Darryl Talley, a four-year starter and 1982 consensus All-American, made the College Football Hall of Fame yesterday. He had to wait a long, long time — and he nearly made the Pro Football Hall of Fame before the college version — but what he had in his favor was something that separated himself from a Major Harris.

Talley was unquestionably one of the game’s great players and he was all over the place all of the time, but he had great timing. He was the right player in the right era of college football.

Taylor changed the position and ushered in a new type of outside linebacker. Players like Andre Tippett and Dexter Manley, and eventually Talley, were coveted because of their blend of size, speed and skill.

Yet Talley also made the most of the linebackers around him. He played two seasons with Delbert Fowler and played against Penn State’s Larry Kubin and Pitt’s Hugh Green, Rickey Jackson and Sal Sunseri. Quite often Talley was the one who had the fans talking as they left the stadium.

“Being around those guys and watching them and hanging with Hugh and Rickey and getting to know them from going up to Pitt, I got to learn different philosophies and different ways to play the game,” said Talley, who was 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds at WVU. “Everyone wanted that dominant pass-rusher that L.T. was. I had an ability to rush the passer, but also cover people.

“I could cover receivers. I was a little bit of a hybrid people hadn’t seen, but I was still mean enough and strong enough to play against linemen yet still fast enough to run with receivers. I was different.”