https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/top-10-running-backs-in-indiana-football-history
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National Championship winning back on teams with a 27-2 record, 12 TDs and a 5.5+ YPC average can't get an honorable mention. Tough crowd. 🤣
j/k I like the list. I was a big fan of Vaughn Dunbar and AT! And most of those guys.
https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/top-10-running-backs-in-indiana-football-history
Really nice list.
Kevin Wilson always had a running back to work with.
@openwheel it’s a tough list to crack. Could’ve put either of them in as well as Alex Smith.
thanks for reading
Thank you for reading Hoosier Huddle
WTF?! .... No Tom Nowatzke?!
Fullback / 1st Team All-American (1964) / 2x 1st Team All-Big Ten (1963-64) / 4th OVERALL pick in 1965 AFL Draft (Jets) / 11th Overall pick in the 1965 NFL Draft (Colts).... plus, he played LB and kicked... He kicked 5 FG's in one game.
Sorry but, based on accomplishments, Redding, Scott and arguably Howard, shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Nowatzke....he was a bruiser who bowled through tacklers.
plus, I believe most old timers like me would say he was more highly regarded than Isenbarger at that time...
@jsenleo I had him on the list. But took him off. Probably should have kept him on
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Tom Nowatzke from Michigan City(Abe Gibron was the Coach???) should be ranked at least equally with Levron. Alex Smith for certain with 1st 10. Isenbarger Honorable Mention. Redding never made my prospect list. Nowatzke I believe played for 9er's in NFL. Hell of a back who in college could do so much more than carry the prize. With another season in Bloomington Jordan would have been up there with VD.
https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/top-10-running-backs-in-indiana-football-history
Ok.....have had a chance to look at the RBs......
Comparing our WR list to our RB list......my general feeling is that our WRs tended to be underrated over the years, and our RBs overrated. More on that later, but first......
I agree you should be whipped with a wet noodle for leaving Nowatzke off the list. Maybe somewhere between 4th and 6th.....that was in the age of two-way players, and I believe he was also an excellent LB....
Chuck Bennett also has to be in the top 10. BT MVP for a 9th place BT team in 1928. Team scored 11 TDs. He had 7 of them. Team Captain & MVP in the East-West Shrine game. Played 4 years pro ball (before the draft).
Pete Pihos has to be on the list. 2nd team AA in '45 at FB (behind Blanchard), 8th in the Heisman voting. I think he & Billy Hillenbrand were as good or better than George Tiliaferro, who was obviously a great player.
Gene Gedman should be on the list. IU MVP in '51 & '52. 1st team ABT in '52. 2nd in '51; 731 rush yards in '51 set the then-record at IU; 25th draft pick NFL.
I agree with the poster who said look at Alex Smith rather than a couple of your more recent players......and I'd also look at Mike Harkrader (sp?), who helped beat Purdue 1 year at WL running on a broken leg.
Now to my more controversial takes.....
Leron Williams should not be in the top 10. Levron was not much of an inside runner. He was very fast and could catch ARE's laterals and run straight down the sidelines. He has 3100 yards total, but 1400 were in his senior year. He was a great fit for that particular team, but take ARE away and he was a 700 yard, 4.2 ypc guy, imo.
You don't like that? This is worse....Vaughn Dunbar & Tevin Coleman were two of the most overrated unanimous 1st team AAs ever (hehe).
Here's what I'm getting at. Vaughn....a very good TB with toughness, speed and durability, but I think that, like Williams, he benefitted greatly by the system in which he played.
Coleman.....What a crazy year he had. 9 out of 10 carries, he looked like a very average TB. But when he hit a crease.....70 yard TD, because no one could catch him. So....how do you rate a guy like that? He wasn't very good at keeping the chains moving when you needed that, but he was still a game-changer.
Again, I'm not saying these guys were not excellent TBs....just not as good, imo, as their UAA status would indicate. Also, unlike AT, who was an ABT/AA talent his whole career, they did most of their damage in their AA season.
Tom Nowatzke, Courtney Snyder, Mike Harkrader
I disagree wholeheartedly with you on Tevin Coleman. In his final IU season, IIRC, he scored 14 TDs with an average distance of around 42 yards. That is insane! The reality is this: in 2014, not only did IU have no passing game, they had no threat of a passing game. Coleman was the only option and everyone knew it. Regardless, no one could stop him and he ran for 2000+ yards. Oh, did I mention he played the last half of the season with a broken big toe?
I also disagree with you on Vaughn Dunbar. Dunbar was nearly as tough as AT but had the home run speed AT lacked. However, both AT & Dunbar were amazing RBs and both truly deserved AA honors.
I would exclude Jordan Howard from the list. Yes, he was an absolute beast. But he played less than one season for the Hoosiers. As an aside, I always suspected he quit on the team late season following his injury and decided to focus on the NFL. I have zero inside knowledge nor proof of this: it is just a gut feeling. That said, I can't say I blame him, but it always made me wonder.
I will say this; IU was blessed to have all these players.
I disagree wholeheartedly with you on Tevin Coleman. In his final IU season, IIRC, he scored 14 TDs with an average distance of around 42 yards. That is insane! The reality is this: in 2014, not only did IU have no passing game, they had no threat of a passing game. Coleman was the only option and everyone knew it. Regardless, no one could stop him and he ran for 2000+ yards. Oh, did I mention he played the last half of the season with a broken big toe?
I also disagree with you on Vaughn Dunbar. Dunbar was nearly as tough as AT but had the home run speed AT lacked. However, both AT & Dunbar were amazing RBs and both truly deserved AA honors.
I would exclude Jordan Howard from the list. Yes, he was an absolute beast. But he played less than one season for the Hoosiers. As an aside, I always suspected he quit on the team late season following his injury and decided to focus on the NFL. I have zero inside knowledge nor proof of this: it is just a gut feeling. That said, I can't say I blame him, but it always made me wonder.
I will say this; IU was blessed to have all these players.
No doubt they were very good. I did not say otherwise. I just don't think they were what I think of as UAAs. The unanimous part in UAA is a huge deal, Coleman was a glider and a blazer. I'll repeat what I said above, which was that he was not ultra impressive 90% of the time, but the 10th time he'd hit a crease and run for 70 yards. He was not that physical or elusive. He was similar to the Henderson kid from OSU in that regard. I can't argue that statistically his #s weren't excellent, and I'm usually a stat guy all the way. But once in a while a guy comes along and puts up big #s and you still don't rank him with the greats. Hardy at WR for another example. I just don't view VD or TC in the same light as guys like AT, Melvin Gordon, Lorenzo White, Ron Dayne but I don't deny they were worthy of AA status their last years at IU.
He was not a recruit labeled as elite out of HS, and he was 73rd pick (3rd round) in the draft. TBs who were not UAAs were picked ahead of him.