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Pete
Fiutak
Q:
The ten greatest playmakers of all-time...
A:
Let me start off by saying that I'll accept just about any
suggestions you might have to make my list. I twisted my brain to come
up with what makes for a great college football playmaker, and in the
end, I decided that he 1) has to be able to come up with big plays on
his own regardless of the situation, 2) comes through with the biggest
plays with everything on the line, 3) turned games around by himself and
4) could do several different things well.
I tried to walk the razor-thin line to separate the difference between
the best playmakers and the ten most electrifying players ever. Reggie
Bush and Barry Sanders are probably 1-2 on that list in some order, but
did they come up with the clutch game-saving plays my top ten guys did?
(Did they have the opportunities?) No, I have no real argument
whatsoever if you want to put Bush, Sanders, or a slew of other legends
in the top ten.
Some who just missed my cut ...
- Rod Woodson, DB Purdue ... Woodson finished his career with 11
interceptions, 445
career tackles with a school-record (at the time) 19 in the 1984 Peach Bowl.
He was also a phenomenal kick and punt returner.
- Herschel Walker, RB Georgia ... Walker won the Heisman Trophy in 1982
with 1,752 yards and 17 touchdowns, but his best season was 1981 running
for 1,891 yards and 20 scores running for over 100 yards in every game
and over 200 yards two of them.
- Hugh Green, DE Pitt ... No defensive player was more disruptive.
Missed the top ten because partially because he's missing the signature
big game. His best performance was in a loss to Notre Dame.
- Jamar Fletcher, CB Wisconsin ... Fletcher returned five interceptions
for touchdowns, a Big Ten record, including game sealing picks in tight
games against Northwestern, Purdue (twice) and UCLA in the Rose Bowl.
- Lawrence Taylor, DE North Carolina ... Taylor was directly
responsible for beating Clemson and Texas Tech with his game saving
tackles in 1980. He finished the year with 16 sacks.
- Rocket Ismail, WR Notre Dame ... Ismail averaged 22 yards per catch
and returned two punts for touchdowns in the 1989 win over Michigan.
- Michael Vick, QB Virginia Tech/Don McPherson, QB Syracuse/Major
Harris, QB West Virginia ... All three were talented, all three were
clutch, and all three carried their teams like few others could've.
- Anthony Carter, WR Michigan ... His touchdown numbers (37), one every
four catches, and all-purpose yards per play (17.4) were even more
impressive considering he played for the stodgy Wolverines.
- Tommy Casanova, DB LSU ... He did it all as a running back, kick
returner, punt returner and defensive back for the Tigers from 1969 to
1971.
- Larry Fitzgerald, WR Pitt ... Despite being a marked man, Fitzgerald
scored and scored and scored.
- Nile Kinnick, HB Iowa ... Kinnick had a flair for the dramatic and was
the iron man of ironmen on the 1939 team that stunned Notre Dame and
Minnesota.
10. (tie) Reggie Bush, RB USC/Barry Sanders RB Oklahoma State
I can't do it. I'm breaking my own rules, but I can't in good
conscience put together this list without including these two in some
way. Bush did save the day against Fresno State. 2,628 rushing yards,
3,249 total yards, 39 touchdowns and 234 points in 1988 are enough to
earn Sanders a spot.
9. George Gipp, HB Notre Dame
Keeping in mind
that Gipp amassed these stats from 1917 to 1920, he ran for 2,341 career yards and 21 touchdowns,
threw for 1,789 yards and eight scores, punted 96 times for 3,690 yards (a
38.4 yard per kick average), picked off five passes, returned 16 punts for
217 yards, 22 kickoffs for 454 yards and kicked 27 PATs to finish his career
with 156 points. His 2,341 rushing yards lasted in the Notre Dame record
books until Jerome Heavens surpassed it in 1978. As a defensive back, Gipp
never allowed a completed pass.
8. Desmond Howard, WR Michigan
Howard's 1991 season was amazing by any standard catching 61 passes for 950
yards and 19 touchdowns with 23 total TDs. He was the first receiver in Big Ten
history to lead the league in scoring with 138 points. Add the 12
scores as a sophomore and two as a freshman and Howard amassed an amazing
37 touchdowns in his career. Evidenced by his diving catches game in and
game out, a 63-yard TD catch against Mississippi against the Gator Bowl,
and heartbreaking plays against Notre Dame and Ohio State, he was as
clutch a playmaker as there was in the 90's. He was also a top kick and
punt returner.
7. O.J. Simpson, RB USC
How's this for a two year college career? 3,424 yards, 36 touchdowns
and a 23.7-yard average per kick return. Of course, on the field, he'll
be known for Red 23-Blast, the 64-yard touchdown for the 21-20 win over
UCLA to give USC the 1967 Pac 8 title and a birth in the Rose Bowl where the
Trojans beat Indiana and won the national title.
Simpson was huge in USC's two bowl
games running for 128 yards and two touchdowns against the Hoosiers and
tore off 171 yards and a touchdown in a 27-16 loss to Ohio State.
6. Terrell Buckley, CB Florida State
He set an FSU record with 21 interceptions over three years and broke the NCAA record for return yards with 470.
Quarterbacks kept
challenging Buckley and he kept burning them registering 12 picks in 1991 on his
way to winning the Thorpe Award. Talk about a
home-run hitter, Buckley returned a pick 83 yards for a
touchdown against Cincinnati, 71 yards for a touchdown against Virginia
Tech, and intercepted Elvis Grbac's first pass and took it 40
yards for a TD leading the way to a 51-31 Seminole win in the Big House over
No. 3 Michigan.
5. Red Grange, HB Illinois
In a day and age (1923 to 1925) when final scores in football
looking more like a soccer final, Grange's achievements were remarkable
averaging 5.3 yards per carry running for 2,071 yards, catching 14
passes for 253 yards, and scoring a total of 31 touchdowns. He also
threw for 575 yards and three scores.
The game that
turned Grange from a great college player into a legend was the 1924 upset
of Fielding Yost's Michigan team that hadn't lost in three years. Grange
proved mightier than college football's best team from the start scoring a
95-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff. On
the day Grange scored five touchdowns and threw for another in an improbable
39-14 win. To put Grange's performance into perspective, Michigan allowed a
total of 32 points in its previous twenty games and gave up 24 points over
the 17 games after the the Illinois loss.
4. Charles Woodson, CB Michigan
Even with everyone knowing all
about him and hardly ever throwing his way in 1997, Woodson still picked off eight passes
including a brilliant one-handed grab against Michigan State which made
every highlight reel. Want clutch? Along with the game-saving interception against
Ohio State, he killed a drive in the Rose Bowl intercepting Ryan Leaf in the
end zone. While QB Brian Griese had a magnificent season and the defense was
great as a whole, without Woodson the Wolverines wouldn't have won the
national title. Woodson was the difference in the 20-14 win over the No. 4
Buckeyes staying on the field for 83 plays. He clinched the Heisman with 78-yard
punt return for a score.
3. Deion Sanders, CB Florida State
Sanders picked off 14 passes including three in bowl games with a
game-sealing interception against Auburn in the 1989 Sugar Bowl. As good a college corner as Sanders was, he
was just as good at returning punts leading the nation in 1988
with a 15.2-yard average holding the FSU record with 1,429 career
punt return yards and 503 in 1988. His signature return was against Clemson
in the classic 1988 game taking a kick 76 yards for a touchdown.
2. Johnny Rodgers, WR Nebraska
Nebraska was never known as a high-octane passing team up until
recently. Even so, Rodgers
caught 143 career passes for 2,479 yards and scored 26 touchdowns finishing
as Nebraska's all-time greatest pass receiver. Known for his
thrilling punt return for a touchdown in the 1971 35-31 "Game of the
Century" win over Oklahoma, he also helped lock up the Huskers' second straight national title in the
1972 Orange Bowl with a 77-yard return for a touchdown in a 38-6 win over
Alabama. In all, he returned eight punts and nine kickoffs for touchdowns,
both NCAA records at the time.
1. Vince Young, QB Texas
Doing all the all-time stuff, it's important to avoid the recency
effect. It's far easier to remember what Young did than to go by all the
historical writings about someone like Red Grange or George Gipp, but
I'm still going with No. 10 for the ultimate playmaker. He cranked out
839 yards of total offense in two Rose Bowls, took over the Oklahoma
State game last year, and threw a perfect game-winning pass to beat Ohio
State. No way, no how do the Longhorns come close to the national title
without Young last year.
Richard
Cirminiello
Q:
The ten greatest playmakers of all-time...
A:
10. Joe Washington, Oklahoma
(1972-75) – Washington offset his diminutive size with darting
quickness and shifty moves. His offensive wizardry and penchant for
breaking open games on special teams helped the Sooners win national
championships in 1974 and 1975.
9. Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame (1988-90) – The nickname, “The
Rocket”, pretty much said it all. Ismail may have been the fastest
college football player ever, and he used those jets to torch the
opposition, especially as a returner.
8. Desmond Howard, Michigan (1988-91) – An up-and-down NFL
career sort of made folks forget just how electrifying Howard was in
his days in Ann Arbor. More than just a speedy game-breaker, he
also had a knack for delivering the big play when it mattered
most.
7. Glenn Davis, Army (1943-46) – Mr. Outside to Doc
Blanchard’s Mr. Inside, Davis was a pioneer of sorts with the kind
of moves and speed that was uncommon in his era. A three-time
All-American, he averaged an NCAA-record 8.26 yards a carry
throughout his career.
6. Johhny Rodgers, Nebraska (1970-72) – Had he gotten his
wish and played for USC, Rodgers might have been ranked even
higher. In a conservative Nebraska offense, he was a human dynamo,
who could bring a crowd to its feet as a receiver, runner out of the
backfield or return man. During his career, Rodgers returned an
amazing 17 kicks or punts for touchdowns.
5. Doak Walker, SMU (1945, 1947-49) – More than just a great
playmaker, Walker could do just about everything back in the day.
On offense, he could run and pass as well as any of his
contemporaries. On special teams, he was an ace punt and kickoff
returner, while also handling SMU’s punting and placekicking duties.
4. Gale Sayers, Kansas (1962-64) – The aptly named “Kansas
Comet” was Reggie Bush before the Trojan was ever born. Sayers had
the world class speed and swiveling hips that made it impossible to
stop or catch him once he broke out into the open field.
3. O.J. Simpson, USC (1967-68) – Simpson played just two
years at USC, but authored quite a legacy during that time. Before
he arrived, there had been big backs and fast backs, but very few
that possessed his devastating combination of track speed on a large
frame.
2. Reggie Bush, USC (2003-05) – The word gets tossed around
like loose change, but Bush was a bona fide superstar in his three
years at USC. No one in his generation has had quite the ability to
electrify a crowd or frustrate a defense. Whether he was taking a
hand off, catching a pass or fielding a punt, Bush was pure magic
for the Trojans.
1. Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State (1986-88) – Sanders was
buried behind Thurman Thomas for two years, but when his number was
called in 1988, he responded with one of the greatest seasons ever
for a college football player--2,628 rushing yards, 3,249 total
yards and 39 touchdowns…before running for another 222 yards and
five scores in the Holiday Bowl. No back has ever been better at
making something out of nothing than Sanders.
John
Harris
Q:
The ten greatest playmakers of all-time...
As difficult as it was to come up with this list,
the thought of trying to ‘encapsulate’ the word playmaker was even more
difficult. So, I had two thoughts coming up with this list. One was
that the QBs already had their day, so I left them off this list (see
our first greatest ever listing). The second was my ‘definition’ of
playmaker – the guy who, when he had the ball in his hands, was the most
difficult to defense. In other words, if I was a defensive coordinator,
the one guy who I didn’t want to see touch the ball. These were my top
ten ‘nightmares’.
1. Reggie Bush, USC – Transcendent
game/moment – 2005 Fresno State – 513 yards total offense – the nail in
the 2005 Heisman Trophy race coffin.
Quite frankly, there was no other college football
player in my lifetime that I honestly felt like could take every ball he
touched for six. After his first year, I said he was the best college
football player in the nation, even before his sophomore year and caught
some flack for saying it. Flash forward two years and maybe I was onto
something (sorry, I just sprained my shoulder from patting myself on the
back). You saw him play. You saw what he did. Let’s put it this way –
when a team ‘holds’ a guy to 275 total offensive yards and that’s
keeping him under control as Texas did in the Rose Bowl, that should
tell you something.
2. Herschel Walker, Georgia – Transcendent
game/moment (tie) – Running over Tennessee’s Bill Bates in his first
game or the dive over the top against Ole Miss when he maintains feet
and scores TD.
Walker’s Georgia teams were strong, no question,
but the Dawgs rode his back to a national title as a freshman, an SEC
title as a sophomore and a national championship game/Heisman Trophy as
a junior. He was one of the first ‘combo’ backs – powerful with track
speed – that the nation had seen. It was hard at the time to think that
every back wasn’t going to be like him, but there just wasn’t another
one quite like him. What made Herschel so scary is that he sat back in
the I every play, you knew he was going to carry it 35 times for 200
yards and there was very little you could do about it. You just hoped
it didn’t turn into 275.
3. OJ Simpson, USC – Transcendent
game/moment – 64 yard run against UCLA in 1967 Battle of LA.
On the field, #32 changed games when he touched the
ball. I thought of him a power runner, but it was a different powerful
style than Walker’s. He glided to a hole then hit the gas and was by
you with his track speed. But, he had everything you wanted out of an
every down back and then some. All it took him was two years to build a
legacy in Troy that was unequaled by any before, and, arguably, after
him. And, it took one, well, let’s not go there.
4. Rocket Ismail, Notre Dame – Transcendent
game/moment – 1989 two kickoff returns for touchdowns against Michigan.
Some think that Reggie Bush was comparable to Barry
Sanders, but to me, he was more like Ismail. The former Irish star
returned kicks, punts, ran the ball, caught passes out of the backfield,
ran with surprising power, had some shake and a flair for the dramatic.
Too bad a clip wiped out perhaps his greatest moment – the 1991 Orange
Bowl punt return in the fourth quarter that would’ve put the Irish ahead
late. Leave it to a guy nicknamed the Rocket to leave teams in his
wake.
4. Jim Brown, Syracuse – Transcendent
game/moment – scoring all 43 points against Colgate in 1956
Versatility is thy name. In his era, players were
forced to do a little bit of everything. Brown just did it better than
anyone had ever seen to that point. It’s hard to believe that the man
finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting his senior year, when he
had games when he scored 43 points and 21 points twice, including the
Cotton Bowl against TCU, by himself. He may have been ultimately held
back by Syracuse’s offense, but Brown was still a freak of nature who
dominated games.
5. Johnny Rodgers, Nebraska – Transcedent
game/moment – 1971 punt return against Oklahoma in the Game of the
Century
Rodgers wasn’t a glider or a smooth runner. He ran
with fury when he got the ball in his hands. His cuts were explosive
and somewhat herky jerky all at once, a 1970s version of former FSU
whirling dervish Peter Warrick. But, when he got into the open field,
one on one against a defender, forget it. He averaged 13.8 yards every
time he touched the ball – run or pass or return.
6. Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State –
Transcendent game/moment – 1988 Holiday Bowl against Wyoming
It’s scary to think what we might’ve seen in
Stillwater if Barry wouldn’t have had Thurman Thomas in front of him at
the outset of his career. His running style was a sight to behold.
Sanders’ 1988 season defies anything, from a production standpoint
(2,628 rushing yards with 39 total touchdowns), that we’ve seen before
or since. I just wish we would’ve gotten to see him, more regularly for
more than just that one great year.
7. Marshall Faulk, San Diego State –
Transcendent game/moment – 299 yards rushing against BYU in 1992
Faulk has a run in that BYU game that tells you
everything you would want to know about Marshall. He finds a seam on an
inside run, bursts past the linebackers and into the secondary. The BYU
corner from the other side of the field has the angle on him, but just
as he’s about to make the tackle, Faulk put it into another gear – you
can visibly see him run away from that defender. It’s one of those runs
that words just can’t describe.
8. Tony Dorsett, Pitt – Transcendent
game/moment – 202 yard performance in 1977 Sugar Bowl/National
Championship game
Consistency and productivity were his hallmarks.
Oh, that and his vision and quick feet. Dorsett’s record for career
yardage stood for 25 years and it epitomized the fact that people were
still chasing Aliquippa’s finest, just as they did in the 1970s. The
man was All-American for four years, a record that’ll never be topped.
9. Billy Cannon, LSU – Transcendent
game/moment – 1959 Halloween night against Ole Miss – 89 yards into
history
The punt return that still reverberates in Bayou
land made Cannon more than just the 1959 Heisman Trophy winner – it made
him a legend. After shaking off about 20 Rebels to match his jersey
number, Cannon finally had clear sailing in the rain and muck, helping
put the Tigers in the Sugar Bowl at season’s end. He was the foundation
of the 1958 national championship team and was one of the greatest SEC
players in the history of that storied conference.
10. Desmond Howard – Michigan –
Transcendent game/moment – 1991 Notre Dame – the diving catch
Most everyone remembers what Desmond did in his
Heisman Trophy year, especially the Catch against Notre Dame. He made
big plays with the cameras on and, as a college player, no one in the
Big Ten put fear into opposing defensive coordinators like this guy.
Honorable Mention (“2nd Ten” – in no
certain order) – Gale Sayers - Kansas, Eric Dickerson - SMU, Peter
Warrick - Florida State, David Palmer - Alabama, Doak Walker – SMU,
Anthony Carter – Michigan, Marcus Allen – USC, Bo Jackson, Auburn,
Glenn Davis, Army, Tim Brown – Notre Dam
Matthew
Zemek
Q:
The ten greatest playmakers of all-time...
A:
One should be able to sense
what a playmaker truly is, but just to be clear about it, a playmaker is
someone who--whenever he touches the ball--is the kind of lightning-bolt
threat who can score a touchdown on any play if the defense takes a
one-second mental holiday (and even then, it might not matter).
Playmakers scare the living daylights out of the opposition and its
fans. You want to use chipped kickoffs, out-of-bounds punts, and
radically altered tactics to contain these guys.
1) Red Grange, Illinois. A playmaker so good, he
created a national sensation in the 1920s that helped lift college
football to previously unseen heights of popularity. What he did on just
one afternoon--October 18, 1924--is enough to cement his credentials as
an all-time great playmaker:
402 rushing yards on just 21 carries in a 39-14
win over Michigan. (And 78 passing yards on six completions, too.)
2) Vince Young, Texas. Well, duh. The greatest
playmaker in the history of the Rose Bowl, that's for sure.
3) Reggie Bush, USC. Well, duh, part two. As
purely electrifying a player as this sport has ever seen.
4) Michael Vick, Virginia Tech. The average
American's attention span is short and getting shorter, but one should
be able to assume that the 1999 and 2000 seasons can be remembered to
some extent, especially the 2000 Sugar Bowl.
5) Raghib Ismail, Notre Dame. Sure, his touchdown
in the 1991 Orange Bowl was called back because of a penalty. However,
that didn't detract from his personal excellence, the stupidity of the
Colorado special teams unit, or the electricity generated in Miami's
venerable stadium when he touched the ball on that one memorable
occasion.
6) Tony Dorsett. He performed big, he performed
consistently big, he did so in the sport's great settings (Notre Dame
Stadium and the Superdome for the
'77 Sugar Bowl), he won the Heisman, and he won a
national title. His imprint upon Pitt football is a particularly large
mark imposed by one player upon a program.
7) Desmond Howard, Michigan. That a man could
strike a Heisman pose and not come across as begging for votes tells you
all you need to know about the legitimacy of this guy's playmaking
ability.
8) Tim Brown, Notre Dame. The first of two Golden
Domers who struck fear into the hearts of the opposition during the
second half of the 1980s.
9) Terry Baker, Oregon State. The notion of a
dazzling, ultra-fast playmaker is something that admittedly belongs to
more recent years, but Baker was a guy who, in 1962, outran entire
defenses and scored points very much on his own at a school not
traditionally known for football excellence. That Baker won the Heisman
is a testament to how good a playmaker he was in his day. A man who
deserves to be included with the faster, cooler cats of more recent
vintage.
10) Anthony Carter, Michigan. Put it this way:
Carter was as dynamic as his Bo Schembechler offense was simple. That
tells you how much he stood out on his team and, frankly, in the sport
during the years he played the game.
