Best football player you have ever seen?

[pamdlion]

Lavar. I thought Billy Sims was a great player. Drew Bledsoe was the best college qb I’ve seen. Jerome Brown against PSU in the Fiesta Bowl was the best individual performance ever.

Vinny Testaverde had the best performance ever.

 

[Marshall2323]

Have a friend who coached basketball at Auburn. He asked me to show some boosters a good time when they came north for the Kickoff Classic. I can't remember if it was 1982,3 or 4. Anyway I took them on a tour of West Point and arranged a nice dinner for them. When I took them back to their hotel they insisted that I meet " their boy" Bo. The words made me uncomfortable, but they were in their own way sincere in their love for young Bo.No one knew who Bo Jackson was yet. He was a very nice young man and I've never seen a physical specimen like Bo. He was kind enough to send me 3 or 4 autographed cards that were distributed weekly by the SID during his Heisman year. I was still coaching and on each card was a message congratulating me on a recent win. Pretty cool.

 

[MrTailgate]

I did not watch football as a youngin, so I can’t say Jim Brown. The first college player I saw that made me sit up and take notice was OJ. Hershel Walker was a beast. Bo was a monster. Defensively, it would have to be LT.

One guy not mentioned that I found constantly entertaining was Randle-El. Obviously not the best but he was a handful; I found myself watching him every play when I saw him live.

 

[bbrown]

Have a friend who coached basketball at Auburn. He asked me to show some boosters a good time when they came north for the Kickoff Classic. I can't remember if it was 1982,3 or 4. Anyway I took them on a tour of West Point and arranged a nice dinner for them. When I took them back to their hotel they insisted that I meet " their boy" Bo. The words made me uncomfortable, but they were in their own way sincere in their love for young Bo.No one knew who Bo Jackson was yet. He was a very nice young man and I've never seen a physical specimen like Bo. He was kind enough to send me 3 or 4 autographed cards that were distributed weekly by the SID during his Heisman year. I was still coaching and on each card was a message congratulating me on a recent win. Pretty cool.

Great Story. Bo was one of a kind. The catch he made while running up the outfield wall and then almost parallel to the ground to catch a deep fly was jaw dropping and then him bowling over the Boz on a long TD run was equally jaw dropping.
One of my favorites as well. Also just seemed really likable.

 

[Marshall2323]

Great Story. Bo was one of a kind. The catch he made while running up the outfield wall and then almost parallel to the ground to catch a deep fly was jaw dropping and then him bowling over the Boz on a long TD run was equally jaw dropping.
One of my favorites as well. Also just seemed really likable.

While waiting for Bo, the boosters brought Pat Sullivan over and introduced us. For a high school coach it was a pretty nice day to meet a Heisman winner and a future Heisman winner on the same day.

 

[Midnighter]

Randy Moss. Went 1300+ yards and 17 TDs as a rookie. Unreal talent.

EDIT: Also, 21st pick in the draft. LOL.

 

[PSUQbKeeper]

there's a cool story out there about Bo Jackson, by a guy who was on the swimming and diving team at Auburn when Bo was filming "Bo knows" commercials

found it, there are a couple versions but essentially the same thing

 

[Marshall2323]

Great Story. Bo was one of a kind. The catch he made while running up the outfield wall and then almost parallel to the ground to catch a deep fly was jaw dropping and then him bowling over the Boz on a long TD run was equally jaw dropping.
One of my favorites as well. Also just seemed really likable.

According to my friend who new him well...he was a fine young man...Who incidentally loved and took care of his Mother. An essentially shy person who overcame a severe handicap (speech).

 

[MtNittany]

In person: Never saw Reid in person. Randy White from MD was a beast. Got to see a lot of Curt, so Curt is my answer.

On the tube: Probably LT or maybe Montana.

 

[PhillyBillyReprise]

Saquon Barkley

 

[Marshall2323]

In person: Never saw Reid in person. Randy White from MD was a beast. Got to see a lot of Curt, so Curt is my answer.

On the tube: Probably LT or maybe Montana.

Love these discussions names come up that I have not heard or thought of for many years. Randy White's DL coach at Maryland was Gib Romaine. Gibby was a Port Jervis, NY grad as well as a player at East Stroudsburg. He was one of my coaches at Mansfield 68-69 before he went on to much bigger things. Whenever I saw him on the recruiting trail or at a coaches clinic, I'd ask him who was the better player....me or White. He'd say that I had a bigger impact on his coaching career because I made him realize there was no future in coaching guys like me at Mansfield.