Countdown to IUFB Kickoff: 32 Days (Anthony Thompson)

By David Sugarman (@David_Sugarman2)

#32

Now just 32 days away from the start of the 2017 college football season, but before we continue to look forward, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back. With no number 32 on the roster we’re sliding an Indiana great into the countdown with former Indiana running back, Anthony Thompson.

Anthony Thompson (Legacy Player)

In four years in the crimson and cream from 1986-1989 Anthony Thompson solidified himself as an all-time great Hoosier. Thompson re-wrote the record books and in some aspects they were unrecognizable when he was done. If you include his bowl performances Thompson had 68 total touchdowns, when he arrived on campus the record was just 30. Not to mention his postseason prowess.

After a solid freshman season where he ran for over 800 yards and scored five touchdowns the Terre Haute native only got better. Thompson eclipsed 1,000 yards the next three seasons and improved his touchdown total two of the next three years as well. His senior year he ran for 1,793 yards and had an astonishing total of 25 touchdowns in 1989 alone, one short of his career best 26 in 1988.

In 2017 Indiana will be going for three straight bowl game appearances, the last time they did that was the Thompson era. Starting in 1986, Thompson helped head coach Bill Mallory get to his first career bowl game in the 1986 All-American Bowl. Despite a  27-13 loss to Florida State, Thompson ran for 127 yards. Indiana lost in the 1987 Peach Bowl to Tennessee 27-22 where Thompson was held to under 70 yards and just one touchdown, but the Hoosiers broke through in 1988. The Hoosiers blew out South Carolina 34-10 and Thompson went for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Indiana will be looking to follow a similar script this year after dropping close bowl games the past two seasons.

Thompson’s most memorable game might not have been a bowl game at all though. On November 11, 1989 Thompson ran all over the Wisconsin Badgers for a then NCAA single-game rushing record of 377 yards and added in four touchdown to that earth shattering performance. The Hoosiers picked up a 45-17 win against Wisconsin that day. A few players have surpassed Thompson since, ironically enough a Wisconsin player eventually broke that number when Melvin Gordon ran for 408 yards in a game back in 2014. Thompson would win the Big Ten’s Silver Football Award, given to the league’s most valuable player, in back to back to years in 1988 and 1989, becoming only the third player ever to do so. Thompson nearly put an even bigger trophy onto his shelf as well though.

Thompson was up for the Heisman his senior year and was just a stone’s throw away from being named the nation’s best college football player. Thompson came in second to Andre Ware, a quarterback for Houston, in the fourth closest ballot in the history of the award.

Thompson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007. A two-time first team All-American selection, it was an easy decision looking at his resume. Thompson had a short four year NFL career as well, playing for the Los Angeles Rams and the then Phoenix Cardinals. Indiana has had some great running backs especially in recent memory with Jordan Howard and Tevin Coleman excelling in the NFL right now, but without a doubt Thompson is an all-time great not just for the Hoosiers, but in all of college football.

Here are some of AT's highlights from Andy Graham of the Herald Times.