OT- Greatest CFB Player you ever watched?
Just trying to lighten the mood after the recent recruiting decommits, so who is the best player you have ever seen play college football? It can be from any team, conference position.
Couple quick rules:
1. Must have watched them play at least once (Doesn't have to be in person).
2. Must be centered around actual on field play. This is just to prevent people from saying "Kelly Baraka, but man he couldn't stop smoking weed"
My choice: Cam Newton. I wasn't old enough to watch Woodson (Who I think will garner a lot of votes here). Dude absolutely annhiliated everyone in his path during that season at Auburn. Just one of the most unstoppable players ever. Big moment for me is when he trucked Patrick Peterson and carried him 30 yards in to the endzone. Newton was also the only player on the offense of the 2011 Championship team to play in the NFL. Just an otherwordly player.
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:03 PM ^
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August 23rd, 2016 at 9:06 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:12 PM ^
Reggie Bush.
When Jabrill Peppers has the ball, he reminds me so much of Reggie Bush and could accomplish what Bush did if Peppers was a full time RB.
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:13 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:13 PM ^
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August 23rd, 2016 at 9:17 PM ^
Woodson and for all of us who have picked him there need be no "homer" qualifier. He was that great. Did it all on defense and a hush went over the stadium when he came in on offense.
I cannot argue with Vince Young in college.
AC is my all time personal favorite so I have to mention him.
Finallly I'll throw out a guy who deserves at least a mention and that is Tony Dorsett who along with Hugh Green on defense really elevated a Pittsburgh team to the NC.
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:23 PM ^
Going to drop a homer pick too though. I was at the first game Darren Sproles got in as a Freshman at KSU. We had heard about the "little guy" that had been tearing up at practice. It was a few games into the season and he went in and we all cheered. He took a toss sweep and it was like a video game. He didn't score but he got to the edge faster than I'd ever seen anyone, then juked a CB so bad he didn't even touch him. He was a blast to watch in college and has had a damn good pro career.
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:29 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^
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August 23rd, 2016 at 9:23 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:23 PM ^
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August 23rd, 2016 at 9:30 PM ^
He played Fo Life, Fo Fo Fo life!
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^
I'm tempted to also pick Reggie Bush, but you gotta go with Vince Young. Carried Texas on his back to a national title in what is arguably the greatest national championship game ever played. He did beat Michigan, but he also beat OSU and USC so he and I are square.
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August 23rd, 2016 at 9:37 PM ^
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August 23rd, 2016 at 9:40 PM ^
Archie Griffin
August 23rd, 2016 at 9:45 PM ^
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August 23rd, 2016 at 9:56 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:01 PM ^
Reggie Bush.
I'm also too young to have had a chance to watch Barry Sanders, otherwise I bet he'd be at or near the top.
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:09 PM ^
but when I think about guys who seemed like they were on a whole different level than their competition, Dan LeFevour comes to mind. Was he a better player than any of the guys mentioned in this thread? Nah. Was he special? Definitely. Three MAC titles, a top 25 finish, a huge upset W in East Lansing in 2009. Career #s: 64.4%, 12,905 yds and 102 TDs through the air, 2,948 yds and 47 TDs rushing and, for good measure, 58 yds and 1 receiving TD. And by accounts from people I knew in Mt. Pleasant, a good guy.
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:09 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:10 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:12 PM ^
My favorite to watch was Anthony Carter. Can't say he was the best. I would argue that Charles Woodson was the best. Barry Sanders was also amazing his last year.
Vince Young was amazing in that USC Rose Bowl. But remember, folks, if Carroll had called a better play on 4th down, USC would have won and people would not remember Vince's game the same way. Also, didn't Vince toss up a pass late that should have been intercepted a la Eli Manning in the Super Bowl? Vince had a little luck to help his perfomance look better. But yes, he was still amazing.
I will throw out one more crazy name: Antwaan Randle El. Do any of the rest of you remember him at Indiana? That team was awful. People talk about Young winning by himself... I always thought if Randle El had played for a real team he would have been a Heisman winner easily.
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:15 PM ^
That's a great call WNY; Randle-El was a fantastic player on a terrible team.
I'll raise you Calvin Johnson. I've never seen a less accurate passer than Reggie Ball - he completed 44% of his passes his senior year!
Yet somehow, with everyone in the stadium knowing where the ball was going, Ball would hoist that thing as far as he could throw it, and CJ would haul it in.
If you never saw him play in college, you missed out. Wow.
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:55 PM ^
And I'll agree with you on Calvin Johnson (and also the post above on Thompson), Great players on bad teams get overlooked too easily. And great receivers with bad QB's or vice versa. How many of the players mentioned in this thread were on bad teams? We've been trained to think otherwise, but with football being such a team game, it's difficult to impossible to look really great with bad teammates.
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:23 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:28 PM ^
So I Ctrl-F'ed Woodson on this page and got 65 hits. But yeah, Charles Woodson. Brian Griese was a yard away from Woodson registering a touchdown literally every conceivable way in one season - KR, PR, reception, run, INT, fumble....all he missed was the pass.
Vince Young was fricking incredible too. I still think the Texas-USC Rose Bowl was the greatest college football game maybe ever. And I know this is a pics-or-it-didn't-happen kind of claim, but when Young took the 4th-down play in for the winning touchdown, I knew that's what would happen before the play. That's how damn good he was.
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:47 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:48 PM ^
How is no one mentioning him?
Won heisman buy largest margin ever, had the best combination of quickness, elusiveness, speed, and hands I have ever seen in football.
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August 24th, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
He was special and one of my all time favorites. But I'm old enough to have watched Barry Sanders play college ball, and that dude was insane. Have never seen anything like it.
August 23rd, 2016 at 10:56 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:04 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:26 PM ^
Probably Barry Sanders. Charles Woodson is right up there with him. Honorable mention shout out to Desmond Howard and Ty Wheatley.
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:30 PM ^
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:36 PM ^
While Woodson is definitely in the conversation, he seems overrepresented here. I think the OP underestimated how homerific this board really is.
I'll go with Barry Sanders. Nobody even approaches the production he had in his only season as a starter and it's not his fault his coach was so dumb to make return specialist/backup his first two years. Barry Switzer told his players not to hurt Thurman Thomas because the kid who would be coming in for him was far better.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:32 AM ^
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August 24th, 2016 at 1:07 PM ^
McCaffrey not really close. He averaged 6.0 per carry. Barry averaged 7.6 yards. Also, McCaffrey averaged 165 rushing yards per game. Barry averaged 239 rushing yards per game. Touchdowns, Barry scored 39 and McCaffrey had 13. The fact that McCaffrey is the closest and still not really close says it all.
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:45 PM ^
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August 23rd, 2016 at 11:47 PM ^
Defense: Woodson, Lavar Arrington, Clowney
Offense: Bush, LaMichael James, Denard vs Notre Dame
August 23rd, 2016 at 11:58 PM ^
1. Charles Woodson
2. Ron Dayne
3. Denard Robinson against teams that didn't know how to stop him
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August 24th, 2016 at 12:17 AM ^
Hands down. Cam had the most dominant single season I've ever witnessed.
August 24th, 2016 at 1:01 AM ^
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August 24th, 2016 at 1:11 AM ^
In person: Anthony Carter
Overall career: Young, Woodson, Earl Campbell
For a game or a moment- Michael Vick (3rd quarter 2000 Sugar Bowl), Tim Biakabutuka against Ohio State
August 24th, 2016 at 1:35 AM ^
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August 24th, 2016 at 2:07 AM ^
Greatest CFB at Michigan, truncated career due to injury was - Tony Boles
Greatest CFB at Michigan, Charles Woodson
Greatest CFB ever, Herschel Walker. Essentially, as good as Wheatley was, he was pedestrian compared to Walker. He combined world-class sprinter speed with weight-lifter strength to be IMHO the greatest college running back and player. Oh, and he was his high school valedictorian...an explempary student-athlete. I lived in Florida at the time and got to see him play twice in person. I'll never forget his phenomenal skills at RB.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:18 AM ^
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August 24th, 2016 at 4:50 AM ^
August 24th, 2016 at 5:58 AM ^