- Publish date:
BIG MEN ON CAMPUS
IT'S NOT AS EASYAS IT LOOKS, this business of selecting the cream of the college football crop,position by position, offense and defense and specialists, from the sport'searliest days right up to the 2008 BCS title game. For starters, the athleteswho labored in the eras before free substitutions and platoons were playing adifferent game. And as if it weren't tough enough to compare players fromvastly different eras, we made the job even tougher by limiting our selectionsto one player per school. Who, for instance, would you take from Illinois: RedGrange or Dick Butkus? Who from Alabama: Don Hutson or John Hannah or Lee RoyJordan? Which USC tailback—if, indeed, you chose a Trojans tailback over RonnieLott or Ron Yary? Which Syracuse running back? Which Penn State linebacker? Doyou tap Nebraska's fabled center Dave Rimington or the magical Johnny Rodgers?Fully aware of the minefield we were about to cross but nonetheless undaunted,we polled more than two dozen current and former SI football writers andeditors, then tabulated their votes, argued among ourselves and made the final,painful cuts. The arguments will no doubt continue. But before considering anysubstitutions, feast your eyes on the group portrait painted by one ofAmerica's foremost illustrators and, only then, think about which guys you'dcut out of the picture to open up spots on a pretty fair football team.
EXCERPTED FROMTHE COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOOK
SI's 296-page celebration, in words and pictures, on sale in bookstoresnationwide and at si.com/collegefootballbook.
Glenn Davis
BACK
Army 1943--46
Jerry Rice
END
Mississippi Valley State 1981--84
ChuckBednarik
CENTER/LINEBACKER
Penn 1945--48
Red Grange
BACK
Illinois 1923--25
Leon Hart
END
Notre Dame 1946--49
Orlando Pace
TACKLE
Ohio State 1994--96
Jim Brown
BACK
Syracuse 1954--56
Sammy Baugh
BACK/PUNTER
TCU 1934--36
Knute Rockne
COACH
Notre Dame 1918--30
HerschelWalker
BACK
Georgia 1980--82
John Hannah
GUARD-TACKLE
Alabama 1970--72
PudgeHeffelfinger
GUARD
Yale 1888--91
Ron Yary
TACKLE
USC 1965--67
CharlesWoodson
DEFENSIVEBACK/END
Michigan 1995--97
Jack Ham
LINEBACKER
Penn State 1968--70
Paul (Bear)Bryant
COACH
Alabama 1958--82
Kenny Easley
DEFENSIVE BACK
UCLA 1977--80
Lee RoySelmon
DEFENSIVETACKLE
Oklahoma 1972--75
Bubba Smith
DEFENSIVE END
Michigan State 1964--66
BronkoNagurski
BACK/TACKLE
Minnesota 1927--29
Jim Thorpe
BACK
Carlisle 1907--08, '11--12
Hugh Green
DEFENSIVE END
Pittsburgh 1977--80
Tommy Nobis
LINEBACKER
Texas 1963--65
Deion Sanders
DEFENSIVE BACK
Florida State 1985--88
Doak Walker
BACK/KICKER
SMU 1945, '47--49
LawrenceTaylor
LINEBACKER
North Carolina 1977--80
Gale Sayers
BACK/RETURNER
Kansas 1962--64
JohnnyRodgers
RETURNER/END
Nebraska 1970--72
ILLUSTRATION
ILLUSTRATION BY C.F. PAYNE
