greg eslinger 2025 NFF COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS

greg eslinger

By Matt Fortuna

Greg Eslinger may be among the youngest members of this year's College Football Hall of Fame class, but his recruitment to the FBS level illustrates just how much the sport has changed in a short period of time.

"The only way things worked out for me at Minnesota was because my old man and I sat down after my junior season, made a highlight tape, a VHS, and then we had an old family friend that was connected to coaches in the North Central area," said Eslinger, who grew up in Bismarck, N.D. "So, we made a bunch of copies of this highlight tape on VHS, and we mailed them to basically every major university in the area, like Wisconsin, Minnesota, a plethora of others. And Minnesota got my tape and they sent me the generic camp invite for that summer. So, nothing really too official, or nobody reaching out to me by any means other than this generic camp invite.

"So, I went to the camp in between my junior and senior year, performed really well, and then got offered after the camp. And then it was pretty much a done deal for me. So, I accepted the offer and didn't look back. So yeah, as far as all these blue-chippers that you hear about now, or five-star athletes, I was probably a quarter-star coming out of high school."

The Golden Gophers are certainly grateful for that effort. Eslinger becomes the 20th Minnesota player to make the College Football Hall of Fame, and the first since Bob Stein was inducted into the Hall in 2020.

A symbol of stability anchoring the backbone of the program, Eslinger started 50 games for the Gophers with the team leading the Big Ten in rushing twice during Eslinger's career. He was a two-time captain. Minnesota had a 1,000-yard running back in each of Eslinger's four seasons, with Eslinger sharing Team MVP honors with Laurence Maroney in 2005.

He was a three-time first-team All-Big Ten honoree and a two-time first-team All-American. He won both the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman) and Rimington Trophy (best center) in 2005. One of three boys, Eslinger took pride in honoring the memory of his older brother Jared, who passed away from leukemia when he was 13 years old.

"Just seeing his strength and resiliency in the most dire of situations, I was seeing what real strength is about," Eslinger said. "And it was just a huge motivating factor for me, for what I was going through - tough workouts, tough times, wins, losses, and just understanding and appreciating where I'm at versus him showing the strength and resilience that he did. I tried to exude that through all my competitive days, playing for him a lot."

Eslinger was as accomplished off the field as he was on it, having attended the NFF's awards dinner in 2005 as a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, which honors the top student-athlete in the nation for their combined academic, athletic and leadership abilities. The Big Ten gave Eslinger its prestigious Medal of Honor for his classroom and on-field efforts as well.

The Broncos drafted him in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft, and he spent parts of three NFL seasons with Denver, Cleveland and Houston before becoming an orthopedic sales consultant. He still calls Minnesota home today. And he is hoping that this latest honor gives him a little bit more credibility when coaching his kids.

"They definitely appreciate that, but yeah, I just remember my middle kid, I've always ended up coaching a lot of his teams because it was just the age group that needed a coach," Eslinger said. "And I remember not too many years ago, when I was trying to teach a group of them some blocking techniques, and him going, 'Dad, step aside, that's not how you do it. Here's how you do it.' Then he proceeds to get down in his stance and do it his way.

"I'm like, all right, apparently the accolades don't mean anything when we're talking seventh grade football, huh? So, pretty funny."