The best player in Memphis football history is now immortalized in the College Football Hall of Fame.

DeAngelo Williams was inducted into the hall of fame at a ceremony Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Williams, a running back who played for the Tigers from 2002-05, was part of a 22-person class that also included Reggie Bush and Tim Tebow.

"Growing up, I watched Ron Dayne, I watched Eddie George, I watched Ricky Williams," Williams said at a press conference earlier Tuesday. "They were all big backs. Hearing what Brian Westbrook did, those smaller backs, we wasn't sought after. So for us to step up and do the things that we've done at 5-9 or 5-10, literally every time I met somebody it was like, 'Man, you're a little guy.' And I'm like, 'I didn't know that mattered!' "

Williams is one of the most accomplished players in college football history. He's No. 6 all-time in career rushing yards with 6,026 and set an NCAA record of 34 games with 100 or more rushing yards. He went on to play 11 years in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers.

He was a three-time Conference USA offensive player of the year and a first team All-American in 2005, and holds most of the Memphis rushing records.

Memphis honored him during halftime of the Sept. 30 game against Boise State with a special patch on the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium turf and a halftime ceremony. He was also part of a key era for Memphis football, when the Tigers' 2003 team earned the program's first bowl berth since 1971 and beat North Texas in the New Orleans Bowl.

"It was special, because we had a 32-year bowl drought, and nobody was expecting anything out of us," Williams said. "And then the unexpected happened: We started winning football games. And as a result of us winning football games, you've got to pin those wins on somebody. And I kind of got that. So I'm just thankful for being here and being able to stand up here."

Memphis coaches Billy J. Murphy and Allyn McKeen are previous inductees to the hall of fame, but Williams is the first Tigers player to earn the honor.

"For me, even being up here and seeing the numbers that I saw, I'm still at awe right now," Williams said. "There's a lot of people that are up here on this stage that have been talking, that are — it's kind of expected. Like you see Reggie Bush, you're like 'Yeah, he's definitely going to be a hall of famer.' You see Tim Tebow, you're like 'Yeah, he's definitely going to be a hall of famer.' You see those guys, and they're very humble guys, but you see guys that are up here on this stage where you're just like, 'Why did it take so long?' And I'm up here, and I'm like, 'Where do I fit in?' ''

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis star DeAngelo Williams joins College Football Hall of Fame