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by Jeff Speegle
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It was a big day for former Auburn football players with Gregg Carr and Larry Blakeney both announced as part of the 2025 class for the College Football Hall of Fame. Blakeney was selected as a coach following his career as a longtime assistant and then a head coach at Troy.
Carr was the heart of the Auburn defense in the early 1980s. The hard-hitting linebacker and Birmingham native becomes the ninth Auburn player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
A consensus First Team All-American in 1984, Carr was Auburn's leading tackler as a sophomore and junior and second-leading tackler as a senior. A three-time All-SEC selection and 1984 SEC Lineman of the Year, Carr amassed 453 career tackles, currently ranking him second in school history.
During 24 seasons as Troy's head coach, Blakeney won 178 games. The all-time winningest coach in both Troy and Sun Belt Conference history, Larry Blakeney led the Trojans to eight conference titles while becoming one of only two coaches in history to guide a program from Division II ultimately to the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Birmingham native now becomes the first-ever player or coach in Troy history to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
He remains the all-time winningest coach in Sun Belt Conference history, holding a 20-win advantage over the next closest competitor. He guided Troy to eight conference championships, including three in the Southland Conference before leading the Trojans to a Sun Belt-record five consecutive titles from 2006 to 2010.
A former Auburn quarterback, Blakeney made history as the first sophomore to start at the position for legendary Hall of Fame coach Shug Jordan.
Blakeney joins a heavy-hitting class of coaches in the Class of '25. Nick Saban, who won six National Titles at Alabama and one at LSU was the first announced member last week. Urban Meyer, who won two National Titles at Florida and one at Ohio State, is also going in.
"Those two guys are at the top of the heap," Blakeney said. "To be honored with them in a class is way far above what I expected to have happen in my retirement years. I'm tickled that we're gonna be together."
