10 Greatest College Players
 

This is my list What do you think?
10- Tony Dorsett -Pitt
9- Jim Brown - Syracus
8- Charles Woodson- Michigan
7- Roger Staubach - Navy
6- Dick Butkus - Illinois
5- Earl Campbell- Texas
4- Doak Walker- SMU
3- Jim Thorpe- Carlisle
2- Archie Griffin- Ohio State
1- Herschel Walker- Georgia

I could have listed Payton Manning at 10 and moved everyone else up one as Herschel Walker is in a class by himself.

I don't see how you can compile any list of top ten college football players and NOT include Barry Sanders and Red Grange.

re
 

I would put Barry Sanders in the top twenty but Red Grange I know nothing about he could be in the top 20 also.

In 1988, in what has been called the greatest season in college football history,[1] Barry Sanders led the nation by averaging 7.6 yards per carry and over 200 yards per game, including rushing for over 300 yards in four games. He set college football season records with 2,628 yards rushing, 3,249 total yards, 234 points, 39 touchdowns, of which 37 were rushing (also a record), 5 consecutive 200 yard games, scored at least 2 touchdowns in 11 consecutive games, and 9 times he scored at least 3 touchdowns. Sanders also ran for 222 yards and 5 touchdowns in his three quarters of action in the Holiday Bowl - a game that was not included with his season statistics.[2] Sanders won the Heisman Trophy as the season's most outstanding player.[3] In 2008, he was ranked #2 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list.

As for Red Grange, he was immortalized by Grantland Rice:

A streak of fire, a breath of flame
Eluding all who reach and clutch;
A gray ghost thrown into the game
That rival hands may never touch;
A rubber bounding, blasting soul
Whose destination is the goal — Red Grange of Illinois!

ESPN ranked him #1 of all time.

Barry #1
Red #2

There are all sorts of subjective lists. Supposedly they announced #1 tonight during the Rose Bowl, but I didn't see it. Sanders was #2.

Herschel Walker was the greatest college football player I ever saw. YMMV, and Bo Jackson was an amazing runner (as was Sanders), but I was just aghast at the things Herschel Walker did on the football field.

I wouldn't put Barry over Hershel or Archie. Maybe not over Bo.

Doug Atkins

Watching the highlights they showed from his senior year yesterday, I had forgotten how magic that guy was, but just different from Herschel and Bo.

Herschel always seemed to me like he was sent back from the future and was just head and shoulders above everybody else. He and Bo are probably the greatest athletes I've ever seen from a sheer power and destructiveness and unstoppability standpoint.

But Sanders' running was just...man, something to watch.

You couldn't put a piece of paper between probably the top 8 guys on the list, they're all great in different ways.

Sammy Baugh belongs in the top 10.

Your list is way better than ABC's. Seriously, Vince Young in the top 10. He was good, but not even close. I would add Red Grange somewhere in the top 5 and I would agree that Barry Sanders season was great. My problem with Sanders is that the list is the top 25 players of all time and he really only played one year. He would probably have the ranking for the best season of all time, but I look at people like Herschel Walker, Archie Griffin, Bo Jackson and they all had great careers.

I'd have a hard time not including at least one BYU quarterback. I think either Jim McMahon or Steve Young would fit the bill.

For a long time BYU quarterbacks took turns rewriting the record book.

I really find it hard to believe that 2 Heisman's don't earn you the top spot!
That being said, it is incrediably difficult to compare, and thus rank, great players from so many different eras, and they are all great players.

Orlando Pace? Korey Stringer?
Dave Remington?

Those are real football players boys!

Bronko Nagurski (Minnesota) is the ONLY player ever selected to TWO different positions on the same All-American Team. And he played BOTH ways.

Bob

Archie Griffin
 

Between his sophomore and senior seasons, Archie Griffin ran for 100 or more yards in 31 consecutive regular-season games. That is still an NCAA record, as is his 33 career 100-yard games. Many times, Archie only played half a game because the Buckeyes were so far ahead. He was on 4 Big Ten Title teams, the only player to have won 2 Heismans and is the only player to ever start in 4 consecutive Rose Bowls.

Vic Janowicz of Elyria, Ohio, may have been the best all round player at Ohio State. He won the Heisman as a junior and would have won it again had it not been for the new coach, Woody Hayes and his T offense. Vic could run and throw and kick as well as play defense. He once ran for 2 TD's and threw for 4 TD's and set a Big Ten record with 10 extra points, all in one game. He played professional baseball for the Pirates and football for the Redskins before his career was cut short by an automobile accident that left him partially paralyzed.

The excerpt is from Wikipedia just because it is concise about Barry Sanders in College:

Sanders played for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1986 to 1988, and wore the number 21. During his first two years, he backed up All-American Thurman Thomas. Thomas moved on to the NFL, and Sanders became the starter for his junior year.
In 1988, in what has been called the greatest season in college football history,[1] Sanders led the nation by averaging 7.6 yards per carry and over 200 yards per game, including rushing for over 300 yards in four games. He set college football season records with 2,628 yards rushing, 3,249 total yards, 234 points, 39 touchdowns, of which 37 were rushing (also a record), 5 consecutive 200 yard games, scored at least 2 touchdowns in 11 consecutive games, and 9 times he scored at least 3 touchdowns. Sanders also ran for 222 yards and 5 touchdowns in his three quarters of action in the Holiday Bowl - a game that was not included with his season statistics.[2] Sanders won the Heisman Trophy as the season's most outstanding player.

There is simply no better running back in the modern era of college football than Sanders.

Number two, by the standards set by Sanders, is a distant second.

The biggest disappointment for me, an Ohio State season ticket holder, is that Barry turned pro before he and Oklahoma State were scheduled to play in Columbus in 1989. It would have been something to see Sanders come into Ohio Stadium chasing another Heisman in the home of the only two time winner.

Brown was not as dominant in college. Woodson is a stretch. Staubach is a great pick and is under rated. Archie was great but #2 is a bit high.

Barry was a fantastic talent and an all time great. However, he couldn't break the starting lineup until a junior. Thus, how can you be in the top ten all time when you weren't even the best player at your position on your team. Similar arguments can be made about Marcus Allen.

Some others to consider Hugh Green, Bo Jackson, Ernie Davis, Billy Sims, Mike Rozier, Charles White

True fact: Jim Brown played 24 college football games. 16 of them were played in New York state. He only played in one bowl game (the Cotton after his senior year, which Syracuse lost 28-27 to TCU). Prior to that trip to Dallas, the farthest west SU and Brown played a game was Champaign, IL.

True fact: His college career consisted of 361 carries. Central Florida's Kevin Smith had 450 this season.


Year.....G..Att....Yds..Avg..TD...YPG...Pts
1954.....8....75...439..1.3...4...54.9...24
1955.....8...128...666..5.2...7...83.3...42
1956.....8...158...986..6.2..13..123.3...78
Totals..24...361..2091..5.8..24...87.1..144


He was a heck of a player, obviously, but circumstances prevented him from getting the kind of numbers we see from a "best back in the country" now.

I think what we now know about Brown's greatness influenced his selection, as did the fact that he was such a tremendous athlete (garnering All-American honors in football and lacrosse).

Jim Brown's best sport, and his favorite, was lacrosse.