SOME COLLEGE COACHES GET LUCKY WITH
RUNNING BACKS
By
Max Emfinger
Super Running
HOUSTON, Texas - In looking back over the years,
Back Emmitt I picked up my 1983 National High School
Smith was an Football Magazine. You remember that year. That
outstanding, young was the year that I had such players as Ryan
Knight, Rodney Peete, David Richards, Chris
tailback from Spielman, Gaston Green, David Williams,
Pensacola Cedric Figaro, Martin Chesley, and Thurman
Escambia, Florida Thomas as my 1983 Coverboys. So how many of
guys were running
who was being thosebut two in 1983. backs? I would say three
now,
recruited by every
team in the COVINGTON, Louisiana - One of the biggest
mysteries of the Universe and in the recruiting
country. The
world is something that, on the surface, should be
Nebraska the simple recruitment of a running back. The
Cornhuskers problem in that assessment is that every college
thought they were coach has his own favorite that he thinks can lead
him to a Championship. Some coaches get real
the perfect fit for lucky when they give a kid a scholarship who is not
him, because he perceived to be the All-American type of back
was a sensational and here is their story.
I-Back tailback. He
decided to stay in
State and signed
with the Florida
Gators. The very
next year, the
Gators changed
their offense to
accomodate his
unique running
skills.
HOUSTON, Texas - In looking back over the years, I picked up my 1983
National High School Football Magazine. You remember that year. That was
the year that I had such players as RB Ryan Knight, QB Rodney Peete, OT
David Richards, LB Chris Spielman, RB Gaston Green, OT David Williams,
LB Cedric Figaro, TE Martin Chesley, and RB Thurman Thomas on the
Cover. So for all of you new recruiting buffs, how many of these 1983
Coverboys were running backs? The answer, of course, is three. That's one-third
and obviously every coach in America is looking for the Franchise running back,
but sometimes a coach gets extremely lucky in recruiting a running back.
One of the most unique players on that list of 1983
Coverboys was Thurman Thomas. Here is what I said about him just before
his senior season in 1983. "Thurman Thomas is a 5-10, 180, and 4.45 All-
Purpose running back. Yes, those are the correct "vital stats" on Mr. Thomas. All
of the so-called national experts that have him listed at 6-2 or 6-1 are simply full
of it. Thurman is still one of the top players in the country and he can kill you in
so many ways. He plays 48-minutes with no breathers and he helped lead his
Fort Bend Willowridge team to a perfect 15-0 record as a junior and the 4A State
Championship. He rushed for 1,556-yards from his fullback position, but he also
returned seven punts for a touchdown. He's a bone-crunching cornerback and at
least two SWC coaches are looking at him to play defense."
A side note here! #1 Ryan Knight and #4 Craig Heyward were the only other
running backs who were originally ranked higher than #14 Thurman Thomas in
my 1983 National Top Fifty. Other running backs in my 1983 National Top
Fifty included #15 Aaron Jenkins, #16 Lars Tate, #20 Kevin Morgan, #31
Gaston Green #41 Wayne Denson, #44 Cleveland Gary, and #46 Eric Ball.
Former Heisman Trophy Winner Rodney Peete was #2 in the 1983 Rankings.
Oklahoma State was extremely lucky in getting Thurman Thomas, and he
became an All-American running back. The Cowboys were even more lucky when
he graduated, because although they didn't know it at the time, they already
had another All-American running back sitting on their bench.
This little skinny kid named Sanders was not heavily recruited in high school. In
fact, he had no offers and no prospects of offers going into National Signing Day.
His best friend had been invited to visit Oklahoma State on the final weekend
before National Signing Date and his best friend asked if he could bring his buddy
along on the trip. The Cowboys really wanted his best friend, who was a big
offensive lineman, but they didn't seem to need this skinny running back.
Both Wichita North players made the trip to Stillwater and had a great visit. On
Monday, the Cowboy coaches called the big offensive lineman to try to persuade
him to sign with them on the following Wednesday and he said that he would if
his skinny friend could also sign. A couple days later, when another running back
who had been committed to the Cowboys changed his mind and signed with
another school, the Cowboy coaches called back and offered the skinny running
back a scholarship.
This Sanders kid had a very interesting high school career. He didn't play much
as a junior, so he never made any recruiting lists. His first attempt at running
back didn't come until the fourth game of his senior year in 1985 at Wichita North
High School in Kansas, but in the final seven games of the season, he rushed for
an amazing 1,322-yards, but still no school had him on their list of running
backs.
Standing at just 5-8, most college coaches thought he was just too small and
although Oklahoma State gave him a chance with his buddy, Sanders spent his
first two years at Oklahoma State as a backup for All-American running back
Thurman Thomas.
"It was a great learning experience," said Sanders, "I could study the great
approach to the game that Thurman had." In his junior year, after Thomas
went to the NFL, Barry Sanders became the starting running back for the
Cowboys and won the Heisman Trophy.
In winning the Heisman Trophy in 1988, Barry Sanders set 25 NCAA records
and averaged 200-yards per game. In addition, he shattered several NCAA single
season and career marks, including leading the nation in rushing yards with
2,628-yards, all purpose yards with 3,249-yards, touchdowns scored at 39 and
posting an all-time rushing record. Do you think that the Oklahoma State coaches
were lucky to have two All-American running backs in two straight years?
Those two lucky players for Oklahoma State will be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
Sanders was selected this year and Thomas will be selected later, but what
about some current running backs?
Back in 1986, a young running back from Pensacola Escambia, Florida was being
recruited by every team in the country and the Nebraska Cornhuskers thought
they were the perfect fit for him, because he was a sensational tailback. He
decided to stay in the State of Florida and he signed with the Florida Gators.
The Gators were running a two-back offense at the start of the season in 1987,
but after a few games, they felt that they should change their offense to utilize
the running skills of this young freshman named Emmitt Smith and he was one
of my 1986 Coverboys.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON EMMITT SMITH
Smith was born to run for 100-yards and a touchdown. As one of
the hottest recruits in the history of the State of Florida, Smith lived up to his
promise and much, much more turning in a stellar career in Gainesville before
leaving early to become the NFL's all-time greatest rusher.
Also, don't forget that Emmitt Smith was a Gator before the Coach Steve
Spurrier era began when Florida was just an average program more known for
being on probation than for winning football games. Smith was the superstar on
some average teams and he still was sensational.
As a freshman Smith made the statement that he thought he could win three
Heisman trophies. He wasn't being cocky when he said it, because he really
believed it and he certainly showed the talent to be the best player in the nation.
If he hadn't left for the NFL, a year early, he would've broken most of the SEC
and all of the Florida rushing records.
Smith never really got the credit as a superstar back playing on a passing team,
and there were questions even before the NFL draft about his speed, size and
durability. He was never flashy, but he simply became one of the best running
backs in NFL history. He was also one of the best running backs to ever play the
college game. I think that what made Emmitt Smith the great back that he still
is at age 36 in the NFL is his unbelievable quickness in hitting the hole. He is
already through the hole before most linebackers even know he has the football.
As a freshman, Smith was named national Freshman Player of the Year and he
finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy as he finished with 1,341-yards and a
121.9 yard per game average. After being injured for most of his sophomore
season, running for only 988-yards and nine touchdowns, Smith exploded as a
junior, running for 1,599-yards, a 145.4-yards per game average, and 14
touchdowns. In the 1988 All-American Bowl, Smith carried the ball 28 times for
159-yards in a win over Illinois. In the 1987 Aloha Bowl, he had 17 carries for
128-yards in a loss to UCLA.
The University of Florida coaches were extremely lucky to get this kid named
Emmitt Smith and he saved their jobs for the three years while he played in
Gainesville. Smith will join Sanders and Thomas in the NFL Hall of Fame.
A few years later in 1993, some strange things took place in the Texas recruiting
wars. My good friend, Spike Dykes, had his best recruiting year ever for his
Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Red Raiders usually have a hard time getting Blue
Chip players to visit the Lubbock campus during dust and rain storms. You do
know that a dust and rain storm is a messy mud storm. I lived in the Lubbock
area (Midland) for two years, so I know what I'm talking about, because I have
been in some mud storms.
But this year, was a little different. The Red Raiders had a great running back in
1993 by the name of Bam Morris, but he was so good, he decided to go to the
NFL one year early, as a junior, leaving a huge void at running back. The best
running back in the State of Texas in 1993 was Byron Hanspard of Desoto so
Coach Dykes started working on him.
Hanspard was the best running back that I saw all season and I drove to Dallas
from Houston to see him play against Dallas Carter when they both were
undefeated in the 5A playoffs. In that game, Hanspard rushed for 218-yards
and Dallas Carter was ranked the #1 defense in the State of Texas.
Hanspard finished his senior season with 2,084-yards and he also scored 34
touchdowns.
During that season, Hanspard was leaning toward Baylor. Then after the season,
he was leaning heavily toward Texas A&M. The Aggies actually thought that they
were going to get him.
The shock of the recruiting season came one morning when at 5:35 A.M., I went
to get the local newspaper stand, so I could get my hot recruiting info and to my
shock, the headlines read HANSPARD TO TEXAS TECH.
He played his senior season in 1993 and he then signed with Texas Tech and
Coach Dykes on National Signing Date in 1994. All of this was a miracle and
obviously some huge luck for Coach Dykes, but now the fun was to begin.
If any college coach can ever sign a running back either knowing or unbeknowing
that he may turn-out to become a Thurman Thomas or a Barry Sanders or an
Emmitt Smith, then he has got to be the luckiest coach in the world in that
recruiting season. The thing that I will never forget about Coach Dykes was that
he knew he had a really Special Player and then when he did not make his grades
and it didn't look like he was going to get into school in the fall, he never gave up
on trying to keep him.
Various Junior Colleges tried to persuade Hanspard all spring and all summer
to sign with them, play two years, and then re-sign with the Red Raiders. Coach
Dykes knew that if he lost him to Junior College, then he might not ever get him
back again, so he persuaded Hanspard not to sign with the Junior Colleges, but
continue to try to get his grades in order and still enter Texas Tech in the fall. It
worked, because he was able to get into school just before the fall classes
started, and it really paid off for everyone!
In 1996, Byron Hanspard was the winner of the Dr Pepper Doak Walker
Running Back Award as the best Running Back in the country.
He was the sixth running back in NCAA history to rush for over 2,000- yards in a
single season. He also set the all-time career and single season rushing
record for Texas Tech, rushing for over 100-yards in 16 straight games and for
more than 200-yards in 5 games in 1996 alone.
Hanspard was also an ordained Pentecostal minister who was actively involved
in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and routinely spoke to church groups and
to school kids about the importance of education, faith and avoiding drugs.
Byron Hanspard cemented his place as the greatest running back in Texas Tech
history and one of the best to ever play college football by reaching the lofty
2,000-yard rushing plateau square on the nose Saturday in the Red Raiders' 56-
21 victory over Southwestern Louisiana.
This junior running back from DeSoto became only the sixth NCAA Division I
runner to reach the coveted milestone, joining Marcus Allen of Southern Cal,
Mike Rozier of Nebraska, Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State, Rashaan Salaam
of Colorado and Troy Davis of Iowa State.
None of the six, however, could have taken less credit for the accomplishment
than Hanspard, whose 257-yard, four-touchdown effort against the Ragin'
Cajuns made him Tech's single-season and career yardage leader with 4,140-
yards, surpassing the 4,066 of James Gray.
"Two thousand yards was a goal I set this year that God blessed me to
accomplish,'' Hanspard said in his usual soft, unassuming tone. "I have to give
God all the praise for giving me the teammates he's surrounded me with ...
mainly my offensive line because they've done a wonderful job of working so
hard.''
A lot of people, including Coach Spike Dykes were extremely lucky to get this
kid from Desoto and he certainly helped Coach Dykes win SWC games for Texas
Tech for the three years that he played for them.
Then in 2000, I went drove to Napoleonville, Louisiana to see a huge running
back and here is what I wrote about him.
Brandon Jacobs (6-5, 235, 4.5) of Assumption High School in Napoleonville,
Louisiana has been a real phenom this season. In his first two football games of
the season, Jacobs served notice of becoming a true super-star, as he rushed for
a whooping 612-yards on 56 carries and averaged a first down (10.93-yards) on
ever carry while scoring seven touchdowns.
It's eleven games later and Jacobs now has rushed for an incredible 2,870
yards, scored 38 touchdowns, and 18 two-point conversions. I believe that
makes 264 points scored for the season as he has led his team to a 13-0 record
and a spot in the 4A Semi-finals on Friday night against four-time defending
State Champ John Curtis. I will be there!
As a junior, Brandon Jacobs rushed for 1,175-yards and scored 10 touchdowns
on 160 carries for a nifty 7.3-yards per carry average. This should have gotten
him on every single recruiting list in the country, but it didn't, for some strange
reason.
Jacobs has obviously not gotten the great publicity that both Marcus Spears
and Michael Clayton have gotten in the state of Louisiana this year, but there
are very few tailbacks in the country who can match his senior stats. Jacobs also
plays in 4A whereas Spears plays in 1A and Clayton plays in 2A. Also, Brandon
Jacobs plays on a pretty good 4A team. Assumption is currently carrying a 22
game District 9-4A win streak.
When you go to see Jacobs play, it's not very hard trying to find out which
player he is. At 6-5, he is at least a head taller than anyone else in his
huddle. Against Plaquemine, who plays a pretty tough defense, his team got the
opening kickoff and they started their first drive from the twenty-yard line. Six
plays later, and in the mud, Jacobs had 80-yards rushing and a touchdown.
He pulled a cramp to start the fourth quarter and came out, not to return. Before
he left the game, he had carried the football on every single play except for three
and he had rushed for 286-yards and four touchdowns.
As a junior, Jacobs was the starting fullback, but his team started out with a 2-3
record and at that point, he was switched to tailback. As the starting tailback, his
team supports an 18-1 record and in the only loss, Brandon got hurt on the first
play and never returned to the game.
If his grades were in order, every team in America would know exactly how to
get to Napoleonville, Louisiana, but Brandon has a slight learning disability and
he has not taken the proper core courses, forcing him to have to go to Junior
College.
Jacobs signed with Auburn coming out of high school, but he did not have his
grades and so he went to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas where he was
a two-time JUCO All-American. After his sophomore year at Coffeyville, he
considered LSU and Auburn again, after considering both coming out of high
school, but both were loaded at running back. LSU had Justin Vincent, Shyrone
Carey, Joseph Addai, and a commitment from Alley Broussard. Auburn
already had Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown, but Jacobs decided to again
cast his lot with the Tigers of Auburn.
Jacobs was probably the best third team running back in the country in 2003,
but not much playing time. In 2003, as a junior, Jacobs rushed for 446-yards on
72 carries, averaging 6.2 yards per carry and scored three touchdowns. Even
after having a sensational spring training in 2004, it was still apparent that he
would remain on the third team and with this in mind, he decided to transfer for
his senior season and so some lucky coach just got himself a potential NFL
#1 Draft Choice.
In December 2001, I watched film on a running back from Dallas Bishop Lynch. I
thought he was fabulous, but he had not made any recruiting lists and there was
only about 45 days until National Signing Date. I tried to get at least three Big-12
teams to look at him, but I could not get any of them to give him an offer.
I lost track of this kid until la couple of years ago when he appeared in his first
game for Louisiana Tech. Coach Jack Bicknell and his staff had gone to Dallas
and snatched him away from the rest of the world without too much fanfare.
Here was a Dallas kid named Ryan Moats who was chosen as the inaugural
winner of The Texas Private School Player of the Year Award. I told everyone who
would listen that this kid was Special, but they all had their preconceived
ideas. He ended his senior season in high school with 2,646-yards and 33
touchdowns on just 287 carries, for an impressive 9.22 yards per carry. He also
ended his career as the school's all-time leading rusher with 4,782-yards in three
seasons. He scored 56 touchdowns and averaged an uncanny 9.7 yards per
carry.
As a freshman for Louisiana Tech, Moats only carried the ball 12 times for 38-
yards, but his sophomore and junior years were a lot different, because the
honors just kept on rolling in. In game #5, he and his Bulldogs beat #17 ranked
Fresno State by a 28-21 score and this All-American candidate rushed for 236-
yards and a career-high four touchdowns. This was his third 200-plus yard
performance of this young junior season. Moats scored on runs of 6, 83, 1 and 8
yards with his 83-yard score late in the third quarter being the third longest run
in Louisiana Tech history.
For his efforts, Moats was named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive
Player of the Week, Collegefootballnews.com WAC Player of the Week and SI.com
National Player of the Week. He was also "mind-boggling" in front of 109,000
screaming Volunteer fans against Tennessee the week before in game #4
before the Fresno State game. I personally think he is a larger version of another
Barry Sanders and he was getting better in each game.
This Doak Walker Award candidate now had 928-yards rushing on the season
after five games or an average of 185.6 yards per game and he trailed only
Texas' Cedric Benson (186.5 ypg). Moats had 928 total rushing yards and this
is by far the most of any Division I player in the country, 176 yards more than
Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams. Moats will, no doubt, help Coach
Jack Bicknell and the Bulldog coaches keep their job for a couple years.
In 2002, I saw another running back that I thought could play for any team in
America. Here is his story:
Jacob Gutierrez (5-8, 170, 4.4) of San Antonio Madison, Texas is one of the
most phenomenal recruiting stories of the year or any year. He is one of the best
little running backs that I have ever seen play, but a lot of schools had backed off
of recruiting him, because of the perception that he was "just too small" to play
Division I football.
It made absolutely no difference to most schools that an Oklahoma All-American
running back by the name of Quentin Griffin was not even as big as Guierrez
was when he came out of high school four years before. All of the "big-time"
college coaches were using their patented "tunnel-vision" recruiting methods of
recruiting Gutierrez and other super players just like him.
Gutierrez should have turned some recruiting heads with his senior season when
he rushed for 1,815-yards, had a nice 9.2 yards per carry average, and scored 25
touchdowns. He already had 2,692 career rushing yards before his senior season
so he finished with 4,507 career yards and 54 touchdowns.
The San Antonio Quarterback Club sure did not use the same "tunnel-vision"
when they made their selection of the Area's finest player. Gutierrez accepted
the San Antonio Quarterback Club Area MVP Trophy.
One of the reasons that the Oklahoma Sooners are at the top of the College
football world is their ability to judge talent and not be afraid to make a decision
based on what they see on film.
Everyone knows about Quentin Griffin now, but another one was Josh Heupel,
who was an obscure Junior College quarterback who eventually was a Heisman
Trophy runner-up. The recruiting world did not have Griffin or Heupel rated
very high, but the Sooner coaches saw something in them that told them to
recruit them. It was basically the intangibles that surrounded them.
On Thursday, a week before National Signing Date, Sooner Super recruiter
Bobby Jack Wright was getting ready to board a plane when he got a call from
Head Coach Bob Stoops on his cell phone. The conversation went something
like this: "Have you seen the latest highlight on the Madison running back," said
Coach Stoops. "Yeah, I've been telling you about him all year," said Coach
Wright.
"Cancel your flight and go see Coach Jim Streety and Jacob Gutierrez at
Madison High School," said Stoops.
Wright cancelled his flight to Houston and went straight to San Antonio Madison
and offered Gutierrez a scholarship and he accepted. Within the next six hours,
and after the coaching world started to buzz about the verbal, Gutierrez had six
more scholarship offers, including Kansas, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and
Wisconsin.
Gutierrez could become another Sooner All-American running back before he is
through. He will also play against a lot of teams that thought that he was "just
too-small" to play for their team.
With true freshman running back Adrian Peterson running wild this year, we
might forget this other kid named Gutierrez, who is a red-shirt freshman right
now until some game in the future when he gets his big break and gets a chance
to play. Gutierrez bench pressed over 400-pounds last spring.
Two years ago, I saw film early on this East Texas running back.
CLICK HERE!
In 2003, I rated this Longview Spring Hill player extremely high, but he never did
make the major recruiting lists and he finally signed with North Texas. Patrick
Cobbs was an All-American running back for the Mean Green in 2003, so there
did not seem to be a chance for this true freshman to get much playing time in
2004.
A couple of weeks into the season, Cobbs was injured and so this true freshman
named Jamario Thomas was not only given a chance to play, but he was given
a chance to play most of the game against Big-12 power, Colorado.
Thomas responded by rushing for 247-yards and he scored two touchdowns, but
the Mean Green were still unable to hold off the Buffs in a 52-21 loss at Folsom
Field in Colorado.
In that game, Thomas set a North Texas record with the top performance by a
freshman running back with 247-yards in the game, including 12 carries for 115
yards in the first quarter. Bernard Jackson previously held that freshman record
with 207 rushing yards against UT-Arlington on September 16, 1978. Thomas
was two yards shy of tying the North Texas single-game rushing record of 249,
set by Patrick Cobbs the year before against Idaho.
In the next game, Cobbs played, but he got hurt again and then the very next
game, as Thomas got the start again, he rushed for 179-yards and two
touchdowns and they beat Middle Tennessee by a 30-21 score. A few days
later, Cobbs applied for a medical red-shirt, leaving his running back spot to an
All-American freshman running back who got his break and took full advantage of
it.
I would say that Coach Darrell Dicky of North Texas was a lucky coach in 2003!
I wonder who will be the lucky coach next?
CHECK OUT THESE SPEED RUNNING BACKS
CHECK OUT THESE POWER RUNNING BACKS
In 2005, where would the 7-4 Rutgers be without their true-freshman All-
American running back Ray Rice. And then in 2006, sporting a 9-0 record and
ranked #7 in the country, where would they be without the heroics of Rice?
In 2006, Rice was ranked third nationally in rushing
(148.2 ypc) and was tied for third in the nation in scoring (10.0 ppg). He had
1,334 yards and averages 5.4 yards per carry.
Rice saved his best football in 2006 for the biggest games of the season and in
the fourth quarter of play. Rice had rushed for 379 yards on 60 carries in the
fourth quarter in that season, including two touchdowns. He was averaging 6.3
yards per carry in the fourth quarter of play and he had recorded five runs of 20-
yards or longer in the final period.
Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano built a fabulous defensive unit in the last
two years for the Scarlet Knights, but where would Rutgers be with Ray Rice?
The Walter Camp Football Foundation announced Rice as one of the 10
"Players to Watch" for its 2006 Player of the Year award.
Rice, a lightly recruited running back out of New York, was also announced as a
semi-finalist for the Doak Walker Award as the Top running Back in the
country.