Levon Kirkland on his College Football Hall of Fame nomination, Super Bowl XXX, Bill Cowher’s book
Share this post:
Former Pittsburgh Steelers will be abundant at this summer’s Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions thanks to elections of safety Donnie Shell, coach Bill Cowher, guard Alan Faneca and safety Troy Polamalu (former scout Bill Nunn was already posthumously enshrined April 28). Canton, Ohio will be filled with Black and Gold when ceremonies take place Aug. 7-8.
There will be an opportunity for some local representation on the college level, too. Former Steelers Levon Kirkland, Antwaan Randle El and Ted Petersen have been named to this year’s College Football Hall of Fame ballot, along with numerous Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia products.
Kirkland earned the nomination for his years as a linebacker at Clemson (1987-1991). Randle El was recognized for his standout play as a quarterback at Indiana before the Steelers converted him to a wide receiver and punt returner. And Petersen was an offensive lineman at Eastern Illinois before winning two Super Bowl rings with the Steelers in 1978 and 1979.
Kirkland joined me for Tuesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast and said he was surprised to get the news.
“It blew me away,” Kirkland said. “I was stunned. I was looking at Twitter and that’s how I found out. … But I’ll be honest with you, I definitely want to be on (the ballot).”
The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted on Dec. 6, 2022. He is one of 78 players and seven coaches up for consideration.
“I wasn’t highly recruited coming out of high school. But I worked hard, and things worked out. I was really blessed. To be on this level would be amazing for me,” Kirkland explained.
Being lightly recruited and winding up at Clemson is rare nowadays. Especially if someone is athletically gifted and living in the same state of South Carolina as Kirkland was. But Kirkland says that was the case for him in the pre-internet scouting-service days when he was playing in a small conference at Lamar High School.
Even though Kirkland lived just three hours away from Clemson’s campus, he was unknown to the coaching staff until a high school playoff game.
“There was a recruiter out there looking at other guys. Not me,” Kirkland laughed. “I just happened to have a great game. That’s when South Carolina sent me a letter first. Then Clemson sent me a letter.
“That’s basically how I got recruited. I got discovered. That doesn’t happen today.”
Kirkland started getting snaps with the Tigers his redshirt freshman year and never yielded playing time, accruing 273 tackles, 40 tackles for loss and 19 sacks. He was a consensus All-American in 1991.
As a Steeler, Kirkland earned two All-Pro honors and was part of the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1990s. Playing at around 275 pounds, Kirkland was a hulking inside linebacker that could stuff the run and cover in the Steelers’ 3-4. But Kirkland was more of a pass rusher with the Tigers when the Steelers drafted him in 1992.
He says he arrived at Clemson at 205 pounds and graduated at around 240 pounds.
“We played the 3-4, but I was never an inside linebacker until I got to Pittsburgh. I actually played the outside linebacker. More of what Kevin Greene played. I was on the strong side,” Kirkland recalls.
Despite his accomplishments in college, Kirkland knows getting elected on his first nomination may be tough. And while Kirkland’s career in Pittsburgh was stellar, it doesn’t rise to Hall of Fame induction levels for Canton.
Maybe it would have if the Steelers had found a way to win Super Bowl XXX against the Dallas Cowboys when Kirkland was dominant. Some think if the Steelers had pulled out that victory, he would’ve been the game’s MVP.
“That was a game I really trusted everything I did,” Kirkland exclaimed. “Matt Millen (former NFL linebacker turned broadcaster) told me I was the dark horse of that team. And that I just wasn’t trusting it. I was seeing the right things. But I just wasn’t trusting what I was seeing. He just told me to trust my eyes. I started doing that.”
Unfortunately for Kirkland, the kind of Hall of Fame where he may best fit doesn’t exist.
“I think I was a unique player. I wish they could combine my pro career with the college Hall of Fame, I would definitely get in,” Kirkland said.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Kirkland and I talk about some favorite Steelers memories, the very specific praise he got from Bill Cowher in his new book and modern-day comparisons to the type of player he was.
Plus, Kirkland weighs in on Cowher’s proclamation that the 1997 Steelers team was the best one he ever coached. Kirkland suggests a different edition of those ‘90s Steelers to choose.