Brett Favre
NFL Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre was a star at Southern Miss, and he tops our list of great Group of Five products who succeeded in the NFL. PHOTO CREDIT: Southern Miss Athletics photo archives.

The All-Time Best NFL Players From Group of 5 Schools

Some of the best stories in NFL history involve players from smaller schools, and there are some all-time greats who played in the Group of Five.

What exactly is the "Group of Five"? When the Division I-A ranks unofficially began and folks began calling it Group of Five (G5) about 15-20 years ago, the non-Power Five conferences within the Football Bowl Subdivision ranks were labeled G5. The five conferences are the relatively new American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, the historic Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West, and the Sun Belt. FanBuzz will be covering these conferences throughout the college football season.

These conferences have produced some serious professional talent When it comes to the NFL Hall of Fame, 30 of its members played at schools that, in 2023, will be in the Group of Five. While many of the players come from an earlier era when there was no differentiation of levels of college football, we're going to put this together based solely on players who played at the 64 schools that today make up the five G5 conferences, with a handful of independents included, too.

You'll know many of these names. Yes, some may have split their careers with another school, but these gentlemen played substantially when they were with these teams — and they bring back a ton of memories. It's just an example of how strong and historic these programs truly are, even if they don't play in the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, etc.

This list was selected by using the rating system used by the incredible service Pro Football Reference, which assigns a numerical value to each player based on career stats, All-Pro seasons, Pro Bowls and if they're in the Hall of Fame. Obviously, not all eras are the same, and some didn't have the statistics we do today — and in that situation, we at FanBuzz massaged the rating a bit to fit what we were trying to do.

You'll also notice that some positions have an extra player as we go three teams deep. That's to recognize that some systems and eras used a position more than another era. So, as an example, on the offensive line we will have two running backs per team along with three wide receivers, a center and two guards, and two tackles. And on defense, we have four spots at each level to accommodate different defensive alignments.

The number of big names is incredible. Some of the names left out were big ones. Most of these players are retired, but a few of them haven't even wrapped up their careers yet.

The Best NFL Players from Group of Five Schools

Khalil Mack holds up his jersey after being drafted by the Oakland Raiders.

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Here's our official list of the all-time best NFL players from Group of Five schools.

G5 NFL ALL-TIME 1ST TEAM

(*) — Indicates NFL Hall of Famer

POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
QB SOUTH. MISS Brett Favre (*) 1991-2010
RB SAN DIEGO ST. Marshall Faulk (*) 1994-2005
RB SMU Eric Dickerson (*) 1983-1993
WR MARSHALL Randy Moss (*) 1998-2012
WR TULSA Steve Largent (*) 1976-1989
WR MEMPHIS Isaac Bruce (*) 1994-2009
TE UMASS Milt Morin 1966-1975
OL MARSHALL Frank Gatski (*) 1946-1957
OL FRESNO ST. Logan Mankins 2005-2015
OL LA. TECH Willie Roaf (*) 1993-2005
OL TULSA Bob St. Clair (*) 1953-1963
OL SMU Forrest Gregg (*) 1956-1971
POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
DL UTAH ST. Merlin Olsen (*) 1962-1976
DL NORTH TEXAS Joe Greene (*) 1969-1981
DL CENTRAL MICH. J.J. Watt (&) 2011-2022
DL AKRON Jason Taylor (*) 1997-2011
LB BUFFALO Khalil Mack 2014-2022
LB UTAH ST. Bobby Wagner 2012-2022
LB NEW MEXICO Brian Urlacher (*) 2000-2012
LB KENT ST. Jack Lambert (*) 1974-1984
DB TULANE Richie Petitbon 1959-1972
DB TOLEDO Emlen Tunnell (*) 1948-1961
DB COLORADO ST. Jack Christiansen (*) 1951-1958
DB UTAH ST. Cornell Green 1962-1974
POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
K LA. TECH Matt Stover 1991-2009
P SOUTH. MISS. Ray Guy (*) 1973-1986

(&) - Began career at Central Michigan, playing all 14 games as a freshman.

G5 NFL ALL-TIME 2ND TEAM

(*) — Indicates NFL Hall of Famer

POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
QB LA. TECH Terry Bradshaw (*) 1970-1983
RB SMU Doak Walker (*) 1950-1955
RB NEVADA Marion Motley (*) 1946-1955
WR UTEP Don Maynard (*) 1958-1973
WR TULSA Drew Pearson (*) 1973-1983
WR SMU Raymond Berry (*) 1955-1967
TE WYOMING Jay Novacek 1985-1995
OL NORTH TEXAS Brian Waters 2000-2013
OL HAWAII Jesse Sapolu 1983-1997
OL CENTRAL MICH. Joe Staley 2007-2019
OL MEMPH/ARK ST. Ray Brown 1986-2005
OL FLA. ATLANTIC Ed Newman 1973-1984
POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
DL TEMPLE Joe Klecko (*) 1977-1988
DL SAN DIEGO ST. La'Roi Glover 1996-2008
DL NAVY Ed Sprinkle (*) 1944-1955
DL LA. TECH Fred Dean (*) 1975-1985
LB TROY DeMarcus Ware (*) 2005-2016
LB JAMES MADISON Charles Haley (*) 1986-1999
LB KENT ST. James Harrison 2002-2017
LB COLORADO ST. Joey Porter 1999-2011
DB SAN JOSE ST. Louis Wright 1975-1986
DB SOUTH MISS. Hanford Dixon 1981-1989
DB MARSHALL Carl Lee 1983-1994
DB MIDDLE TENN. Kevin Byard 2016-2022
POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
K TULANE Eddie Murray 1980-2000
P SMU Thomas Morstead 2009-2022

(*) — Indicates NFL Hall of Famer

 

G5 NFL ALL-TIME 3RD TEAM

POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
QB NAVY Roger Staubach (*) 1969-1979
QB MIAMI-OHIO Ben Roethlisberger 2004-2021
QB UNLV Randall Cunningham 1985-2001
RB TULANE Matt Forte 2008-2017
RB E. CAROLINA Earnest Byner 1984-1997
WR FRESNO ST. Henry Ellard 1983-1998
WR CENTRAL MICH. Antonio Brown 2010-2021
WR UAB Roddy White 2005-2015
OL BOISE ST. Ryan Clady 2008-2016
OL UTAH ST. Donald Penn 2007-2019
OL BOWL GREEN Doug Smith 1978-1991
OL NEVADA Joel Bitonio 2014-2022
OL NO. ILLINOIS Ryan Diem 2001-2011
POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
DL SAN DIEGO ST. Fred Dryer 1969-1981
DL NEVADA Charles Mann 1983-1994
DL SMU Jerry Mays 1961-1970
DL UTAH ST. Greg Kragen 1985-1997
LB SOUTH MISS. Adalius Thomas 2000-2009
LB NEW MEXICO Robin Cole 1977-1988
LB UTEP Seth Joyner 1986-1998
LB ARKANSAS ST. Demario Davis 2012-2022
DB ARKANSAS ST. James Bradberry 2016-2022
DB COASTAL CARO. Josh Norman 2012-2022
DB UCONN Byron Jones 2015-2021
DB MEMPHIS Bobby McCain 2015-2022
POS G5 SCHOOL PLAYER ACT YRS
K UTAH ST. Jim Turner 1964-1979
P TOLEDO Brett Kern 2008-2022

(*) — Indicates NFL Hall of Famer

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