Oldest College Football Player of All Time

· Nov 09 - 5 minutes read

There is something to a great story about someone overcoming all barriers, especially those as inevitable as age. Growing older and time are among the many things we don’t have control over in our lives, and they are often the biggest things people wish they could change. That is why it is so impressive when someone can overcome that and still live their dreams, such as being the oldest college football player.

Playing football at the college level alone is one of the most challenging things to do, as it is a very physically demanding sport with a high injury risk. Something named “old man strength” may help them keep the ability to make a college football team, but the risk of injury in an older body can still be scary.

Oldest College Football Player of All Time — Cam McCormick #84 of the Miami Hurricanes | James Gilbert/Getty Images/AFP

3 Interesting Facts About the Oldest College Football Players of All Time

1. Be A Kicker

Most of the oldest players in college football tend to be kickers or punters. That position only sometimes gets hit, so older people are not often put in jeopardy. On top of that, it is also very easy for people from other countries, where soccer is the most popular sport, to come to America and play college football as a kicker. James Stefanou, who played for Colorado from 2017 to 2020, where he retired at 33, was from Australia, where he played soccer. He had never played organized football till 2017, when he joined Colorado.

However, more often than not, something held them back from reaching their dreams. The current oldest NCAA football player is a kicker named Matt Ganyard at Virginia, who is 34 years old. Before walking on at Virginia, Ganyard spent 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, which kept him from playing college football, but he retained his eligibility. After serving his country, Ganyard could still return and play college football, making the team in 2023.

2. Keeping Eligibility

One of the other ways to become one of the oldest college football players is to retain eligibility. That can be easy nowadays with all the rules around redshirt years. Plus, players are getting an extra year for the COVID-19 pandemic. Getting those extra years because of not playing or injuries can be crucial to making a career longer than usual. A perfect example of that is Cam McCormick. He is 26 years old, playing for Miami, and through seven games, he has caught three passes for 24 yards and two touchdowns. His freshman year was back in 2016, when he redshirted for Oregon, but then dealt with injuries in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. McCormick transferred to Miami in 2023, where he started 11 games.

However, there is another way, and you don’t have to be one of the biggest college football players, which has helped McCormick at tight end. At 29 years old, Monte Harrison is a freshman at Arkansas, which might seem impossible. 2014, Harrison was one of the top high school prospects in baseball and football. He was drafted in the 2014 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers and decided to drop football and play baseball professionally.

A baseball career did not work out for Harrison, as he only played in 50 games from 2020 to 2022, during which time he had a career batting average of .176. Harrison retired after that but still had eligibility for college because he never enrolled. He made the Arkansas team in 2024 as a wide receiver, and at 29 years old, through seven games, Harrison has two receptions for 29 yards and is the oldest CFB player who isn’t a kicker or punter.

3. Oldest Player Ever In Their 60s

Despite all that, many older players have played college football. A few have been in their 40s and 50s but are still not the oldest. That does beg the question of why do this? It seems more of a publicity stunt than anything else, or it just takes a good-hearted coach. That is why one of the most prominent schools with the highest-paid college coaches would probably never do anything like this.

Only two people have played college football in their 60s: Tom Thompson and Alan Moore. Both played kicker to become the oldest college football players ever, both 61 years old.

In 2009, Thompson got on the field for Austin College to become the first college football player in their 60s. He was at the school as a graduate student and was able to make the team. Thompson could even kick an extra point, which only cemented his legacy.

However, Moore became the oldest player to play college football in 2011 when he made the team at Faulkner University. Moore played college football before going off and serving in Vietnam, which ended up helping him retain his eligibility. At 59, Moore tried to play at Jones College, the school he played at before Vietnam, but did not make the team. The following year, Moore was on the Holmes Community College roster. Then, finally, in 2011, he made the first extra point for Faulkner University at age 61.