photo Ole Miss Sports.
Ole Miss Football great Dexter McCluster has been named as one of eight honorees to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025, as unveiled by the Hall of Fame on Tuesday afternoon.
McCluster will be inducted alongside Southern Miss Baseball coach Scott Berry, Mississippi State and NFL defensive back Steve Freeman, high school football coach Mike Justice, high school and college basketball coach Steve Rives, golf professional Robbie Webb, Jackson State head coach and NBA veteran Mo Williams, as well as longtime Ole Miss football assistant coach Derrick Nix, who was a standout collegiately at Southern Miss.
McCluster, an elusive utility man during his career with the Rebels from 2006–09, stands as one of the best all-purpose players in Ole Miss football history. He was chosen as a first-team All-American in 2009 by the All-American Football Foundation following a superb senior season that saw him end his Ole Miss career No. 2 on the Ole Miss career all-purpose yardage list at 4,089 (behind only Deuce McAllister’s 4,889) and No. 7 among all-time rushers with 1,955.
McCluster also capped his career off by becoming just the second back-to-back MVP in the history of the Cotton Bowl Classic in 2009 and 2010, joining SMU’s Doak Walker. For his Cotton Bowl heroics, McCluster was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame in 2021, while the following year he was elected to the Ole Miss M-Club Hall of Fame in 2022.
McCluster’s versatility was recognized both nationally and among his conference peers, earning All-SEC honors twice as an all-purpose player, as well as both a wide receiver in 2008 and 2009 and as a running back in 2009. McCluster received the National Running Back Trophy from the College Football Performance Awards and was named to Athlon’s SEC All-Decade team for 2000-09. He was the first player in SEC history with 1,000 rushing yards (1,169) and 500 receiving yards (520) in the same season in 2009 – still the third-most single-season rushing yards in Ole Miss history.
He was selected in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs with the No. 36 overall pick, beginning a pro career that saw him make the Pro Bowl in 2013 and be selected as an All-Pro. McCluster ultimately had a nine-year NFL career, playing for Kansas City, Tennessee, and San Diego/Los Angeles, as well as one season with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.
McCluster and the rest of the Class of 2025 will be formally enshrined during the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Induction Weekend on August 1–2, 2025.
