{"id":88543,"date":"2026-06-27T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=88543"},"modified":"2026-06-27T14:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:17:17","slug":"63-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/06\/27\/63-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff\/","title":{"rendered":"63 Days Away From College Football Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
We are 63 days away from college football kickoff<\/a>. We are in single digit number Saturdays away from the best season of the year. Today, we have Baylor legend, Mike Singletary and Dick Modzelewski of Maryland.
\n<\/span><\/span>Be sure to check back tomorrow for #62 in our countdown<\/a> to kickoff. Enjoy!<\/span><\/div>\n

Mike Singletary (63) <\/span>Days Away From College Football Kickoff<\/h2>\n
Mike Singletary<\/a> left a strong legacy at Baylor University. Soon after he graduated, the school introduced the Mike Singletary Award, given each year to the senior football player who best shows “contribution to Baylor football while bringing honor to the school both on and off the field.” He is also well known for reportedly breaking 16 helmets during his time playing at Baylor.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Singletary played linebacker at 6-foot-1 and 232 pounds, earning varsity letters all four years. He recorded 97 tackles as a freshman, set a school record with 232 as a sophomore, then added 188 and 145 in his last two seasons. Singletary had a career total of 662 tackles and it is still a school record. In 1978, he made 35 tackles in a game against Houston and 33 against Arkansas. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Singletary was named All-Southwest Conference three times and All-America twice. In 1979 and 1980, he won the Davey O’Brien Award, which then honored the top player in the Southwest. (The award is now given to the nation\u2019s best quarterback.) <\/span><\/div>\n
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In 1980, he helped Baylor win the Southwest Conference championship. After college, Singletary played 12 seasons with the Chicago Bears from 1981 to 1992 and was selected for 10 straight Pro Bowls. He was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1985, the year the Bears won the Super Bowl, and was honored as NFL Man of the Year in 1990.<\/span><\/div>\n

Another Great # 63, Dick Modzelewski, Maryland<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Dick Modzelewski<\/a> (pronounced moe-juh-LESS-kee) was one of three brothers who played football at the University of Maryland. The oldest, Ed, was a fullback who made All-America in 1951 and was nicknamed “Big Mo.” Dick joined the team a year later as a 6-foot, 235-pound tackle and was called “Little Mo” because he followed his brother. The youngest brother, who came last, was known as “No Mo.”<\/span><\/p>\n

During his three varsity years from 1950 to 1952, Dick Modzelewski helped Maryland achieve a strong 24-4-1 record under Hall of Fame coach Jim Tatum, including a 22-game unbeaten streak. In 1951, Maryland was ranked third in the country and beat top-ranked Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, 28-13. At that time, bowl games were not included in the final rankings.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nIn 1952, Dick was named a consensus All-American at tackle. He also won the Outland Trophy as the nation\u2019s best interior lineman and was honored as Lineman of the Year by the Washington Touchdown Club.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nAfter college, he spent 14 years in the NFL as a tackle with the Redskins, Steelers, Giants, and Browns from 1953 to 1966. He played in eight league championship games and was part of two championship teams: the Giants in 1956 and the Browns in 1964. When his playing career ended, he coached in the NFL for 22 years as an assistant with the Browns, Giants, and Cincinnati Bengals.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Editor’s Note: The countdown to college football kickoff has been a series on the Last Word on College Football social media platforms for the past 9 years. \u00a0They consisted of a photo and a small blurb for each player, with the jersey corresponding to the number of days until kickoff. \u00a0The rank of the players is sourced from articles by Bleacher Report, Fox Sports, and The Athletic. There are also some favorite players of the Last Word on College Football writers. \u00a0Their bios are sourced from multiple online sources, including but not limited to the College Football Hall of Fame, their Heisman profiles, and school websites.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Main Photo: Baylor Athletics<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are 63 days away from college football kickoff. We are in single digit number Saturdays away from the best season of the year. Today, we have Baylor legend, Mike Singletary and Dick Modzelewski of Maryland. Be sure to check back tomorrow for #62 in our countdown to kickoff. Enjoy! Mike Singletary (63) Days Away […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1643,"featured_media":88628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,35664,2],"tags":[36114],"class_list":["post-88543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big12","category-baylor-bears","category-featured","tag-countdown-to-kickoff"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88543"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88667,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88543\/revisions\/88667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}