NFL alum Javon Ringer was surprised earlier this year when he learned that he was selected as a member of the 2023 Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame class. He should not have been.

Ringer ranks first on MSU’s all-time list in all-purpose yards. He is just one of two Spartan RBs (NFL alum Lorenzo White is the other) to lead the team in rushing four consecutive seasons (2005-08). During his time on the East Lansing campus, he became the first offensive player in Big Ten history to earn Player of the Week honors three consecutive weeks during the 2008 season.

“I can’t tell you the last time I was legitimately shocked and at a loss for words,” says Ringer, who received the Hall of Fame notification from MSU Athletic Director (and NFL alum) Alan Haller. “That’s how I felt…I was speechless and emotional. I can’t truly put into words the gratitude that I felt. I genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, didn’t think this would be possible right now.”

Ringer, a Dayton (OH) native, is the son of the late Bishop Eugene Ringer, who was the Founder and Pastor of the Faith Temple Pentecostal Church of God in Dayton. The younger Ringer was known as a modest, unselfish player among his teammates. That humility was evidenced in college when he brought the team’s entire offensive line to the media room after one game in appreciation for the job they did blocking for him that day.

Ringer finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy voting his senior year despite being slowed by injuries. The 5-9 workhorse was selected in the fifth round of the 2009 Draft by the Titans.

“It was funny,” Ringer recalls, “but when I got drafted and arrived in Tennessee, some of the Titans players thought I was bigger than I was. They thought I was like 230-some pounds because of how much I carried the ball in college. I was only 205 pounds but I, modestly say, I was put together. The weight room was my friend all through my years at MSU.”

Ringer’s career with the Titans was hampered by injuries but he lasted four seasons in Tennessee as a backup running back and kick returner.

The newest MSU Hall of Famer has worked for his alma mater as a high school recruiter. He also was on the Toledo University football staff for five years (2018-22).

We at NFL Alumni congratulate Javor Ringer on his MSU Hall of Fame induction, thank him for the good example he has set for younger players, and wish him continued success.