Top TWO greatest Longhorn players in your lifetime?

[doc longhorn]

I made it two so no one has an easy out.  You actually have to THINK about these guys and you can't just throw out a litany of great players.  I'll go even further, in my case, and say Earl Campbell was the GREATEST player I've ever seen - and he proved it in the NFL with one of the sorriest teams in the league.   And if Ricky was on Earl's team, Ricky would be riding the pines.

I don't have to explain my second pick.

EARL CAMPBELL

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEEQtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTRslKY04CIQ&ei=HMs-U4iDK-GgsQTzzIHQAw&usg=AFQjCNEQhHjts2fJ5NKbAb-IvSqLKW6JDg&sig2=fK25UyAkw_DX-vZhrKA9yA&bvm=bv.64125504,d.cWc&cad=rja

VINCE YOUNG

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DXk7EDQ_UBjw&ei=a84-U5XdMrDJsQSftILQCQ&usg=AFQjCNElfCiQvO2iSlxZRcflVJFnO5kWOw&sig2=jDekW9zA-gOpt1RSOh6fKw&bvm=bv.64125504,d.cWc

 

[JimR]

Earl Campbell

Tommy Nobis

 

[streettopeschel]

Earl took a team with a walk-on QB to the brink of a NC. and he was good enough to do it my FR year on the 40 so he'll always be #1 to me.

And VY has to be the other. i was alive when nobis played but very young and have no memory of him.

All due respect to ricky, i don't see how anybody who saw earl and VY could answer anybody else.

and if SFgirl asks 'who is earl campbell' she oughta be perma-banned.

 

[BevoBlake]

Wasn't alive for Earl, so I have to go with Ricky and Vince.

 

[BevosEgo]

Wasn't alive for Earl, so I have to go with Ricky and Vince.

 +1

 

[Bear19]

Tyler Rose

Vince

 

[Juan]

It is probably because of my age at the time, but Earl has no peers.

You had to see him live and up close to fully appreciate everything he brought.

 

[Topstarr]

Earl & David Balew

 

[bcherry168]

Bobby Layne and Earl Campbell.

Tommy Nobis a close third, followed by Vince Young.

These guys could all just take over a game. Not many of those, but Texas has had their share.

Too many really great ones from different eras. It is hard to compare players whose play on the field was 50 or 60 years apart. Great players from the 1940's probably couldn't make the JV now.....but they were great players.

Who is going to be the next "great" player from Texas? Is he on the roster yet?

No, unfortunately. But he will come.

 

[doc longhorn]

It is probably because of my age at the time, but Earl has no peers.

You had to see him live and up close to fully appreciate everything he brought.

LOL!  This is a TRUE Heisman pose.

I have a little true story about Earl that I will relate.  You'll like this because it's at the expense of the ags.

Many, many years ago, the love of my life and I were driving to Houston after visiting my family in Fort Worth.  As it turned out UT was playing TAMU at Kyle field, that day, and were handily trouncing them.  Knowing aggys like I do, I told her that we could get to CS about halftime and get a couple of free ticket stubs from the aggys streaming out of the satium.  Sure enough, we did get to CS and did get the stubs.  As it turned out, when we walked in the gate, we simply walked to the sidelines beside the aggy bench - a unique experience.  The half had just started and Texas was driving.  UT huddled and they were close enough for us to hear them haw hawing about something.  The aggys coaches heads just dropped, by-the-way.

UT was about at the 15 yard line and called a sweep pitch to The Rose.  Some aggy knocked him off balance and he stumbled through the end zone right into Bevo.   That 2,000 lb. Longhorn steer grunted, farted and moved a couple of steps.  This is a true story I was there and heard it myself.  Even the aggies laughed.

 

[doc longhorn]

Bobby Layne and Earl Campbell.

Tommy Nobis a close third, followed by Vince Young.

These guys could all just take over a game. Not many of those, but Texas has had their share.

Too many really great ones from different eras. It is hard to compare players whose play on the field was 50 or 60 years apart. Great players from the 1940's probably couldn't make the JV now.....but they were great players.

Who is going to be the next "great" player from Texas? Is he on the roster yet?

No, unfortunately. But he will come.

I actually saw Bobby Layne play his senior year.  I was but a tad and my parents really took me to the game so I could see my hero, Doak Walker, play for SMU.

I think a good way to look at your two choices is to consider them playing today.  Who could beat them out and I mean on any team in America - never mind UT?

I considered Nobis as well, but it's hard to define a defensive player as a game breaker - no matter how good they are.

DKR said he only recruited two players that could have gone straight from high school to the NFL - Nobis and Earl.

 

[utisdabomb12]

Ricky Williams is the  best collegiate football player I've ever seen, so he's number one and it's not even close. 

Number two would most likely be Vince Young. With that said, Roy Williams is probably a name that's overlooked. One of the best receivers to ever come out of the 40 Acres. 

 

[JimsTexas]

I made it two so no one has an easy out.  You actually have to THINK about these guys and you can't just throw out a litany of great players.  I'll go even further, in my case, and say Earl Campbell was the GREATEST player I've ever seen - and he proved it in the NFL with one of the sorriest teams in the league.   And if Ricky was on Earl's team, Ricky would be riding the pines.

I don't have to explain my second pick.

EARL CAMPBELL

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEEQtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTRslKY04CIQ&ei=HMs-U4iDK-GgsQTzzIHQAw&usg=AFQjCNEQhHjts2fJ5NKbAb-IvSqLKW6JDg&sig2=fK25UyAkw_DX-vZhrKA9yA&bvm=bv.64125504,d.cWc&cad=rja

VINCE YOUNG

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DXk7EDQ_UBjw&ei=a84-U5XdMrDJsQSftILQCQ&usg=AFQjCNElfCiQvO2iSlxZRcflVJFnO5kWOw&sig2=jDekW9zA-gOpt1RSOh6fKw&bvm=bv.64125504,d.cWc

I have to say

Earl Campbell Tommy Nobis

If you never seen these two play football you have missed a real treat.

My friends y'all have a great weekend.

 

[JimR]

Bobby Layne and Earl Campbell.

Tommy Nobis a close third, followed by Vince Young.

These guys could all just take over a game. Not many of those, but Texas has had their share.

Too many really great ones from different eras. It is hard to compare players whose play on the field was 50 or 60 years apart. Great players from the 1940's probably couldn't make the JV now.....but they were great players.

Who is going to be the next "great" player from Texas? Is he on the roster yet?

No, unfortunately. But he will come.

I actually saw Bobby Layne play his senior year.  I was but a tad and my parents really took me to the game so I could see my hero, Doak Walker, play for SMU.

I think a good way to look at your two choices is to consider them playing today.  Who could beat them out and I mean on any team in America - never mind UT?

I considered Nobis as well, but it's hard to define a defensive player as a game breaker - no matter how good they are.

DKR said he only recruited two players that could have gone straight from high school to the NFL - Nobis and Earl.

Nobis was a two-way player. that is why I picked him. he was an OG, and a good one.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

I've been around since '68 and the greatness that is Earl Campbell, but surprisingly never watched him play for UT.  Therefore, I've gotta go with

1. Vince Young

2. Ricky Williams/Derrick Johnson (tie)

 

[Darrell McPhaul]

Earl & Eric Metcalf were the best I have seen and I have seen just about every game since 1968.

 

[BudreauReye]

Nobis was a two-way player. that is why I picked him. he was an OG, and a good one.

He was good on offense, but he was phenomenal as a middle linebacker.  I may be looking through burnt orange tinted glasses. but I think he was the first of the prototypical large middle linebackers who could not only stuff the run up the middle, but could also pursue from sideline to sideline.

Earl would have to be my other one.  I was in graduate school when he was here.  In a laugher of a game against Rice, he took a screen pass and with a forward lean lower than the one in the picture above, flattened the defensive back that dared to get in front of him and ran in untouched from seventy some odd yards out - with no other defender within twenty yards of him.  Earl was a brutal runner, but he was fast too, when he needed to be.  In this case, though, I am not so sure it was his speed.  I think maybe the other Rice defenders just did not want to get too close to him.  Earl was one of a kind.  He could bruise them up like Steve Worster, and put moves on them like Jim Bertelsen - two other favorite Horns of mine.

Also, I think that Daje should watch some film of Eric Metcalf.

 

[Lukus Alderman]

Wasn't alive for Earl, so I have to go with Ricky and Vince.

This for me as well.

 

[doc longhorn]

He was good on offense, but he was phenomenal as a middle linebacker.  I may be looking through burnt orange tinted glasses. but I think he was the first of the prototypical large middle linebackers who could not only stuff the run up the middle, but could also pursue from sideline to sideline.

Earl would have to be my other one.  I was in graduate school when he was here.  In a laugher of a game against Rice, he took a screen pass and with a forward lean lower than the one in the picture above, flattened the defensive back that dared to get in front of him and ran in untouched from seventy some odd yards out - with no other defender within twenty yard of him.  Earl was a brutal runner, but he was fast too, when he needed to be.  In this case, though, I am not so sure it was his speed.  I think maybe the other Rive defenders just did not want to get too close to him.  Earl was one of a kind.  He could bruise them up like Steve Worster, and put moves on them like Jim Bertelsen - two other favorite Horns of mine.

Also, I think that Daje should watch some film of Eric Metcalf.

A lot of people don't know that Earl played LB for Texas a couple of times.  It sounds like you were from the same era and if you think Daje should watch Metcalfs films, you surely would like him to watch Jimmy Saxtons films.