I waited two weeks to vent a bit after the release of ESPN’s greatest eleven college football players of all time. I get it…that was an incredibly tough assignment for ESPN to choose the final eleven. Selecting from a pool of over 500,000 athletes from more than 200 schools during a 150-year period was a herculean task and they certainly weren’t going to please everyone.
For the most part, the ESPN panel did an outstanding job of selecting players from the different eras. Although skewed heavily towards running backs, most positions were well represented.
As we all know, the panel of 150 media members, administrators and former coaches and players selected Syracuse running back Jim Brown as the greatest college player and Georgia running back Herschel Walker as the runnerup.
Brown indeed was a magnificent college player. Born on Saint Simons Island, Georgia, he arrived on the Syracuse campus from Manhasset High (Long Island, NY) without a scholarship and left as the the school’s greatest athlete of all time. As a sophomore at Syracuse (1954), Brown was the second-leading rusher for the 4-4 Orangemen. As a junior, he rushed for 666 yards (5.2 per carry) as Syracuse went 5-3 and reached a high of No. 18 in the country. In 1956 during his senior year, Brown was a consensus first-team All-American and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. He finished third in the country in rushing with 986 yards, scored 14 touchdowns and led the Orangemen to the Cotton Bowl as Syracuse finished 7-2 and reached No. 8 in the country during the season.
He also was standout defensive back and place kicker in college. Perhaps more impressive was his success as a multisport athlete. In addition to his football accomplishments, he excelled in basketball, track, and especially lacrosse. As a sophomore, he was the second-leading scorer for the Orangemen basketball team (15 ppg), and earned a letter on the track team. During his junior year, Brown finished in fifth place in the decathlon national championshp, averaged 11.3 points per game in basketball, and was named a second-team All-American in lacrosse. His senior year, he was named a first-team All-American in lacrosse (43 goals in 10 games to rank second in scoring nationally) and legendary sportscaster Dick Schapp once commented that Jim Brown was the greatest lacrosse player in history.
Brown went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Cleveland Browns and many still consider him to be the greatest NFL running back of all time. He had a successful acting career, appearing in over 40 films, and was a champion of social activisim.
As great as Brown was during his three years of varsity football competition at Syracuse, Herschel Walker was simply better. Herschel (like Napolean, Michelangelo, Cher and for our Generation Z readers, Zendaya, specifying the last name is not necessary) was a game changer and a difference maker. Never before had such a package of power, durability and world-class speed been witnessed on the football field. The stats were incredible, but Herschel was more than that… he was transcendental. The legendary tales of running over defenders, sprinting past speedy cornerbacks and soaring over defensive lines in the “missle” play were all true.
After the most heated recruiting battle the nation had seen, Herschel came to Athens from Johnson County High in Wrightsville, Georgia (only 150 miles north of Brown’s birthplace). “My God, a freshman!” exclaimed Larry Munson over the radio during Herschel’s first collegiate game on that sultry summer night in Knoxville in 1980. From the beginning, he carried the Bulldogs to victory, elevated his team to new heights and introduced a new style of running back to the college ranks. He was a three-time consensus All-American, The SEC Player of the Year three consecutive years, winner of the 1982 Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award, the only player in history to finish in the top three in Heisman voting in each of his collegiate seasons and the first “true freshman” to become a first-team All-American.
Some players become great, a select few are legendary and even fewer raise their teams to champions. Herschel took a 6-5 Georgia team that averaged 18.7 points per game in 1979 and led the 12-0 Bulldogs to a national championship with 1,616 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns in 1980. He led Georgia to a 10-2 record in 1981, another SEC Championship and a national ranking of No. 2. During Walker’s junior year, Georgia (11-1) captured its third consecutive SEC Championship as the Dawgs reached No. 1 in the country again. He totaled 5,259 yards and 49 touchdowns during his 33-game (prior to 2002, bowl games were not included in stats) Georgia career.
In addition, Herschel also was a two-time, NCAA track and field All-American selection. He was a member of the SEC champion 4 × 100 meter relay squad in 1981 and ran a 10.10 seconds 100 meters. While playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, he competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics on the USA Bobled team. Herschel has a fifth-degree black belt in tae kwon do and in 2010, at the age of 48, won his two MMA contests.
Herschel finished his 12-year NFL career ranked second to Walter Payton in career all-purpose yards. Including his 3 years in the USFL, Herschel has 1,737 more all-purpose yards than all-time leader Jerry Rice (in 5 fewer seasons). How much did Herschel mean to the Dallas Cowboys? The security code at their Valley Ranch facility was 3412 — 34 for Herschel, 12 for Roger Staubach (No. 11 on the ESPN list). Why this man is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — that’s a discussion for another time.
His physique, his durability, his drive, his speed, power, the humility…. there has always been a certain mystique about Herschel and 37 years since he last carried the ball for Georgia, that mystique is even stronger. No player cast a longer shadow over the rich tradition of college football than Herschel.
To honor 150 years of college football, ESPN’s mandate was to select the all-time greatest college football player….not the greatest all-round athlete or greatest professional player. To that end, they failed. There are four major things in life that are immutable; these unchangeable things include death, taxes, the laws of physics and Herschel Walker being the greatest player in college football history.