Joe Yearby

[NJshoreCane]

Ottis Anderson
Danyell Ferguson
Edgerrin James
James Jackson
Clinton Portis
Willis McGahee
Duke Johnson
Joe Yearby

Pretty good company

Thanks for the list. Was just about o look up.

Theres 10 though right? Who's missing?

Did javarris James get to 1k? Or Cooper?

Without checking, maybe Chuck Forman?

I don't think Chuck Foreman ever got to 1000....without looking it up. He was misused part of his career, as I recall. I think they used to put him at flanker a lot. His talent was never fully utilized until he got to the Vikings, where he became elite. He was a joy to watch when the Vikings were broadcast in my home area.

One of the very best backs ever to play at UM. Had some Gale Sayers type moves, but not the speed. He had an incredible spin move that just left defenders frozen. I don't see many backs do that anymore. The game has changed. Great blocker and receiver, as well.

All spot on. Good post. I was a fan of his before I was a Hurricane fan.
He had 951 yards in 1971 (11 games).

 

[TheMatador]

Ottis Anderson
Danyell Ferguson
Edgerrin James
James Jackson
Clinton Portis
Willis McGahee
Duke Johnson
Joe Yearby

Pretty good company

Thanks for the list. Was just about o look up.

Theres 10 though right? Who's missing?

Did javarris James get to 1k? Or Cooper?

Without checking, maybe Chuck Forman?

I don't think Chuck Foreman ever got to 1000....without looking it up. He was misused part of his career, as I recall. I think they used to put him at flanker a lot. His talent was never fully utilized until he got to the Vikings, where he became elite. He was a joy to watch when the Vikings were broadcast in my home area.

One of the very best backs ever to play at UM. Had some Gale Sayers type moves, but not the speed. He had an incredible spin move that just left defenders frozen. I don't see many backs do that anymore. The game has changed. Great blocker and receiver, as well.

All spot on. Good post. I was a fan of his before I was a Hurricane fan.
He had 951 yards in 1971 (11 games).

Chuck had a fumbling problem in college, which he overcame when he was in the pros. I remember reading that he was pressing too hard because he was being yelled at a lot by an assistant coach, Jon Mirilovich. A friend of mine, who played at Southwest HS in the early '60's, knew Mirolovich from the latter's days at SW, and had some negative opinions of Mirilovich. Southwest was a pretty good football school back then, they produced a lot of good players, and were rivals to Coral Gables, who was usually better and overshadowed them. Gables was a nationally-ranked power in those years and also were rivals to Miami High, another national power at the time. Perhaps the best player I remember coming out of Southwest was Steve Tannen, a future Gator and I think, Raider.

For those who are not familiar with Chuck Foreman, he was a pleasure to watch with the Vikings. He teamed up with Fran Tarkenton in a pretty good offense, and they had the Purple People Eaters Defense, led by Alan Page. Foreman was a tall, fairly big gliding runner with the ability to make make tacklers miss. They used to say he always made the first man miss. He did not have great speed, but was fast enough and use his body to great advantage. He had some great rushing totals, perhaps finishing second or third to OJ in one of the latter's great years. He made Pro Bowls and All-Pro. Also, as I said, a superior receiver and very reliable and effective blocker. Much better than another great UM back, O.J. Anderson, who also entered the league in the '70's. I noticed that Ottis was a terrific big back with speed and ability to make people miss, but he was not the blocker that Foreman was, at least not early in his NFL career. Anderson was a very different kind of runner when he first came into the league with the Cards in '78, I think, then he as late in his career with the Giants. Anderson had more niftiness and moves early in his career; I think he lost it later on when he was just a brute power back. Even when he was more nifty, Anderson was big and strong, not like all these nifty backs still around who are just barely 200. He was fairly fast I think, could take one the distance if he got the opportunity.

I don't think Anderson ever got 1000 at UM, did he? Maybe just barely. I think Jarrett Payton came close when he took over for Frank Gore. Did Alonzo Highsmith make it? I think he might be another guy who came up short, perhaps the year he injured his knee.

We've really had a lot of good backs over the years, going back to Frank Smith and then Don Bosseler in the '50's. I don't know about guys like Whitey Campbell--too far back, even for me. Interestingly, the great backs in the earlier days rarely racked up a lot of yardage by today's standards. I think one reason is that we often ran full house backfields, thre backs behind center in a full-T formation plus a QB who often ran, especially on the option, like Fran Curci and later, Eddie Johns. That probably meant that, although we ran the ball more, carries were spread around three or four backs, including the QB. We started to pass more with the coming of George Mira (The Real Matador). In the case of Bosseler, who was one of the greatest football players in UM history, he took a lot of punishment on every play, because the old Miami "Drive Series" or "Belly Series" had him crashing into the line every play, either with the ball, or without. Our offense was one of the precursors of the wishbone or maybe the triple option. Bosseler never gained a lot of yardage, and took a lot of punishment, but believe me, he dealt out a lot more than he took. He actually made one Pro Bowl with a lousy Redskins team.

 

[Dingaan1828]

Chuck Foreman never solved his fumble problem. He continued to fumble in the NFL. He was still a terrific player despite that.

 

[NJshoreCane]

Thanks for the list. Was just about o look up.

Theres 10 though right? Who's missing?

Did javarris James get to 1k? Or Cooper?

Without checking, maybe Chuck Forman?

I don't think Chuck Foreman ever got to 1000....without looking it up. He was misused part of his career, as I recall. I think they used to put him at flanker a lot. His talent was never fully utilized until he got to the Vikings, where he became elite. He was a joy to watch when the Vikings were broadcast in my home area.

One of the very best backs ever to play at UM. Had some Gale Sayers type moves, but not the speed. He had an incredible spin move that just left defenders frozen. I don't see many backs do that anymore. The game has changed. Great blocker and receiver, as well.

All spot on. Good post. I was a fan of his before I was a Hurricane fan.
He had 951 yards in 1971 (11 games).

Chuck had a fumbling problem in college, which he overcame when he was in the pros. I remember reading that he was pressing too hard because he was being yelled at a lot by an assistant coach, Jon Mirilovich. A friend of mine, who played at Southwest HS in the early '60's, knew Mirolovich from the latter's days at SW, and had some negative opinions of Mirilovich. Southwest was a pretty good football school back then, they produced a lot of good players, and were rivals to Coral Gables, who was usually better and overshadowed them. Gables was a nationally-ranked power in those years and also were rivals to Miami High, another national power at the time. Perhaps the best player I remember coming out of Southwest was Steve Tannen, a future Gator and I think, Raider.

For those who are not familiar with Chuck Foreman, he was a pleasure to watch with the Vikings. He teamed up with Fran Tarkenton in a pretty good offense, and they had the Purple People Eaters Defense, led by Alan Page. Foreman was a tall, fairly big gliding runner with the ability to make make tacklers miss. They used to say he always made the first man miss. He did not have great speed, but was fast enough and use his body to great advantage. He had some great rushing totals, perhaps finishing second or third to OJ in one of the latter's great years. He made Pro Bowls and All-Pro. Also, as I said, a superior receiver and very reliable and effective blocker. Much better than another great UM back, O.J. Anderson, who also entered the league in the '70's. I noticed that Ottis was a terrific big back with speed and ability to make people miss, but he was not the blocker that Foreman was, at least not early in his NFL career. Anderson was a very different kind of runner when he first came into the league with the Cards in '78, I think, then he as late in his career with the Giants. Anderson had more niftiness and moves early in his career; I think he lost it later on when he was just a brute power back. Even when he was more nifty, Anderson was big and strong, not like all these nifty backs still around who are just barely 200. He was fairly fast I think, could take one the distance if he got the opportunity.

I don't think Anderson ever got 1000 at UM, did he? Maybe just barely. I think Jarrett Payton came close when he took over for Frank Gore. Did Alonzo Highsmith make it? I think he might be another guy who came up short, perhaps the year he injured his knee.

We've really had a lot of good backs over the years, going back to Frank Smith and then Don Bosseler in the '50's. I don't know about guys like Whitey Campbell--too far back, even for me. Interestingly, the great backs in the earlier days rarely racked up a lot of yardage by today's standards. I think one reason is that we often ran full house backfields, thre backs behind center in a full-T formation plus a QB who often ran, especially on the option, like Fran Curci and later, Eddie Johns. That probably meant that, although we ran the ball more, carries were spread around three or four backs, including the QB. We started to pass more with the coming of George Mira (The Real Matador). In the case of Bosseler, who was one of the greatest football players in UM history, he took a lot of punishment on every play, because the old Miami "Drive Series" or "Belly Series" had him crashing into the line every play, either with the ball, or without. Our offense was one of the precursors of the wishbone or maybe the triple option. Bosseler never gained a lot of yardage, and took a lot of punishment, but believe me, he dealt out a lot more than he took. He actually made one Pro Bowl with a lousy Redskins team.

Thanks for the insight on some of the pre-1970 old-timers.
I went to school with Otis Anderson. I remember he wasn't to happy about being drafted by the Card's. He really thought he had a chance to go to Dallas. Speaking of Dallas, in his first game as a pro, Otis had over 200 yards and 4 TD's against them. He did rush for over 1,000 in his final year at UM. The only back prior to Danyell Ferguson in 1995 to do so.