Pro Football Hall of Fame – Photo from Virtual Tourist

ESPN has just released its list of the top 50 of people destined for the pro-football hall of fame. And what school tops the list with the greatest number of hall-bound players? Oh yeah…that’s USC. Trojan players on the list include: Junior Seau, Troy Polamalu, Reggie Bush, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Lofa Tatupu. For those of you amputees missing a second hand to count on, that’s a total of six players from USC, which interestingly enough is equal to the combined number of ALL the SEC players that made the list.

Excerpts from the Trojan selection follow:

14. Junior Seau
…He’s recorded more than 100 tackles eight times, has 53 career sacks and was named to 12 consecutive Pro Bowls from 1991-2002. Seau was named to the 1990s All-Decade team by the Hall of Fame and has been named first-team All-Pro six times.

31. Troy Polamalu
…Polamalu has been named to the Pro Bowl three times in his first four seasons and he was a key defensive component of Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl XL championship season…

34. Reggie Bush
…His 88 receptions last season are the third-most by a rookie in NFL history and the most ever by a rookie running back. Teamed with an offensive core of Drew Brees, Marques Colston and Deuce McAllister in New Orleans, it’s not difficult to imagine Bush getting the chance to play for a Super Bowl ring in the near future.

38. Carson Palmer
The No. 1 overall pick in 2003, Palmer has shown he’s one of the most gifted passers in the game. Playing on a reconstructed knee in 2006, Palmer threw for a career-high 4,035 yards. He has completed 63.8 percent of his passes and 78 touchdowns to just 43 interceptions in three seasons as a starter…

41. Matt Leinart
…Fact is, Leinart completed 64.8 percent of his passes in college, with 99 touchdowns and just 23 interceptions en route to two national titles. Plus, his rookie statistics last season were comparable to Peyton Manning’s in his rookie campaign in 1998. If you can look past that Cardinals decal, it’s possible to see Leinart in Canton a couple of decades from now.

45. Lofa Tatupu
…The fact that he’s been named to the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons indicates he already is respected by peers and coaches around the league as one of the NFL’s top linebackers.

**Intersting Notes**

Another SC football alumn made the ESPN list of top 10 players on the hall-bubble: Former Trojan Willie McGinest — 3 time Super Bowl Champion, leads the NFL in career post-season sacks.

Two Players who were specifically noted as NOT on the list: Cleveland’s Brady Quinn and Texas’ Mario Williams. Texas still has to be kicking its own ass over that moronic draft pick.

* Thanks to Daniel Lopez for scoping this one out.