2022 Choice Bank 468x60 https://bankwithchoice.com/bankingasuniqueasyou/

CHECK IT OUT: Jim Kleinsasser (1995 Carrington HS grad) & Greg Eslinger (2002 Bismarck High grad) to be inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame

By Tom Mix
NDHSAA Media Specialist

VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Two former North Dakota high school football players have been announced as 2025 inductees into the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame.

Jim Kleinsasser (1995 Carrington High School graduate, University of North Dakota football standout) and Greg Eslinger (2002 Bismarck High graduate, University of Minnesota football standout) are among 18 players and four coaches from various collegiate football programs across the country set to receive enshrinement honors later this year during the NFF Annual Awards Dinner and College Football Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony scheduled for December in Las Vegas.

Kleinsasser played football at the University of North Dakota from 1995 to 1998 earning NCAA Division II All-American honors at tight end twice (1997 and 1998). He started in the 1999 Senior Bowl and went onto have a 13-year career in the National Football League – all played with the Minnesota Vikings.

Eslinger was a four-year starter at the University of Minnesota playing center. He was a unanimous All-American in 2005 and was a three-time First-Team All-Big Ten selection. Eslinger won the Outland Trophy for the nation’s best interior lineman, and he was the Dave Rimington Trophy winner, which is given to college football’s top center. He was the first player ever to win both awards in the same season. Eslinger was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2006 and spent three seasons in the NFL with the Broncos, Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans.

Follow NDHSAA on Twitter at @NDHSAA and visit www.ndhsaanow.com for the latest NDHSAA sports and activities news from around the state.


 

2022 Choice Bank 468x60 https://bankwithchoice.com/bankingasuniqueasyou/