Rules- you had to see them play.
QB- Michael Vick
Tailback- Shaun Alexander
Fullback- Jerome Bettis
Wide Receiver-Randy Moss (and it isn't close)
Wide Receiver- Tory Holt
Tight End- Jeremy Shockey (hate writing this, but he was so good)
Offensive Tackle- Jonathan Odgen (maybe the best player on this list)
Guard- Alan Faneca
Center- Jake Grove
Guard- Steve Hutchinson
Offensive Tackle- Orlando Pace
Defensive End- Alex Brown
Defensive Tackle- Steve Emtman (Very hard to keep Suh and Glen Dorsey off this list, but Emtman- playing in a VT style Defense, almost won a Heisman as a DT)
Defensive Tackle- Warren Sapp
Defensive End- Mario Williams
Outside Linebacker- Derrick Brooks
Middle Linebacker- Ray Lewis
Outside Linebacker- Al Wilson
Corner- Charles Woodson
Free Safety- Ed Reed
Strong Safety- Sean Taylor (hard not to say Eric Berry)
Corner- Brandon Flowers (heart pick- head pick is Champ Bailey)
Who am I wrong about?
Comments
Had to have seem them in person? Or play us?
Had to watch them play in college. Pro careers do not count.
Then there's no way I could keep Reggie Bush off my team
Biggest spot, in the biggest game, and he didn't get the ball. That one moment told me all I needed to know about Reggie Bush. I don't know if he would make my top 20 at running back.
So Marshawn Lynch is a dud because he didn't get the ball either? Not making the top 20 is insane. He was the most electrifying player since Vick
Nope, it was an indicator. I always thought Bush was a soft player who benefited greatly from playing on a team with far superior talent. His NFL career has supported that theory. I just didn't enjoy him.
Now, a couple of my guys didn't have a great NFL career because of injuries (KiJanna Carter, Cadillac Williams.)
What about Willis mcgahee? Dude was phenomenal before his knee got destroyed
Both he and Frank Gore would be in the discussion. So would Travis Henry (Tennessee doesn't win their national championship without him even though he rotated with Jamal Lewis when Lewis was healthy.) Adrian Peterson. I would say Barry Sanders, but I only saw highlights. I never watched an Oklahoma State game when he played.
Bo Jackson has to be in the discussion at tailback. Speed, power, a human sledgehammer. Seemed like nobody wanted to hit him after he got past the D-line. I know it was a while back, but he was so memorable.
What about OJ, I mean he just killed it.
hahahahha
I thought you just said Pro careers aren't relevant?
That is why I didn't include Barry Sanders.
You watched Barry Sanders? Nice.
I saw highlights of him in college, but my family didn't have cable in the late 80's and I can't recall ever seeing Oklahoma State with Barry (or his teammate Thurman Thomas... can you imagine?) on ABC or CBS. Of the backs I saw play in college, in no particular order guys I would put in front of Reggie Bush:
Trey Gurley
Travis Henry
Jamal Lewis
Adrian Peterson
Willis McGahee
Kevin Jones
Ryan Williams
Duke Johnson
Warrick Dunn
Cadillac Williams
Marshall Faulk
Laurence Phillips (asshole, but he may be the best of the bunch. My god.)
Darren McFadden
Kijanna Carter
Garrison Hurst
Marcus Lattimore (LOVED HIM. It broke my heart when he got hurt)
Thomas Jones (both his college and NFL careers have been tremendously underrated.)
and do you know who Pete Carroll thought was better than Reggie Bush? When the money was down, LenDale White.
Duke Johnson was my favorite back in CFB the last few years. He is my dark horse player to have a great NFL career.
great player
No Hershel? No Bo?
I'm just going to go ahead and assume that it's because you didn't see them play. I sure hope that's what it is anyway.
I didn't see them play on television in college. The first game I saw Bo play was the Seattle debacle on Monday Night Football (I was a Steve Largent fan and my parents let me stay up.)
Knowshon Moreno? thought he was pretty good at UGA
Hard to keep Larry Fitzgerald off that list.
Wide Receiver was really tough. Based purely on their college careers, other guys that I considered included: David Terrell, Plaxico Burress, David Boston, Charles Rogers, Carl Pickens, Amari Cooper, Antonio Bryant, AJ Greene, Troy Edwards, Michael Crabtree, Julio Jones
None of these guys could carry Randy Moss's jockstrap. Wasn't tough for me.
God made that dude to catch a football.
Moss was a clear number 1. That wasn't close. Picking the second guy was tough.
Gotcha.
Or Calvin Johnson, but I think Fitz may have been a smidge better in college
As much how we hate saying it... It really is amazing how many Miami players on that list. Lewis, Reed, Taylor, Sapp, Shockey (am I missing anyone else?). That's over 20% of that list. It's honestly impressive how far they've fallen.
Lewis was on some mediocre teams. He was a beast. I was stunned that he fell as far as he did in the draft. Sapp is right there with Vick in the category of best performances in a National Championship game in a losing effort. Sapp was spectacular in college.
For every pick that I made, I can probably offer 4-5 alternatives that I wouldn't be opposed to. Even just in Hokie land, if you said Jim Pyne over Jake Grove, I couldn't argue.
If we're going with players we've only seen in person then mine would just be a Best of the ACC/Big East list from 2002-present
I was unclear- TV counts.
Sam Rogers isn't gonna like this...
I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I wouldn't put Sam Rogers in the top 3 fullbacks at VT yet, much less college football. Especially after watching guys like Jarrett Ferguson, Mike Alstott, Cory Schlesinger, and William Floyd... I just can't give him that nod. I love Sam's effort and his ability to do a variety of things, but for me to consider him a great, he has to significantly improve his blocking at the point of attack.
French, you're correct and your list is appropriate. I just saw an opening and took it for fun and entertainment.
Agree on his blocking. Hopefully he is focusing on that improvement.
Keep up the great work keeping us going through the summer football doldrums.
DOUG EASLICK!
Great list. I am a little younger so most of my people are even still playing.
QB- Aaron Rodgers (that Cal team was doo doo and he bested Bud)
Tailback- Reggie Bush
Fullback- Jerett Furgurson
Wide Receiver- Larry Fitzgerald
Wide Receiver- Julio Jones
Tight End- Bucky Hodges
Offensive Tackle- Duane Brown
Guard- Pick a Pouncey
Center- Jake Grove
Guard- Sergio Render (heart pick)
Offensive Tackle- Jake Long
Defensive End- Corey Moore
Defensive Tackle- Suh
Defensive Tackle- Vince Wilfork
Defensive End- J. Clowney
Outside Linebacker- Derrick Johnson
Middle Linebacker- Rolando McClain
Outside Linebacker- Adibi
Corner- DeAngelo Hall
Free Safety- Ed Reed
Strong Safety- Sean Taylor (RIP)
Corner- The Honey Badger
I'm sorry to tell you but several of those are heart picks lol
Sorry but Bucky doesn't deserve to be on that list...
edit: I guess if it's by players you've watched it would be fine.
not yet...
QB editorial- For one year, it is hard to argue with Vince Young or Cam Newton. My favorite guys to watch besides Vick were Phillip Rivers and Jake Plummer.
The 1999 Virginia Tech team
He may be my favorite player but honestly, I would have Kyle Fuller without question. I think on a better team he just gets that much better.
You've got a couple of years on me, and I also assume we're strictly going by collegiate production, right?
Quarterback - Andrew Luck
Running Back - Reggie Bush
Running Back - Todd Gurley
Wide Receiver - Amari Cooper
Wide Receiver - Calvin Johnson
Tight End - Bucky? Gronk?
OLine - I'm not knowledgeable enough about this position to rate each individual, so I'll just collectively say Bama's in 2008 was pretty awesome
Defensive End - Glenn Dorsey
Defensive Tackle - Ndamukong Suh
Defensive Tackle - Terrance Cody?
Defensive End - Chris Long? He was the only reason that Wahoo team was decent
Outside Linebacker - James Laurinaitis
Middle Linebacker - Luke Kuechly
Outside Linebacker - Rey Maualuga
Corner - Kyle Fuller
Free Safety - Tyrann Mathieu
Strong Safety - Eric Berry
Corner - Patrick Peterson
I'm taking Hershel Walker and Bo Jackson as co-TB1, a bad ass O-line and I'm running EVER DAMN DOWN!!!
Everyone else is just gravy.
Agree with Hershel Walker. The guy was unbelievable. My other top RB would be Eric Dickerson. Even though he had to split carries with Craig James, he was incredible to watch.
I'm a bit younger than most guys here, meaning, I didn't really start paying attention to college football until 2000ish range. So.....
Offense
QB: Michael Vick
RB: Adrian Peterson
RB: LaMichael James
WR: Larry Fitzgerald
WR: Julio Jones
TE: Heath Miller (admit it, y'all, He burned our ass's in '03)
LT: DJ Fluker
G: Chance Warmack
C: Barrett Jones
G: Maurkice Pouncey
RT: Duane Brown
Defense:
End: Corey Moore
Tackle: BJ Raji
Tackle: Ndamukong Suh
End: Clowney
OLB: Donte Hightower
MLB: Paul Poszluzny
OLB: Luke Kuechly
CB: Kyle Fuller
FS: Jamie Silva (white boy from BC was a badass manimal in that 2007 season for them)
SS: Mark Barron
CB: Tyrann Mathieu
KR: CJ Spiller
PR: Devin Hester
Man, I wish you guys could have seen Jonathan Odgen playing in college. He was so good pulling from his left tackle spot on counter-trey that he made Karim Abdul Jabbar (who was butts) a 3rd round NFL draft pick.
I graduated from VT in 2001, and I have a brother that went to Auburn, so you'll see the ACC/SEC bias in these picks
QB- Michael Vick
Tailback- McGahee
Fullback- Najeh Davenport
Wide Receiver-Randy Moss (agree with French on this that it isn't even close)
Wide Receiver- Larry Fitzgerald
Tight End- Jeremy Shockey (again, agree with French here that he was loathsome but just unstoppable)
Offensive Tackle- D'Brickishaw Ferguson (dude wasn't the NFL player people thought he should be, but was a dominant college lineman)
Guard- Elton Brown
Center- Jake Grove
Guard- Ben Grubbs
Offensive Tackle- Walter Jones
Defensive End- Corey Moore
Defensive Tackle- Suh
Defensive Tackle- Glenn Dorsey
Defensive End- Dwight Freeney
Outside Linebacker- Takeo Spikes
Middle Linebacker- Jonathan Vilma
Outside Linebacker- Al Wilson
Corner- Charles Woodson
Free Safety- Ed Reed
Strong Safety- Sean Taylor
Corner- Champ Bailey
My main memory of Ferguson was him getting dominated by Darryl Tapp, especially in 2005...
The lack of votes that Adrian Peterson has gotten blows my mind.
For me, it is mostly a byproduct of him either being hurt when I saw Oklahoma games, or have underwhelming games. My list has a clear B1G, Big East, ACC, and SEC bias. I think Steve Emtman is my only PAC guy.
If you guys get board, youtube Steve Emtman. Washington ran the same 4-4 look that Bud Foster's base defense was initially built around. Emtman shows you the possibilities of what an elite DT could do in that system. It is SCARY.
Paging Tim Settle...
im sorry but I have to put peter warrick on this list at WR dude absolutely balled out at FSU! his NFL career was a joke but at FSU he was the 2nd best player in the country and it was closer than us HOKIES like to think he just didn't have the ball in his hands as much as vick did.
Charlie Ward.
Edit: should be on here somewhere.
he is in the discussion, for sure
2005-Present
QB- Andrew Luck
RB- Todd Gurley
RB- La'Michael James
WR- Julio Jones
WR- Mike Evans
WR- Sammy Watkins
TE- BUCKY
OL- Too many interchangeable
DE- Clowney
DE- Kony Ealy
DT- Suh
DT- Nick Fairely
LB- Kyle Van Noy
LB- Barkevious Mingo
LB- Luke Kuechly
CB- Jayron Hosely (2010)
CB- Kendall Fuller
S- Kam Chancellor
S- Eric Berry
Bruce Smith - Defensive Tackle. I was a freshman during his senior season at VT, so I was fortunate enough to see him play in person. I admit that I'm a Hokie football homer, but this isn't a heart pick.
Jim McMahon - QB (honorable mention cause Mike Vick is undisputed #1)
This is the game that turned me into a college football fan. My father and grandfathers only watched pro football, but it was during a Christmas break vacation at my Uncle's house in 1980 when I was 15 y.o. that I became truly enlightened. My Uncle and cousin were hardcore CFB fans so they were watching the bowl games (not nearly so many games back then). I still think this might be the greatest comeback in college football history, and it changed my life.
edit: this is before SMU got the Death Penalty and they had one of the best teams that money could buy.
QB - Michael Vick
RB - Lee Suggs
FB - Sam
Center - Jim Pyne
OT - Dwayne Brown
OT - Orlando Pace
OG - Teller
OG - Got Nothin
WR - Antonio Freeman
TE - Jeff King
TE - Bucky Hodges
WR - Larry Fitzgerald
DE - Corey Moore
DE - Chris Long
DT - David Pugh
DT- Bruce Smith
LB - James Anderson
LB - Cody Grim
LB- Herzlick
FS- Kam Chancellor
CB - Kendall Fuller
CB - Kyle Fuller
SS - Willlie Pile
I think there are too many other ridiculous QBs that would be named before Vick. Guys like Mariota, Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow, or even Kellen Moore have more collegiate accomplishments than Vick did.
Their teams were better but Vick was far superior to any of those you listed.
Mariota had more passing yards in 2 of his 3 seasons than Vick had in his entire college career. Mariota also rushed for more yards in every season than Vick ever did in a season (with more YPC too). Mariota had a significantly higher completion percentage than Vick ever did as well (nearly 10%). On top of that, Vick topped out at 22 TDs (13 pass 9 rush) in a season in his best year, Mariota had literally almost TRIPLE that his last year of college, finishing with 42 pass TDs and 15 rushing TDs.
I really don't see how you can in any way say that Vick was far superior to that when he is bested in literally every catagory.
And with regards to the "better team" argument. I'd say that's also quite bogus. It has no real comparable measures.
This is kind of a ridiculous way of looking at things- they ran completely different offenses in completely different eras. Most notably, Oregon ran 1100 plays last year while Vick ran 1500 plays or so his entire collegiate career. Mariota was a great QB in his own right and certainly better than his predecessors, but consider that Darron Thomas and others had run that offense quite well with gaudy stats. Vick was a complete revelation.
French, your list is Fuller-less. Mama Fuller ain't gonna be happy. Maybe that will change after Kendall leads the country with 46 interceptions this season.
A few to consider
QB - Peyton Manning, Matt Leinert, Vince Young
RB - Ricky Williams and Ron Dayne were great, as was Eddie George
WR - Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson, along with Crabtree
TE - every TE from the U, Heath Miller looked all universe against us
LB - the guy from BC that tackled everything
LB - the guy from BC that tackled everything
Kuechly