SEC players you wish you could have seen play.

#26
#26
Volosaurus rex said:
'twas a fundamentally different era. Especially in the AFL, which Namath played in from 1965-69, it was not uncommon for quarterbacks to complete fewer than 50% of their passes. Namath once responded to that criticism by saying "Sure, I could complete 60% of my passes if all I did was dump it off to my tight ends and running backs." That was the era of the "Mad Bomber," so to speak.

A case in point was the "Heidi Game," vs. the Raiders in 1968. In the fourth quarter of that game, "New York defensive end Gerry Philbin recovered the football at the Jets' 3-yard line setting up a 97-yard drive, consisting entirely of two Namath passes to Don Maynard, who was covered by Raiders' rookie cornerback George Atkinson. The 50-yard touchdown pass followed a 47-yard throw, and gave the Jets a 26–22 lead" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game). And, yes, both of those passes were bombs, not short or intermediate routes with significant yards after the catch.

Namath was the first pro quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a single season and he did so in 14 games (1967). During his career, few quarterbacks put up the overwhelmingly positive TD pass/interception ratio seen today. For comparative purposes, consider the following stats for leading QBs of that period:

Johnny Unitas: 290 td passes, 253 ints.
Bart Starr: 152 td passes, 138 ints.
Fran Tarkenton: 342 td passes, 266 ints.
Lenny Dawson: 239 td passes, 183 ints.
Daryle Lamonica: 164 td passes, 138 ints.

In short, it really isn't fair to critique players of the past based on contemporary statistical standards. However, since you specifically asked about Namath's performance in college, he was selected first overall in the AFL draft after finishing a three-year career at Alabama in which he completed 203-374 (54.3 %) for 2713 yards, 25 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.
Click to expand...

I watched Namath in college and in the pros and Stabler was a better QB on both fronts. But you can say what you want about both of them but neither of them would compare to Peyton Manning. In fact, I would say that Casey Clausen was better than both of those guys.
 
#27
#27
My list would be:

Gene McEver
George Cafego
Archie Manning
Doug Atkins

I watched Archie on TV but never saw a game in person. I was fortunate enough to be sitting in the upper deck on a $5 ticket to see Condredge throw a 2 point conversion to Larry Seivers to edge Clemson. I always thought Condredge was a magician after that play.

I think that Reggie Cobb and Johnny Jones were under-rated. And Hubert Simpson, who scored 5 TD's against Notre Dame in Neyland in 1979 may have been the most under coached or under motivated player I have ever seen.
 
#28
#28
Growing up in Nashville I went to a ton of Vandy basketball games. I remember watching Barkley and Wilkins play as a kid. That was special. Would like to have seen Archie play football.
 
#29
#29
Lenny Patrick. You just kinda gotta know who he was. Bama. Early 80's. Came out of Jasper/ Walker Cty HS. 12,000 plus would show up at HS games just to watch him run. I saw one HS game. Friend was QB at time. Wasn't at Bama long. Grades, class attendance, reefer tests. only one I've ever seen that the crowd rose to their feet every single time just cause his hands touched the ball. Didn't know what might happen and didn't want to miss it.
 
#35
#35
vols 30 said:
Pete Maravich by a long shot
Click to expand...

I saw Pete Maravich play. Sort of a fluke event. I've been a VOL since birth. Grew up in Huntsville. Our pee-wee basketball coach took us down as a group to the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. Article I read said Memorial, so maybe it wasn't named yet, or maybe they built a new one.

It must have been 1968 - I think he put up 58 that day.

Set a record in 70 by putting up 69 on the same court (47 in second half).

My memory is fuzzy. As a kid, I thought his socks were cool. For those that don't know, he had lucky socks - wore them every game. they were real baggy. Quite a trademark.

Just think if they had had a 3 point line then!
 
#37
#37
ptcarter said:
I saw Pete Maravich play. Sort of a fluke event. I've been a VOL since birth. Grew up in Huntsville. Our pee-wee basketball coach took us down as a group to the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. Article I read said Memorial, so maybe it wasn't named yet, or maybe they built a new one.

It must have been 1968 - I think he put up 58 that day.

Set a record in 70 by putting up 69 on the same court (47 in second half).

My memory is fuzzy. As a kid, I thought his socks were cool. For those that don't know, he had lucky socks - wore them every game. they were real baggy. Quite a trademark.

Just think if they had had a 3 point line then!
Click to expand...

the sec has had some great scorers come through it. I think seeing maravich would have been amazing. I saw Chris Jackson, obviously A. Houston, chuck person, white chocolate basically any great player in the sec since about 1980. Maravich was the man.

My dad says Billy Cannon was always fun to watch.
 
Last edited:
#38
#38
Sin City Vol said:
the sec has had some great scorers come through it. I think seeing maravich would have been amazing. I saw Chris Jackson, obviously A. Houston, chuck person, white chocolate basically any great player in the sec since about 1980. Maravich was the man.

My dad says Billy Cannon was always fun to watch.
Click to expand...

I can't remember the exact year - it was whenever UT beat LSU in Knoxville when they had Billy Cannon. Anyway, my dad was ten or eleven years old then. Him and a friend snuck onto the LSU sideline and watched the game from there. It was pretty cool. He still has a cartoon pamphlet that was given out for that game that read, "Have Cannon, will travel." I think that's what it says.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top