Tag: Priest Holmes

Longhorns well-represented on 2021 Texas Sports Hall of Fame Ballot

The Texas Sports Hall of Fame listed their ballot for the 2021 class. The Longhorns have nine former athletes up for induction.

The Texas Sports Hall of Fame recently released their 2021 ballots and it has plenty of former Texas Longhorns on it. There are two ballots with one being the primary and the other being the veteran ballot. In total there are nine Longhorns and seven are on the primary ballot. The sports range from football, basketball, softball and track and field.

Primary Ballot

Phil Dawson, Kicker

Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

The first former Longhorn on the ballot is former kicker Phil Dawson. Dawson played for Texas from 1994-97. He would appear in 46 games in that span. Twice he led the conference in extra point attempts, extra points made and field goal percentage. He would finish his Longhorns career with 339 points scored, his career high of 108 was set in 1996.

He would go on to enjoy a NFL career that lasted until 2018. Most of his career was spent in Cleveland for 14 seasons. He would join the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons and the final two in Arizona with the Cardinals. He played in 305 games total. In that time he converted 83.8 percent of his field goal attempts and 97.6 percent of his extra point attempts.

He would finish his career with 1,847 points over his 20-year NFL career. He was selected to his only Pro Bowl in 2012, which would also be his last year in Cleveland. Dawson ranks second in Browns history for most points scored. He only trails legendary kicker Lou Groza.

Accomplishments:

  • All-American kicker and four-year starter who left UT with 13 Longhorn records, including all-time marks for scoring (339), field goals (59) and field goal accuracy (74.7 percent)
  • Finished his career ranked 16th on the NCAA all-time scoring list, 12th on the NCAA all-time kick-scoring chart and 31st on the NCAA all-time field goals made list
  • Set a UT record by hitting 15 straight field goals in 1996-97; set a UT record by making six straight field goals from 50 or more yards from 1995-97
  • Connected on 64.3 percent of his field goals from 40 yards and further (27 of 42) during his college career
  • Signed as free agent with Cleveland in 1999
  • Hall of Honor inductee in 2012
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Morten Andersen careful to compare Clyde Edwards-Helaire to former Chiefs teammate Priest Holmes

A former teammate of Kansas City Chiefs RB Priest Holmes isn’t ready to make the comparison for Clyde Edwards-Helaire just yet.

Draft analysts cannot help themselves, as sure as the sun will rise, incoming NFL players will always be compared to those who came before them. It’s perhaps an unfair burden that we put on players who have yet to play a down in the NFL, to compare them to some all-time great players at their position. But it’s also so fun to envision what new players could be at the peak of their potential.

When the Kansas City Chiefs drafted LSU RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire with pick No. 32 in the 2020 NFL Draft, the comparisons started to come in quickly. We heard comparisons to Brian Westbrook, Darren Sproles and Maurice Jones-Drew almost immediately after he was selected.

One comparison that made some noise on the airwaves came from NFL Network Analyst Daniel Jeremiah, who compared Edwards-Helaire to former Chiefs RB Priest Holmes.

Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen was with the Chiefs in 2002 and 2003, which happened to be two of the best seasons in Holmes’ career. When I asked Andersen what he thought about the comparison, he was careful to make it, because he witnessed those impressive seasons from Holmes first hand.

“In order to be compared to a Priest Holmes, you have to perform like a Priest Holmes,” Andersen said. “And I don’t believe Edwards-Helaire has taken a snap yet in the NFL. So until he takes a snap and performs or does not perform, we won’t know if he could be compared to Holmes. Because Holmes, for quite a while in the NFL was a really good player.”

In the two seasons that Holmes and Andersen played together, Holmes led the NFL with a combined 51 touchdowns from scrimmage. He accumulated over 4,300 yards from scrimmage in those two seasons, leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage in 2002. That production from Holmes helped Andersen reach career heights in extra points attempted and made, scoring 109 points for Kansas City in that span.

What Andersen was willing to admit, is that the Edwards-Helaire and Holmes might have similar skill sets.

“Maybe he has a similar skillset to Holmes,” Andersen continued. “We know he can run the ball, he’s small in stature, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. We know that about the kid because that’s what he did at LSU. So he’s multifaceted, we know that. But until he takes a snap in the NFL in a game and starts performing, we’re not going to know if he’s Priest Holmes material or worthy of having that comparison. I’m real careful to label guys until they show me the money— until you put shoulder pads on them and the lights come on, you don’t really know if you have an All-Pro or if the guy is going to bust.”

Andersen and the rest of the Chiefs Kingdom should find out very quickly if Edwards-Helaire is worthy of the comparison to Holmes. The bright lights will be on the Chiefs from the get-go of the 2020 season as the reigning Super Bowl champions, opening the NFL season against Houston Texans.

If Edwards-Helaire is able to recapture some of what he showed at LSU during their 2019 championship-winning season, he’ll be well on his way to meeting the expectations set by some of these draft comparisons. And maybe then Andersen will be a little more comfortable making the comparison to his former teammate.

This interview is the second of a multi-part series with Hall of Fame kicker Morten Andersen sponsored by Bet Pennsylvania. You can find a link to part 1 below.

Part 1: Dustin Colquitt and the specialist stigma

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Lamar Jackson has been worth his weight in fantasy gold in 2019

A look at the season Lamar Jackson has put together in fantasy football in 2019

After Thursday night’s dismantling of the New York Jets, there can surely be no doubt as to the identity of the 2019 MVP. Lamar Jackson was masterful once again as a passer and a rusher, with his third game with five passing touchdowns and his setting the new single-season rushing record for a quarterback. It has truly been a season to remember for Jackson.

But as good as he has been in “real” life, we cannot overstate how great Jackson has been in fantasy football. As crazy as it seems now, according to average draft position data from My Fantasy League, Jackson was the 15th quarterback selected in fantasy drafts in August. People who picked him up this late are all looking pretty clever now, as Jackson is the leading point scorer in ALL of fantasy football.

His 37.1 fantasy points against the New York Jets marked the seventh time this season Jackson has amassed 30 or more points in a single game. Since the dawn of the 21st century, only three players have had more 30 point games in a single season. Marshall Faulk (2000), former Ravens running back Priest Holmes (2003) and LaDanian Tomlinson (2006) all had nine such games. Jackson has two games left in 2019, but it is by no means certain that he’ll play a full role in either of them. Jackson has been the overall QB3 or better eight times in 2019, with three weeks as the overall QB1 (potentially four, pending the rest of the Week 15 games).

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Jackson has a whopping 387.9 Points per Reception (PPR) fantasy points after 14 games. This is a new Ravens single-season record, beating Ray Rice’s 372.8 from 2011. Jackson has also averaged a whopping 27.7 PPR points per game in 2019, another Ravens record. Jackson is one of three Ravens players to average more than 20 PPR points per game in a season, joining Rice (2009 and 2011) and Jamal Lewis (2003).

As crazy as it sounds, Jackson could have had an even greater season if it were not his deeds in blowing out some of the teams he has played against. As Matthew Stevens pointed out, Jackson has sat in the 4th quarter of all three of the games in which he tossed five touchdowns.

But for all the greatness, there could be a sting in the tail for Jackson’s owners this season. Some scenarios could occur this weekend that would lock up the No. 1 seed for the Ravens, clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and making the final regular-season game meaningless. Ravens coach John Harbaugh could decide to give his superstar an extended break, which would mean Jackson being unavailable for the fantasy football championships (usually played in Week 16, unless your commissioner is a psychopath).

Whether he plays in the final game or not, Jackson has been a true fantasy superstar in 2019. Ravens fans and fantasy football fans alike have been truly blessed to have him in our lives this season.

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