Vince Dooley surmises Jake Scott could have made the College Football Hall of Fame years ago, but he showed little interest in accepting.
“You have to know him,” Dooley said Tuesday. “He just didn’t want to put on a tux.”
Scott, the 1968 SEC player of the year and later a Super Bowl MVP, has evidently relented. He was one of 16 greats — 14 players and two coaches — named to the Hall’s 2011 class. He is the 16th overall member from Georgia.
Former Falcons star cornerback Deion Sanders, a two-time unanimous All-American at Florida State, also was selected, three months after being chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sanders’ and Scott’s plaques will eventually take their place in downtown Atlanta when the Hall of Fame opens in the spring of 2013.
Longtime Bulldogs fans remember Scott as the gifted defensive back who led Georgia to an SEC championship in 1968, when he led the conference in interceptions with 10 and returned two of them for touchdowns against Kentucky. His still holds the school record for career interceptions with 16.
He went on to play in three Super Bowls and five Pro Bowls and was the MVP of Super Bowl VII, when Miami completed its perfect season.
“I really think of all the athletes that I had the privilege of coaching, he probably was the most complete that could do more things,” Dooley said.
In the past, Scott resisted honors such as the Hall of Fame. He told the AJC in 2006, “When it’s over, it’s over.”
However, Scott joined the Dolphins’ Honor Roll in November (along with former Georgia teammate Bill Stanfill) and was up for the college Hall in recent years. Dooley, a past selection-committee member, said Scott wasn’t given much consideration because he had made it clear he wasn’t interested.
“I think he’s come to realize it’s about him in one way, but in another way it’s not all about him,” Dooley said. “It’s about his mother and his family and Georgia and a lot of other things.”
Among those on the ballot who were not selected: former Falcons quarterbacks Steve Bartkowski (California) and Bob Berry (Oregon), former Falcons defensive lineman Moe Gardner (Illinois), former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton, former Georgia offensive lineman Matt Stinchcomb and former Georgia defensive back Scott Woerner, as well as Willie Gault (Tennessee) from Griffin and Sterling Sharpe (South Carolina) from Glennville.
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