SENATOBIA – Northwest football legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy has been ranked No. 10 on JCGridiron.com's countdown of the Top 100 Greatest JUCO Football Players.

A native of Wilson, Ark., Kennedy played two seasons with the Rangers under legendary head coach Bobby Franklin, compiling 132 total tackles and 18 sacks during his 1987 sophomore campaign.

During both of his seasons in Senatobia, Kennedy and the Rangers finished with a combined 20-5-1 overall record, which included a pair of appearances in the 1986 Roaring Ranger Bowl and the 1987 Jayhawk Bowl, along with a 1987 MACJC Championship victory against Hinds. He finished his Northwest career as a two-time All-MACJC and All-Region 23 selection before signing with the University of Miami.

While starring for Miami from 1988-89, Kennedy flourished under the guidance of coaches Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson and helped the Hurricanes to an 11-1 record and a 1989 Sugar Bowl victory against Alabama, which clinched Miami's third national championship in seven years. As part of one of the nation's best defensive fronts, Kennedy received All-American honors.

Kennedy was selected in the first round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks and spent all 10 years of his professional career with the franchise. As a rookie, he played in all 16 games with just two starts, before blossoming into an everyday starter on the Seahawks' defensive line in 1991.

Kennedy totaled 568 tackles, 58 sacks, 11 forced fumbles and six fumble recoveries over his 10-year career in Seattle. He was named to eight Pro Bowls and was labeled as the 1992 NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.

Kennedy was inducted into the Northwest Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Additionally, he was also welcomed into the Seahawks' Ring of Honor in 2006 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012, remaining as the only Ranger to ever earn a professional Hall of Fame induction.

In addition to his many Hall of Fame inductions, Kennedy was also named to the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1990s and was named by SI.com in 2007 as the best athlete to wear the number 96. Kennedy can still be found in the Northwest record books for the most total tackles in a season (4th; 132), most solo tackles in a season (3rd; 76) and most sacks in a season (4th; 18).