏈Philip Rivers
🏈Jason Witten
🏈Frank Gore
🏈Julian Edelman
🏈Maurkice Pouncey
🏈LeSean McCoy
🏈Thomas Davis
🏈Greg Olsen
🏈Alex Smith
🏈Dez Bryant
🏈Stephen Gostkowski… pic.twitter.com/5n2VjFfoG8

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 7, 2025

Pitt has two excellent candidates for the class of 2026 in Fitzgerald and McCoy:

Larry Fitzgerald 

Fitzgerald only spent two seasons at Pitt, but he made an impact that cannot — and will not — be forgotten any time soon. And that impact has continued to this day.

In those two seasons at Pitt from 2002-03, he recorded 161 receptions for 2,677 yards and 34 touchdowns. His sophomore campaign (92 receptions for 1,672 yards and 22 touchdowns) earned him Heisman runner-up honors.

Fitzgerald was perhaps the best player in college football in the 2003 season as he won the Biletnikoff Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Big East Offensive Player of the Year honor and was named a unanimous All-American. And there’s a legitimate argument to be made that he should’ve won the Heisman Trophy, too.

His dominance carried over to the NFL after being selected with the third pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Despite a career in which he played with a revolving door of quarterbacks, Fitzgerald will go down as one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history.

In 17 seasons, all with the Cardinals, he recorded 1,432 receptions (second all-time) for 17,492 yards (second all-time) and 121 touchdowns (sixth all-time). And he added 57 receptions for 942 yards and 10 touchdowns in the postseason — including one of the greatest individual postseasons in 2008.

LeSean McCoy 

During his time in Philadelphia, McCoy racked up 6,792 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and 44 touchdowns, adding 2,282 yards (7.6 yards per reception) and 10 touchdowns on the ground.

He was one of the best running backs in the NFL during his time with the Eagles — and the Buffalo Bills.

McCoy finished his NFL career with 2,457 carries for 11,102 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and 73 touchdowns — adding 518 receptions for 3,898 yards (7.5 yards per reception) and 16 touchdowns — during his time with the Eagles, Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He led the league in rushing yards in 2013 and rushing touchdowns in 2011, earning Pro Bowl honors six times, first-team All-Pro honors twice and winning the Super Bowl twice. He was also named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade squad.

McCoy only spent two seasons with Pitt, racking up 2,816 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns while adding 65 receptions for 549 yards and another touchdown, but he’s firmly entrenched among the Panthers’ all-time leaders. His rushing yards rank eighth all-time, his rushing touchdown runs rank third all-time and his two seasons both rank inside Pitt’s 10 best rushing seasons in program history.