Athlon just put out their Top 50 players of the last 50 years (link below if interested). Hard to go that far back but post your top 5 players of the past decade: 1. Tim Tebow - I hated the Tebow hype train as much as anyone but can't dispute his accomplishments. Like a lot of the of other guys on my list, he was must watch t.v. at the time. 2× BCS national champion (2006, 2008) 2× SEC champion (2006, 2008) 2× SEC Player of the Year (2008, 2009) Manning Award (2008) 2× Maxwell Award (2007, 2008) Heisman Trophy (2007) Davey O'Brien Award (2007)[1] AP Player of the Year (2007)[2] Sporting News Player of the Year (2007) 2× First-team All-American (2007, 2008) Second-team All-American (2009) 3× First-team All-SEC (2007–2009) 2. Cam Newton - One year wonder (college wise) but accomplished pretty much everything you could do in that span. 51 Total Touchdowns, National Champion, and undefeated as a starter. BCS national champion (2010) SEC champion (2010) Heisman Trophy (2010) Maxwell Award (2010) Walter Camp Award (2010) Davey O'Brien Award (2010) AP College Player of the Year (2010) Sporting News College Player of the Year (2010) Consensus All-American (2010) First-team All-SEC (2010) 3. Jameis Winston – National Champion, Heisman, 26-1 as a starter, etc…Like Cam, accomplished pretty much everything you can do. Heisman Trophy (2013) Walter Camp Award (2013) Manning Award (2013) Archie Griffin Award (2013) Davey O'Brien Award (2013) BCS national champion (2013) AP College Player of the Year (2013) Sporting News College Player of the Year (2013) Consensus All-American (2013) 3. Robert Griffin III – Honestly you could make the case that Griffin is #1 based purely on winning the Heisman and beating #5 OU while playing at was once the Top 5 worst college football programs in history. Heisman Trophy (2011) Davey O'Brien Award (2011) Manning Award (2011) Chic Harley Award (2011) AP Player of the Year (2011) Sporting News Player of the Year (2011) Consensus All-American (2011) First-team All-Big 12 (2011) 4. Ndamukong Suh - Probably could have put Deshaun Watson in this spot but Suh is by far the most dominating non-offensive player I’ve ever seen. Had 85 tackles, 12 quarterback sacks, 28 quarterback hurries, 24 tackles for loss, 10 pass breakups, 3 blocked kicks, and 1 interception in 2009 and capped by one of the best single game performances I’ve ever witnessed (12 tackles – 7 for loss and 4.5 sacks) against Texas in the Big 12 Championship game. Outland Trophy (2009) Lombardi Award (2009) Bronko Nagurski Trophy (2009) Chuck Bednarik Award (2009) Bill Willis Trophy (2009) AP Player of the Year (2009) Unanimous All-American (2009) 5. Deshaun Watson – Took Clemson to 2 National Championships, 28-2 as a starter capped by one of the greatest National Championship performances in history. Hard to argue this one. CFP national champion (2016) Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (2016) 2× Davey O'Brien Award (2015, 2016) 2× Manning Award (2015, 2016) ACC Player of the Year (2015) ACC Offensive Player of the Year (2015) Consensus All-American (2015) Honorable Mention: Colt McCoy, Johnny Manziel, Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffrey, Marcus Mariota, Nick Fairley https://athlonsports.com/college-football/top-50-college-football-players-athlon-era
suh was a terror in college. i remmeber watching that nebraska defense thinking it was full of nfl starters
Suh definitely did some WILD stuff. Who was the last player on defense to have that big of an impact? Derrick Johnson maybe?
Watching Suh toss around UT lineman like rag dolls was something to see. Him and DJ were a cut above the rest. At WR, I'd have to add Julio Jones and Amari Cooper to the list.
Cam Newton was the only one on that list that could win by himself. Auburn was a horrible team except for him.
Man, it's HARD to ball off from the WR position in college, you're bound to have down games, regardless of it's your fault or not.
Charles Rogers was a total bust in the NFL, but he took over games at Michigan State. Best college WR I've ever seen against bigtime competition (i.e. not Randy Moss).
Ya the spread makes it a little harder for one guy to dominate week after week which made Cooper's 1700+ yards 16 TDs even more impressive IMO. Athlon has 4 WRs in their Top 50, only 1 from the past 20 years. Most were before my college football watching days but the stats are ridiculous: 22. Randy Moss WR, Marshall, 1996-97 (1,820 yards 26 TDs) 23. Larry Fitzgerald WR, Pittsburgh, 2002-03 (2,677 yards 34 TDs) 35. Jerry Rice WR, Mississippi Valley State, 1981-84 (4,693 yards 50 TDs) 50. Desmond Howard WR/KR, Michigan, 1989-91 (2,146 yards 37 Total TDs)
He missed the 10 year mark, but VY is no 8 in their rankings: 8. Vince Young QB, Texas, 2003-05 Young authored arguably the greatest big-game performance in college football history — his 467-yard, three-touchdown outing in Texas’ 41–38 win over USC in the Rose Bowl that gave the Horns the 2005 national title. But Young was far from a one-game wonder, passing for 6,040 yards, rushing for 3,127 and accounting for 81 touchdowns in three seasons. In Young’s last two years in Austin, he led Texas to a 24–1 record, with two legendary Rose Bowl performances that yielded a combined 839 yards and eight touchdowns.
The play I remember most was when UT was about to lose to Kansas and ruin their ENTIRE season, it's like 4th and 30, and VY's dumbass decides to SCRAMBLE for the first (WTF?) - but then he actually GETS IT SOMEHOW. That video says 4th and 18, but I remember it as 4th and 85.
I dunno about players overall, but QBs there were lots of must-see TV guys... Case Keenum, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel, RG3... when those guys had the ball it was edge of your seat type stuff. Winston and Tebow I never really found that compelling.