Two of Florida’s biggest football names are headed into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame.
Emmitt Smith and Maurkice Pouncey will be inducted on Friday, Oct. 30, at the Induction Ceremony and Luncheon in Atlanta. The event is set for 12 p.m. ET at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame, with this year’s Gators-Bulldogs game taking place in the same city.
Georgia will also add two honorees of its own: Brandon Boykin and Andre Hastings.
Smith’s place in Florida lore is already sealed. Before he became the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, he spent three seasons rewriting the Gators’ record book from 1987 to 1989.
His breakout against Georgia came in his first collegiate start in 1987, when he ripped off 224 yards. By the end of his Florida career, he had piled up 3,928 rushing yards and 36 rushing touchdowns, earning three straight First-Team All-SEC nods along the way.
His junior year was the one that pushed him even higher. Smith ran for 1,599 yards, picked up Consensus First-Team All-American honors and was named SEC Most Valuable Player. The Milton, Florida, native then went in the first round of the 1990 NFL Draft to the Dallas Cowboys.
From there, the résumé only grew. Over 15 NFL seasons, Smith became the league’s all-time leading rusher, won three Super Bowls, claimed NFL MVP and Super Bowl XXVIII MVP honors, and made eight Pro Bowls. He’s already in both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Pouncey’s Florida run came later, but it was just as central to a dominant stretch in Gainesville. From 2007 to 2009, the Gators went 36-5, won two SEC championships and captured the 2008 BCS National Championship with Pouncey anchoring the line.
The Lakeland, Florida, native played Georgia three times and helped Florida beat the Bulldogs in 2008 and 2009 while protecting Tim Tebow and opening lanes for an offense that was among the nation’s most explosive. He earned Freshman All-American honors in 2007 and by 2009 had become the first Florida player to win the Rimington Trophy, along with Consensus First-Team All-American and First-Team All-SEC recognition.
Pouncey started 39 games at Florida before the Pittsburgh Steelers took him 18th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. His 11-year NFL career included nine Pro Bowl selections, two First-Team All-Pro honors, three Second-Team All-Pro selections and a spot on the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team. He was later inducted into both the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame and the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Honor.
The Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame was established in 1995 and recognizes the players, coaches and administrators who have shaped the rivalry. More than 100 people have been honored over the years, including Florida names like Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Tim Tebow and Fred Taylor, plus Georgia standouts such as Vince Dooley, Herschel Walker, David Pollack and Knowshon Moreno.
After this year’s game in Atlanta, the SEC matchup is scheduled for Tampa next year and will return to Jacksonville in 2028, when the renovated EverBank Stadium reopens as the Stadium of the Future.
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