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Throw Back: Duke Johnson vs Dallas Crawford/Sammy Watkins

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Been watching UM football since 86 and Duke has to be one of the top 10 offensive players I have seen at the U. Kid was special with a capital S. Only Mcgahee wowed me more with the ball in his hands from the RB spot. Alot of people don't realize how many amazing that kid was ( is).
 
If Duke played with great teams and for great coaches he's a top 10 talent. Unfortunately he's being grouped in with the disaster that was Golden. If we had no Duke the prior 3 years, we would've won 8-10 less games over his time here. Maybe I overreached with top 10 becasue you can easily forget about the massive amount of stars that went through the U but he's close IMO. Top 20 for sure
 
OJ Andersen and Chuck Foreman belong on any top10 lists of UM RBs.
For my money, MacGahee in 2002 was the best UM RB I saw in person.
In fact, I think Sean Taylor and him were the best football players in 2002.
Period.
 
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Duke is unappreciated. I still can't believe Crawford such a little impact at the college level. He was a great playmaker in HS, and a guy I always rooted for.
 
INCaneFan said:
Skitz305 said:
omaha said:
Bernie Kosar
Vinny T
Irvin
Jerome Brown
Dan Morgan
Devin Hester
Edge James
Ed Reed
Sean Taylor
Ray Lewis
Clinton Portis
Warren Sapp
Bennie Blades
Santana Moss
Reggie Wayne
Cortez Kennedy
Bryant McKinney
Vince Wilfork
Jim Kelly
Andre Johnson
Jeremy Shockey

Duke was great and came to Miami when nobody else wanted to. But he cracks the top 30 but not the top 10 canes. If you want to do stats then Crown Leonard Hankerson as the best Miami WR of all time.
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Melvin Bratton
Al Blades
Ken Dorsey
Randall Hill
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Still no Ted Hendricks? There's also a number of linebackers missing from that list.

Good player, but I still waiting to hear Sabetta explain his top 10 Cane of all-time comment.
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Duke my favorite Cane ever, but ranking a top 10 from THE U is difficult if not impossible. We had so, so, so many truly great players, that putting them in order is just a personal choice thing. Leaving The Stork, probably the greatest ever, out is just proof of that. Then what about OJ Anderson, Chuck Foreman, Albert Bentley, and a truly great DT, Lester Williams. OJ could easily be considered best RB ever, or any one of many others could too. Williams was maybe our first great DT and maybe the greatest, but given the competition for top DT, who would bet the farm on that. We are blessed with some many great at so many positions that just listing them all, without order, is a full time job.

Age influences the choice. I watch the Stork terrorize other teams for 3 years. He was like a giant bird of prey feeding on defenseless victims. He will always be the greatest ever for me. But my, Lord, Ed Reed was something to behold. And then there was ST, RIP. The list just goes on and on. What a football life we have had. To think so much of it was compressed into so short a time under so many different coaches is just amazing. Bama have needed to have lost Saban like 4 years ago and continue to dominate under two other coaches to touch us -- not to mention turning out a lot more SUCCESSFUL NFL players.
 
I have no issue saying Duke is a Top 5 RB. He is all the all-time leading rusher, despite playing on poor teams for only three seasons. He had some great games, especially the 245+ yard game at VaTech in 2014. His games may not stand out because the games themselves weren't meaningful games.

Projecting him a "Top 10 all time Cane" is a stretch.

I'm not sure you can pick a Top 10 overall without overlooking another 10 deserving recognition.
 
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Gatorhater said:
Duke my favorite Cane ever, but ranking a top 10 from THE U is difficult if not impossible. We had so, so, so many truly great players, that putting them in order is just a personal choice thing. Leaving The Stork, probably the greatest ever, out is just proof of that. Then what about OJ Anderson, Chuck Foreman, Albert Bentley, and a truly great DT, Lester Williams. OJ could easily be considered best RB ever, or any one of many others could too. Williams was maybe our first great DT and maybe the greatest, but given the competition for top DT, who would bet the farm on that. We are blessed with some many great at so many positions that just listing them all, without order, is a full time job.

Age influences the choice. I watch the Stork terrorize other teams for 3 years. He was like a giant bird of prey feeding on defenseless victims. He will always be the greatest ever for me. But my, Lord, Ed Reed was something to behold. And then there was ST, RIP. The list just goes on and on. What a football life we have had. To think so much of it was compressed into so short a time under so many different coaches is just amazing. Bama have needed to have lost Saban like 4 years ago and continue to dominate under two other coaches to touch us -- not to mention turning out a lot more SUCCESSFUL NFL players.
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Good points.

Don't forget Eddie Edwards, a great DE, 3rd pick in the 1977 draft by Cincinnati.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Edwards_(American_football)

Or Burgess Owers, a really good safety who was drafted 13th overall by the Jets in 1973 and later played on the Raiders' 1980 Super Bowl Championship team.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Owens
 
Can't forget Danny Stubbs and Jim Burt. What's is Gino? Eric Winston or Kellon Winslow. Benard Tiger Clark or Barrow or Darrin Smith or Jessie Armstead for goodness sakes.

I was not putting anyone in order. I was just trying to make a point that when saying this guy or that guy is a top 10 came you got to question just a bit.

Don't get me wrong. I liked Duke. The guy was a Cane all the way. His hate for the staff at the end was unfortunate but has shown to be on point. But the guy was not one of the best all time. Nor was the guy in my opinion putting it all on the line. Maybe I am old school and if you want to give me grief for that so be it. Duke would not return kicks his Junior year and consistently pulled himself out. Guy was thinking Pro's the whole year. That type of thinking has never helped one player. Just shows NFL teams you only play in contract years. But again I don't want this to be a bash on Duke thread. He was a great player.

Now if we want to get into stats again you have to then put Leonard Hankerson into the top 10 as well. And you have to put Emmitt Smith as the greatest running back of all time. I am a Cowboys fan and I don't even put Emmitt as the #1 RB for the Cowboys.
 
We are really tight end U. 2 of the best 3 te in the league right now with Jimmy graham and Olsen both behind gronk. I think Clive Walford will move his way up too
 
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TemplarCane said:
Gatorhater said:
Duke my favorite Cane ever, but ranking a top 10 from THE U is difficult if not impossible. We had so, so, so many truly great players, that putting them in order is just a personal choice thing. Leaving The Stork, probably the greatest ever, out is just proof of that. Then what about OJ Anderson, Chuck Foreman, Albert Bentley, and a truly great DT, Lester Williams. OJ could easily be considered best RB ever, or any one of many others could too. Williams was maybe our first great DT and maybe the greatest, but given the competition for top DT, who would bet the farm on that. We are blessed with some many great at so many positions that just listing them all, without order, is a full time job.

Age influences the choice. I watch the Stork terrorize other teams for 3 years. He was like a giant bird of prey feeding on defenseless victims. He will always be the greatest ever for me. But my, Lord, Ed Reed was something to behold. And then there was ST, RIP. The list just goes on and on. What a football life we have had. To think so much of it was compressed into so short a time under so many different coaches is just amazing. Bama have needed to have lost Saban like 4 years ago and continue to dominate under two other coaches to touch us -- not to mention turning out a lot more SUCCESSFUL NFL players.
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Good points.

Don't forget Eddie Edwards, a great DE, 3rd pick in the 1977 draft by Cincinnati.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Edwards_(American_football)

Or Burgess Owers, a really good safety who was drafted 13th overall by the Jets in 1973 and later played on the Raiders' 1980 Super Bowl Championship team.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Owens
Click to expand...

I remember Eddie. Fred Marion too. The list is just endless.
 
He's barely in the top 10 list of RB let alone all time. Stat compiler who never showed out in big games. His most memorable moment is gashing a ****** VT team.
 
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mirvin88 said:
He's barely in the top 10 list of RB let alone all time. Stat compiler who never showed out in big games. His most memorable moment is gashing a ****ty VT team.
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What the fvck are you talking about? Miami has been mediocre and hasn't had any big games. Duke rushed for 130 yards against FSU in 2014, and was just short of 100 yards before breaking his ankle against FSU in 2013 in the third quarter.

These are the two 'biggest games' Miami had under Golden.
 
Duke was a special player and I'd put him in the top 5 UM backs all time but let's not let statistics skew the reality. The guy basically started at RB for three seasons with little competition to share the backfield after Mike James graduated. Imagine how many yards Willis McGahee would have had in three years as a starter? Or If Clinton Portis didn't have to share carries with the stable of backs they had back in the day. Duke was all heart and he was top notch as a receiver out of the backfield but he had a habit of putting the ball on the ground in big games.
 
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