With my list I was trying to recognize some old timers that many did not know. Texas has had many really great players across the decades, and it is really not fair to any of them to try to compare players like Hub Bechtol with those from the last decade. Kids now are bigger, stronger and faster than back then, and have come up in high school programs that are much better than any of the colleges in the 1940s.
I can remember back in the day when weightlifting was discouraged because it allegedly would cause one to be "muscle-bound." A lot of the practices back then have been found to be inappropriate, or harmful. We have learned a lot over the years, and the quality of play has benefitted greatly.
I would suggest a better way to compare is to have all decade picks from the last 7 decades. That would be much fairer.
I can remember one player from the 40s that was a good friend of mine. Vic Vasicek played guard...both ways. After his years at Texas, he had several years with the Los Angeles Rams. In all of the years I knew him (and that includes his playing time) I do not believe his weight ever exceeded 200 lbs., at least not by much. Back then, a kid that weighed over 200 was big. Now look at these high school kids that weigh over 300 and can move well. Amazing to me.
