Gene Frenette: Jaguars fans must show patience on Fred Taylor HOF quest; CFP chaos coming

It took 16 years of eligibility and five years of rejection as a finalist before Tony Boselli finally became the first Jaguar to get voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The reality is ex-teammate Fred Taylor — owner of more rushing yards (11,695) than any eligible back not enshrined in Canton — may need more time to earn his gold jacket, if at all.

For the fourth consecutive year, Taylor made it to the HOF semifinals stage Tuesday with 27 other players, but getting to the finals and ensuring his case will be discussed among the 49-voter electorate is going to be a more difficult threshold.

While Taylor’s superb combination of physicality and speed passes the eye test for a Hall of Famer, the selection committee has a brutal job trying to pick a maximum number of five modern-era candidates.

Gene's previous columns:

• Favorite son returns: Calais Campbell returns to TIAA Bank Field, where his impact isn't forgotten

• Noles further along: FSU has edge on Gators because Norvell rebuild is further along than Napier's

• NIL: 4-star QB Jaden Rashada flipping commitment to Gators shows player empowerment is real

The case for Taylor would be helped immensely if the HOF, backloaded with so many deserving recipients, came off its stance and increased that number to six or seven maximum entries each year. Another obstacle for Taylor is so much competition has a resume that eclipses No. 28 on multiple fronts that greatly influences voters.

First-year eligible players like offensive tackle Joe Thomas, pass-rusher Dwight Freeney and guard Jhari Evans are among nine semifinalists who earned an All-Decade distinction. Ten players have already made it as finalists, and there are 18 players besides Taylor who were semifinalists last year.

One of Taylor’s biggest obstacles is being named to only one Pro Bowl, part of which is a function of playing in an era with so many quality AFC backs like Edgerrin James, Curtis Martin, Ladanian Tomlinson, Jerome Bettis and Corey Dillon.

Without a Super Bowl ring or All-Decade recognition to offset the lack of Pro Bowls, the yardage Taylor accumulated and his impressive per-carry average of 4.6 yards can easily be dismissed in the eyes of some voters.

As was the case with Boselli, whose shortened career prolonged his enshrinement, the patience of Jaguars fans waiting for Taylor to get inducted will be put to the test. There are simply too many players with credible HOF cases.

Take longtime Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward. The seven-time semifinalist has never been a finalist despite being top-20 in receptions, receiving yards, touchdowns, a four-time Pro Bowler, a Super Bowl MVP and winning two Super Bowls.

Robert Mathis, the former Indianapolis Colts pass-rusher who often takes a back seat to Freeney, is a five-time Pro Bowler and has more forced fumbles (54) than any player in NFL history. Only in his second year of eligibility, he couldn’t get past the semifinal stage in his first attempt.

Linebacker Patrick Willis was a first-team All-Pro five times in his eight NFL seasons and only made the finals for the first time in his fourth year of eligibility. London Fletcher, ranked second all-time in tackles behind Hall of Famer Ray Lewis and a four-time Pro Bowler, has been Hall-eligible for five years and is just now getting to the semifinals.

The backlog of deserving players is more alarming in this HOF than any other because football simply has a larger crop to choose from, yet the Canton gatekeepers won't elect more of them.

While many like myself believe Taylor deserves at minimum to be a finalist, the reality is the odds are stacked against most of this year's semifinalists beyond cornerback Darrelle Revis, Freeney and Thomas. One NFL.com writer ranked the 28 semifinalists and put Taylor 25th on the list of most deserving of HOF entry, which is certifiably nuts.

“I think there’s a lot of goodness in this class, but not necessarily greatness,” said voter Rick Gosselin, the gatekeeper for pertinent HOF statistics and one of its most credible historians. “No one really bowls me over. It’s fairly wide open this year.”

Fred Taylor ran by, over and around defenders for 13 NFL seasons. He was as breathtaking and entertaining as any back in his generation.

As for a Hall of Fame breakthrough, that might be a longer wait than it was for Boselli.

More CFP chaos coming?

After South Carolina’s shocking 63-38 upset of previously No. 5-ranked Tennessee last week, nothing is out of bounds when it comes to a potential College Football Playoff shakeup in the next eight days.

Many have pegged No. 7 Alabama and No. 8 Clemson as out of the playoff picture, but what if fourth-ranked TCU gets bounced in the Big 12 championship game, No. 5 USC falls to Notre Dame or in the Pac-12 championship, and No. 6 LSU loses to top-ranked Georgia in the SEC title game?

None of that is a crazy scenario. It would also be great news for the loser of Saturday’s showdown between No. 2 Ohio and No. 3 Michigan in Columbus, virtually guaranteeing a Big Ten team two CFP berths.

But that still leaves a vacant fourth spot for either Clemson as the ACC champion or two-loss ‘Bama as a fallback candidate. How infuriating would it be for college football fans if Nick Saban somehow had his team back in the CFP?

Stay tuned. Chaos might be in the works.

Steep price for lapse of judgment

There’s no question Nease High quarterback Marcus Stokes, a 3-star recruit, put Florida in a tough position by compelling coach Billy Napier to pull his scholarship for posting a video on social media where he used a racial slur while singing a rap song in his car.

Stokes expressed contrition for his actions on Twitter, saying: “I deeply apologize for the words in the song that I chose to say. It was hurtful and offensive to many people, and I regret that.

“My intention was never to hurt anybody and I recognize that even going along with a song, my words still carry a lot of weight. … I know that learning from my mistakes is a first important step.”

By no means is Stokes the first player to lose a scholarship over an off-the-field indiscretion, but it begs this question: how much of a price will Stokes continue to pay for a momentary lapse of judgment and using the N-word?

The embarrassing publicity for Stokes is bad enough, and it’s understandable Florida didn’t want to deal with the fallout of honoring his verbal commitment to the Gators and going into an environment where most of his teammates would be African-American.

But this touchy situation also triggers two hypothetical questions: Would UF rescind the scholarship if Stokes were Black? Would the Gators come to the same decision if 4-star QB Jaden Rashada had not flipped his commitment from Miami the previous week? We'll never know the answers, especially to the first question since it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it'd be naive to think it doesn't make people wonder.

Hopefully, Stokes learned a valuable lesson and gets a chance to redeem himself with a football opportunity at another school.

Realistic U.S. goal: Sweet 16

Well, so much for the United States men’s soccer team playing with house money Friday in the World Cup against Group B favorite England.

After Walker Zimmerman’s second-half infraction led to a penalty shot goal and a 1-1 draw Monday with underdog Wales, the USMNT has much less margin for error if it wants to advance to the tournament’s knockout stage. It offset that early disadvantage by playing England to a 0-0 draw Friday, allowing the Americans to control their destiny to reach the Sweet 16 by winning the last Group B match Tuesday (2 p.m.) against Iran.

Despite the U.S. having the second-youngest team, any chance of Gregg Berhalter’s team feeling like this is a successful WC rests completely on making it to the Sweet 16. Beating Iran and advancing is an important step to legitimize U.S. soccer making real improvement. It's one of the biggest must-win situations in USMNT history.

Tennis breakthrough

University of Florida All-American Ben Shelton pulled off an extraordinary feat this year that is almost unheard of in the tennis world. Six months ago, he was ranked No. 547 after winning the NCAA individual singles title and has now broken into the top 100 of the world rankings at No. 97. He has a good chance to stay there when the ATP year-end rankings come out on Dec. 5.

Shelton is the first reigning NCAA champion to crack the top 100 in the same season since Stanford’s Tim Mayotte did it in 1981 before finishing 30th in the year-end rankings. If the 20-year-old Shelton finishes in the top 100, he would be the youngest of 13 Americans in that group.

Pigskin forecast

Jaguars over Baltimore Ravens by 4 (bye week rejuvenations); Cincinnati Bengals over Tennessee Titans by 1 (force of willpower); Miami Dolphins over Houston Texans by 14 (tanking strategies); Indianapolis Colts over Pittsburgh Steelers by 3 (Eagles’ hangover remedies); UCF over South Florida by 20 (CFP ranking style points); Ohio State over Michigan by 4 (CFP playoff arguments). Last week: 4 right, 2 Zach Wilson accountability oversights.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540 

Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Fred Taylor's HOF quest, CFP chaos and a big mistake by a young person