Former Penn State Nittany Lions great LaVar Arrington is known for "The LaVar Leap," where he anticipated the snap count and jumped over Illinois' offensive line to stuff a running play. It landed Arrington on magazine covers and put him in the 1999 Heisman Trophy discussion.
Arrington's preternatural ability to anticipate and jump plays made him an all-time-great college football player and the No. 2 overall draft pick of the Washington Football Team in 2000, and put him on the ballot for the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame. However, Arrington jumped offsides on Thursday morning.
The two-time All-American and 1999 Butkus and Bednarik Award winner tweeted a photo of a commemorative football given to him by the National Football Foundation that congratulated him on becoming a member of the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class.
Thank you to everyone who played a part in this honor!#socool pic.twitter.com/9sbeEd6u5l
— LaVar Leap Arrington (@LaVarArrington) January 6, 2022
It is a cherished honor. During the sport's 152 years, according to the College Football Hall of Fame, only 1,038 players have earned induction. Arrington will very likely be one of them. Why go to the length of printing a commemorative football for him if he wasn't being inducted this year?
Saying he "missed the small print" and that he wasn't supposed to share the news just yet, Arrington apologized in a follow-up tweet.
"My apologies, I messed that one up. I'm sorry," Arrington said in the video, complete with a face-palm.
When excitement of the moment goes wrong 😑 pic.twitter.com/7vjIp3n7BS
— LaVar Leap Arrington (@LaVarArrington) January 6, 2022
According to the Hall of Fame's website, the Class of 2022 will be announced early this year. According to Arrington's football, the celebration ceremony will be Dec. 6.