Danny Woodhead wasn't sure what was coming, even if he had inadvertently gotten tipped off.
 
ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" had surprised analysts Randy Moss and Alex Smith with the news that they were making the College Football Hall of Fame, giving each living legend the commemorative football that accompanies each announcement. Woodhead received a package in the mail shortly afterward from the National Football Foundation and figured it was simply a congratulatory note on being nominated for this year's class.
 
"I was like, Oh, that's nice, I guess," Woodhead said, laughing. "I open it up, and I'm like, Wait a second, this is the same exact thing that they got.

"And it's just one of those things — you never expect stuff like that. But it's incredibly cool. I feel incredibly grateful, just because I had a lot of teammates and coaches and people that were a part of it that helped me get there. And fortunately or unfortunately, whatever way you look at it, I'm the person that's in the limelight. And a lot of people behind the scenes did a lot of stuff."
 
Woodhead is the first Chadron State player to make the Hall, an honor that is not lost upon him and all of the other overlooked players like him at the Division II level.
 
He was the Nebraska Gatorade Football Player of the Year, but he had no Division I offers. Chadron State was in his lineage, with his parents having attended the school and with his brother Ben playing as an Eagles receiver during Danny's freshman year.
 
"I didn't know what to expect, because at the end of the day, I played high school football," Woodhead said of college. "I don't care what anyone says: Division II has some really good football players who just got bypassed by D1 for different reasons. Now there's some that you know they're Division II players, but there are a lot of D2 players that could be D1. At big schools, too.
 
"And so you get there, and it's college football, just like anything else. I didn't know what I was getting into. The speed change is completely different, but obviously something that once you have a little bit of time, a little bit of practice, a little training camp you can adjust to."
 
Woodhead starred from the get-go, rushing for a school-record 306 yards in his just third career game, adding five touchdowns. It was a sign of what was to come, as the 5-foot-8, 185-pounder ended up tearing through the school and national record books.
 
Woodhead finished his career as college football's all-time leading rusher, with 7,962 yards, and his 109 touchdowns tied a career record. He tallied 9,480 all-purpose yards, four 300-yard rushing games, posted a Division II-record 19 games of 200 or more rushing yards and once scored a touchdown in 38 straight games.
 
A 2007 NFF National Scholar-Athlete and Campbell Trophy® finalist, Woodhead also excelled in the classroom, notching a 3.72 GPA as a double major. He was named a CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American in 2006 and 2007.
 
The biggest venue Woodhead remembers playing in was Montana State, where in 2006 he rushed for 215 yards on 33 carries in leading Chadron State to a 35-24 upset just one week after the Bobcats had shocked Colorado.
 
Little did anyone know that that was only the beginning for Woodhead on big stages. Undrafted in 2008, he signed with the Jets, playing in 11 games with the franchise before making a name for himself with the Patriots and the Chargers. He retired after one season in Baltimore, and 10 overall in the NFL.
 
"I think that first offseason, not that you arrived, but like you're like, OK, I can play with these guys," Woodhead said of knowing he was ready for the pros. "Like it's not not a big deal, but I didn't feel like people could maybe stay with me, maybe in coverage, or I could outrun people. And not that I questioned that ever, but it's just once you're there and doing it, you're like OK, I belong here."
 
Just as he did at Chadron State, where he twice won the Harlon Hill Trophy, which goes to the nation's top Division II player. And now, the Eagles can boast about a College Football Hall of Famer.
 
"It's small-town Nebraska, maybe 6,000 people there when school is in session. I mean, it's a small town," Woodhead said. "But man, it was right where I needed to be.
 
"Did I want to go to Nebraska? Yes, I did. But it wasn't in the cards and I'm OK with that, and God has a way bigger plan than I had for my life, because if you would've asked me, I was more just looking at going to play at Nebraska. He had something way cooler in store."
 
DANNY WOODHEAD: UP CLOSE
 

• Named a First Team All-American three times (2004, 2006-07), twice claiming the Harlon Hill Trophy as the most valuable player in Division II (2006, 2007) while also being named an NFF National Scholar-Athlete in 2007.
• Finished his career as college football's all-time rushing leader with 7,962 yards, owning 21 NCAA Division II records.
• Amassed 9,480 all-purpose yards by career's end and 109 total touchdowns, averaging 181 rushing yards per game and 6.89 yards per carry.
• Played for coaches Brad Smith and Bill O'Boyle.
• Becomes the first-ever College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Chadron State (NE).