Patrick Peterson

Sport: Football

Induction Year: 2027

University: LSU

Regarded by many as the best defensive back in LSU football history, Peterson was the nation’s top DB in 2010 before embarking on a 13-year NFL career. He won the Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defender and the Thorpe Award as the top defensive back – becoming the first LSU player to win those two prestigious awards. He also became the first player in SEC history to earn the league’s Defensive Player of the Year and Special Teams Player of the Year honors, intercepting four passes and averaging 29.1 yards on 32 kickoff returns and 15.1 yards with two TDs on 26 punt returns as a junior. The fifth overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2011, Peterson made the Pro Bowl in each of his first eight seasons (2011-18) and was a three-time AP first-team All-Pro (2011, 2013, 2015). He played in 201 regular-season games with 200 starts in 13 seasons – 10 with the Cardinals, two with the Minnesota Vikings and one with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had 36 interceptions, returning two for touchdowns, and recovered 12 fumbles. Peterson also returned kickoffs and punts for seven seasons, taking four punts back for touchdowns as a rookie in 2011. The four scores went for 80, 82, 89 and 99 yards – all in the first 11 games of his NFL career. The 99-yarder was a walk-off as he ran through the entire St. Louis Rams coverage team in overtime to give the Cardinals a 19-13 win on Nov. 6, 2011. Peterson was voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s. … Born 7-11-90 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.