Great Gator Running Backs

AlexDaGator

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Looks like we've got a nice stable of running backs this year. Makes me think of some of the greats from our past.

I put Emmitt at the top of the list but there is lots of room for argument after him. Fred Taylor, Neal Anderson, Nat Moore, Errict Rhett, John L. Williams, Larry Smith, Jimmy Dubose, James Jones, Tony Green, Rick Casares, Larry Dupree. You can legitimately throw in Percy Harvin and Tim Tebow as well purely on their rushing stats. Maybe for some of you it was the guys who played when you were a student, Ciatrick Faison or Earnest Graham or somebody else not at the top of most "greatest" lists.

Share some of your memories.

As a student, my best Gator running back memories are indelibly tied to one Errict Undra Rhett. Dude was phenomenally well conditioned and solid muscle from head to toe. He hit like concrete. Spurrier used the Fun and Gun to get ahead, lots of draws early in the game (and ERhett ran those beautifully). Then in the second half, Spurrier gave ERhett the ball to put the game away. You'd see ERhett in the second half, jawing, talking trash to the defenders, telling them he was coming for them and they couldn't stop him. Nothing complicated. Lots of stuff inside the tackle box. His head would start bobbing, that's how you knew he was in his zone. The plays would end with his helmet in front of the defenders' helmets. He dished out plenty of punishment and defenders weren't all that motivated to get in his way, especially if we had a 4 touchdown lead. He was a crazy dude but the OL loved blocking for him. His gains would get longer and longer as the game wore on, 8 yards, 10 yards, 16 yards, 23 yards, then he'd pop it for a touchdown and throw up the Q dog sign. There was a stat about Spurrier being like 28-1 when he had a back go for a 100 yards and that was mostly ERhett. Loved watching that guy run.

Gotta give Fred Taylor a shout too. Spurrier loved Danny so much, I'm not sure he really appreciated how good Fred Taylor really was until the second half of the 1997 season. You guys remember undefeated FSU coming into the Swamp that year with the best rushing defense in the land. We remember rotating quarterbacks but it was Fred Taylor that utterly destroyed them that night. He had power like ERhett, but coupled it with incredible speed and acceleration.

Alex.
 

TheDouglas78

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Emmitt in my lifetime was the best Gator Running back.

In my opinion Anderson doesn't get the love that he deserves, and Spurrier had a number of really quality guys at running back that were never given the credit they would have gotten elsewhere. Rhett, Taylor, Jackson, Williams, Graham, etc... it was almost plug in play at tailback under Spurrier due to the talent we had at the position.
 

Gator Fever

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I would probably put Rhett 2nd in front of Taylor because Taylor missed too much time due to injuries.
 

TheDouglas78

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Gator Fever said:
I would probably put Rhett 2nd in front of Taylor because Taylor missed too much time due to injuries.
Rhett was the most durable running back we have had since Emmitt.
 

JC_Gator

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I am not saying he is in the top 5, but Gillislee was a 1000 yard back and contributed a lot in the 2012 season. His name should be mentioned somewhere in the list maybe in the 10-15 range.
 

ufgator812

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"~~Looks like we've got a nice stable of running backs this year. Makes me think of some of the greats from our past."

I'm sorry but none of the current group remind me (YET) of any of the greats you mentioned. Maybe Octavius Gould or Eugene McCaslin are better examples to this point.
 

deuce

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Neil Anderson, Larry Smith, Rick Casares.... Emmitt and Rick are in the NFL Hall of Fame, that should clear up things.
 

oxrageous

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This is just a reminder that I love each and every one of you.
 

ufgator812

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:lies:

I just wanted to use this.
 

Swamp Donkey

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AlexDaGator;n8710 said:
You can legitimately throw in Percy Harvin and Tim Tebow as well purely on their rushing stats.
Tebow of course. Percy? Sorry but he averaged about 600 yards rushing. That isn't even close. I don't give asterisks for limited production due to marijuana suspensions.
 

oxrageous

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oxrageous said:
This is just a reminder that I love each and every one of you.
This was the first post ever from ForumRunner. A little testing.
 

MJMGator

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ES was the greatest, but James Jones was my favorite. I still remember that one-handed snag for the TD against scUM.
 

AlexDaGator

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I'm not asking you for your top 5 or top 10...I'm asking about your memories. Ciatrick Faison slithering through the FSU defense to inaugurate Ron Zook Field. Emmitt breaking out for 200 plus on the road at Alabama in the second game of his true freshman season. ERhett stomping a mud hole in an undefeated West Virginia team in the Sugar Bowl. Gillislee taking the heart out of LSU running behind an unbalanced 7 man line. Terry Jackson diving into the endzone to ice our first National Championship against our arch-rival in the Sugar Bowl. Fred Taylor running over, through, around, and past Penn State in the Citrus Bowl. Tebow carrying half the FSU defense into the wet endzone and coming up looking like a red Braveheart.

Alex.
 

AlexDaGator

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ufgator812;n8760 said:
"~~Looks like we've got a nice stable of running backs this year. Makes me think of some of the greats from our past."

I'm sorry but none of the current group remind me (YET) of any of the greats you mentioned. Maybe Octavius Gould or Eugene McCaslin are better examples to this point.

Whoa...I'm not putting any of these kids on the Ring of Honor just yet. I'm saying it looks like we have a nice group and that makes me think of past Gator greats. It's the offseason. This is the time to fondly revisit those memories. As for this bunch...I hope they turn out to be a great backfield. Right now, they're not even Eugene McCaslin. They're more Tony Davis, Terrence Foy, Tyrone Baker, and Jimtavis Walker (at least on the field).

Alex.
 

Swamp Donkey

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ufgator812 said:
"~~Looks like we've got a nice stable of running backs this year. Makes me think of some of the greats from our past."

I'm sorry but none of the current group remind me (YET) of any of the greats you mentioned. Maybe Octavius Gould or Eugene McCaslin are better examples to this point.
McCaslin was a decent LB and he'd start at MLB on our current team IMO.
 

Swamp Donkey

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AlexDaGator;n8710 said:
Looks like we've got a nice stable of running backs this year. Makes me think of some of the greats from our past
Taylor showed flashes of "IT" once he overcame the adversity on the coaching staff.

I'm a big Adam Lane fan. He'd be great running behind Joyer in a power offense, but I'm not sure how he's going to be running in a sideways offense. We'll see soon enough I guess.

Jones is a receiver and Mack Brown is mediocre at best. Each have about 600 yards for their career.

It's stable, and it's better than what we've had in the past--at least we aren't going to be playing walkons or 5th string DBs-- but we have far more question marks and guys who have potential rather than a proven past.
 

oxrageous

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AlexDaGator said:
ufgator812;n8760 said:
"~~Looks like we've got a nice stable of running backs this year. Makes me think of some of the greats from our past."

I'm sorry but none of the current group remind me (YET) of any of the greats you mentioned. Maybe Octavius Gould or Eugene McCaslin are better examples to this point.

Whoa...I'm not putting any of these kids on the Ring of Honor just yet. I'm saying it looks like we have a nice group and that makes me think of past Gator greats. It's the offseason. This is the time to fondly revisit those memories. As for this bunch...I hope they turn out to be a great backfield. Right now, they're not even Eugene McCaslin. They're more Tony Davis, Terrence Foy, Tyrone Baker, and Jimtavis Walker (at least on the field).

Alex.
I was at Buchholz High School when Tyrone Baker was an unstoppable force. Barely saw the field for Spurrier.
 

SaltGator

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He is not top 5, but C4 was pretty good.
 

Turk182

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MJMGator;n8815 said:
ES was the greatest, but James Jones was my favorite. I still remember that one-handed snag for the TD against scUM.

"The Catch" Does anyone have a picture of "the catch"?
 

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