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Saturday, February 19, 2022

Herschel vs. the Rest

Pro Football Focus asked who the greatest running back was to win the Heisman Trophy, but failed to mention Herschel Walker, OJ Simpson, Earl Campbell, and others. Bleacher Report and other sources ranked Herschei tops among all college backs. Others listed him as the greatest college player ever. All Walker did was break the freshman, sophomore, and junior rushing records. Three time All-America. Heisman finalist three times. One kid thought Walker was overrated. How so?

16. 2004-2006 Adrian Peterson Oklahoma

15. 1907-1908 Jim Thorpe, Carlisle 1911-1912

14. 1967-1968 OJ Simpson USC

13. 1954-1956 Jim Brown Syracuse

12. 1996-1999 Ron Dayne, Wisconsin  

11. 1974-1977 Earl Campbell Texas

10. 1978-1981 Marcus Allen USC

09. 1947-1949 Doak Walker SMU

08. 1976-1979 Charles White USC

07. 1923-1925 Red Grange, Illinois

06. 1982-1985 Bo Jackson, Auburn

05. 1973-1976 Tony Dorsett, Pitt

04. 1972-1975 Archie Griffin, Ohio State

03. 1995-1998 Ricky Williams, Texas

02. 1986-1988 Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State

01. 1980-1982 Herschel Walker, UGA

Only ten running backs retired before Herschel with more NFL yards from scrimmage (rushing + receiving). Of those eight are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Herschel gained more all purpose yards in the NFL than all but one of the ten.

…YFS….YR...APYD...YR…REC YD.YR.YRS

21264 1636 21803 1682 4538 349 13 W Payton

17654 1103 17654 1103 5411 338 16 M Allen  

16293 1358 16293 1358 3554 396 12 T Dorsett

15396 1540 15396 1540 2137 214 10 E Dickerson

14811 1646 15459 1718 2499 278 09 J Brown

14407 1108 14622 1125 2287 176 13 F Harris

13442 0960 13442 0960 2090 149 14 J Riggins

13378 1216 14368 1306 2142 195 11 OJ Simpson

13335 0953 13335 0953 3062 218 14 O Anderson

13100 1191 13143 1195 4911 378 11 R Craig

13084 1090 18168 1514 4859 404 12 H Walker

One thing that makes Herschel different from these backs is his receiving yards. Walker averaged more receiving yards per season than the other ten. Marcus Allen gained 552 more NFL receiving yards in his career than Herschel, but it took him four more seasons to do it. Roger Craig gained 52 more career receiving yards.

After Herschel retired another 16 backs gained more yards from scrimmage than Herschel. Eight are in the hall of fame. Only five gained more all-purpose yards. Only Ladanian Tomlinson gained more receiving yards.

APYD.ydscrim.rec.YR.

21579 21579 3224 13 E Smith HOF

19985 19985 3985 16 F Gore

19145 19190 6875 12 M Faulk HOF

18456 18456 4772 11 L Tomlinson HOF

18190 18308 2921 10 B Sanders HOF

16532 16542 4458 13 T Thomas HOF

15632 17359 5183 10 T Barber

15610 15610 3364 11 E James HOF

15306 15665 4339 12 W Dunn

15121 15191 3683 12 S Jackson

15111 15111 1449 13 J Bettis HOF

15000 15000 3898 12 L McCoy

14891 14891 4248 10 R Watters HOF

14468 14468 4672 10 M Forte

14079 14079 2384 13 F Taylor

13154 13335 1913 10 C Dillon

13084 18168 4859 12 H Walker

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2697864-ranking-the-top-16-college-football-running-backs-of-all-time__;!!AE29DT8V!HcW66KhSHjepuqUd5ZEv8Qf7qPRdeot0nieHzoJfUFzbN2fLuqVBPCsyVb7zo5JuOB4$ 

Herschel recently was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine.

DALLAS GREEN [SABR Bio] managed his team to the first World Series Championship in the 97 years of that franchise's existence: PHI in 1980. Team had existed since 1883. They are now 128 years old. Green surrendered Jimmy Piersall's 100th home run on 23-Jun-1963. Dallas was once fired for mocking his team's owner. As manager of NYY, once referred to George Steinbrenner as "Manager George" because of his meddling with the baseball operations of the team. Steinbrenner took decisive action and replaced Green with Bucky Dent.

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