Ryan Yarborough to be inducted into NFF College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday
• Yarborough, a two-time First Team All-American who twice led the nation in receiving yards, is a member of the 2025 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class.
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The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame will induct former Cowboy wide receiver Ryan Yarborough into the Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening. He is one of 22 individuals selected as members of the 2025 class. The 2025 class will officially be inducted during the 67th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 9, 2025, at Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas with the event being streamed on ESPN+.
Yarborough will speak with the media during a press conference from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, which will also be streamed on ESPN+
Yarborough was an explosive playmaker at Wyoming whose ability to make clutch catches and stretch the field helped make him one of the most prolific receivers in college football history. The Park Forest, Illinois, product now becomes the third player from Wyoming to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
Wyoming’s first two-time First Team All-American, Yarborough led the nation in receiving yards in both 1992 (1,351) and 1993 (1,512). He set NCAA marks at the time for the most career receiving yards (4,357—still ranks ninth), 200-plus yard receiving games (7), most 1,000-yard receiving seasons in a career (3), and the most games catching a touchdown pass in a career (27).
He still holds the NCAA record for yards per reception (minimum of 200 catches), averaging 19.0 yards for his 229 career receptions. His 42 career touchdown receptions still rank eighth all-time, and his average of 137.5 receiving yards per game in 1993 still ranks him among the top 30 in history.
Playing for coaches Paul Roach his freshman season and Joe Tiller the next three years, Yarborough helped the Cowboys to a 26-21 overall record, including appearances in the 1990 and 1993 Copper Bowls and an 8-4 record in 1993 with a share of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) title.
Yarborough was a dominant force in the WAC, earning First Team All-WAC honors in both 1992 and 1993. He led Wyoming in receiving for three straight years from 1991 to 1993 and broke nearly every significant school receiving record, including the single-season mark for receiving yards with 1,512 in 1993, the single-season record for touchdown receptions with 16, and the career record for touchdown receptions with 42.
Selected in the second round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the Jets, Yarborough played six seasons in the NFL with Jets, Packers, Ravens and Saints. He was inducted into the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. He currently works as a coach and business consultant in the Houston area.
He joins two other former Cowboy players and four former Wyoming coaches as members of the College Football Hall of Fame. Tight end Jay Novacek was enshrined in 2008 and Eddie “Boom Boom” Talboom was inducted posthumously as a tailback in 2000. Former Cowboy head coach Bowden Wyatt was inducted posthumously as a player (Tennessee) in 1972 and then was inducted as a coach (Wyoming, Arkansas, Tennessee) in 1997, becoming only the third individual at that time to be inducted as both a player and coach — the other two being Amos Alonzo Stagg and Bobby Dodd. The other College Football Hall of Famers from the University of Wyoming are former head coach Bob Devaney (Wyoming, Nebraska) who was inducted in 1981, Pat Dye in 2005, William “Lone Star” Dietz in 2012 and Dennis Erickson in 2019.
