Track team receivers

[BernardKingGOAT]

He was a solid player. He broke 900 yards once in 11 years. He averaged 600 yards and 4 TDs per season over his career. He was never at the level of the top guys of his era like Largent, Collinsworth, Monk, etc.

There have been a lot of 600.yards per season NFL guys, they have been very few world record holders, Gold medal winners and 11 time track All Americans

I know where he stands with WRs. Heck, he isn't anywhere near UT's all time team except as a returner. My point about the OP. We never routinely took guys off the track team and made them into star WRs

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Sam Graddy and RB Jeff Powell were the only "track first" guys I remember.

The point I have poorly made is that the stated opportunity to participate in a national track program brought many guys to campus, even when track ribbons were the only incentive. Starting with Dickey and Rohe. Obviously a well played differentiating recruiting tool for both sports.

Anybody able to verify one way or the other a flashback I had of Bill Skinner or another field guy giving FB a shot later in their careers? Seems to rattle around in my head. That synergy between sports was important as was breaking the color barrier, especially at QB. Hard to quantify, but real.

 

[ENGRVOL]

Can he catch a football?

 

[KTrain]

No, it didn't happen that way at all. We signed receivers who also ran track when players competed in both sports. In regards to your first question, the answer is NO. That actually never happened

I think Sam Graddy was basically the only track star project football receiver and he never panned out. The rest were known for being fast track athletes but also highly recruited football players.

 

[Alto1]

Sam Graddy and RB Jeff Powell were the only "track first" guys I remember.

Jeff Powell’s TD against the Canes in the Sugar Bowl was a thing of beauty!!

 

[RockyTopTexas]

I’m doing it right now.. honestly who is even running routes /playing catch for the QBs right now in offseason work ? We have 2 WRs on scholly on campus. Go get whoever you can that can clock a 4.3

 

[BreatheUT]

Oh the longing for the good ole days in some of these threads.

Just kidding.

UT used to be associated with speed like we were associated with great kickers and punters.

People forget Anthony Miller, Terry McDaniel, even Anthony Morgan. Alvin Harper was a track high jumper.

 

[BreatheUT]

Super Bowl Champion

Entrepreneur, model, actor, etc

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Chuck Rohe was a very under rated recruiter and a solid track coach at Tennessee during the Majors era.

Stan Huntsman was the UT track coach when Majors took over. Rohe had already left and was running the Tangerine Bowl (Citrus Bowl after 1982). Doug Brown replaced Huntsman when CSH left for the Texas job. Doug Brown was the track coach when Fulmer became the head coach. After 10 years Brown became the biggest turncoat in UT sports history by taking the Florida job. Bill Webb was UT’s track coach from 1996-2009.

Brown was a 3x Olympian and was the NCAA champion 2x in the steeplechase while running for UTK.

Huntsman won 13 SEC outdoor championships (plus 7x indoor) in 15 years at UTK.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

My brother Ben was a track manager there from 74 to 78. I wish he was still with us now, to tell us more about it.

 

[Dartmouth Vol]

OK. I stand corrected. I also think that Chuck Roe resigned from his UT job & beccame director of one of the bowl games in Florida.

Great thread here

Chuck left Tennessee a month after the 1970 Sugar Bowl (Feb. 1971) win in a dispute with Bob Woodruff over $$$$$$. That February day (14th) was also the same day Tennessee National Champion Bill Skinner was removed from Vol Athletics over his wearing a mustache. That dispute was documented in a Sports Illustrated story later that summer in a major way.

Chuck went from being football recruiting coordinator/track coach at Tennessee to running Virginia Tech's summer youth camps for more $$$$$. UT's Charley Coffey, then at Va. Tech, hired him away.

Many have said Chuck leaving in 1971 was the beginning of the end of the Bill Battle era if you look at the 1971-1975 recruiting results. It just took five more years for the void to show itself. Chuck had run Coach Dickey's recruiting from 1964-1969 and a key part of Dickey's success.

He landed at the Citrus Bowl sometime after that.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Great thread here

Chuck left Tennessee a month after the 1970 Sugar Bowl (Feb. 1971) win in a dispute with Bob Woodruff over $$$$$$. That February day (14th) was also the same day Tennessee National Champion Bill Skinner was removed from Vol Athletics over his wearing a mustache. That dispute was documented in a Sports Illustrated story later that summer in a major way.

Chuck went from being football recruiting coordinator/track coach at Tennessee to running Virginia Tech's summer youth camps for more $$$$$. UT's Charley Coffey, then at Va. Tech, hired him away.

Many have said Chuck leaving in 1971 was the beginning of the end of the Bill Battle era if you look at the 1971-1975 recruiting results. It just took five more years for the void to show itself. Chuck had run Coach Dickey's recruiting from 1964-1969 and a key part of Dickey's success.

He landed at the Citrus Bowl sometime after that.

I do not think Chuck leaving had anything to do with Bill's football team declining. He was a great Xs and Os coach, be he had very strict recruiting guidelines. Many of the best recruits did not meet his standards and he simply would not recruit them. As a result, his talent declined rapidly.

 

[Dartmouth Vol]

Fastest hurdler in the world. But he couldn't prove it at the Olympics as he pulled a hamstring just before the 1968 Olympic Trials. He's said in interviews that he loved track more than football.
View attachment 713653

Correct. I've been working closely with Richmond to research his Tennessee years for a while.


In 1968, he did have the world’s fastest time. On April 19th in Baton Rouge, Richmond ran a world’s best 13.3 120 HH's into a 3.4 mph wind at the all-black Pelican Relays/Southern U. Adjusted for wind and conditions, that was likely a 12.9 something in normal race conditions. 13.1 was the WR then. It was his first win over rival Wille Davenport after 13 losses in a row.

Richmond had two issues in 1968... American alone had 6 or 7 elite High Hurdlers; Richmond being one.... Not counting 3 or 4 more worldwide... no margin for error (injury) at that level.

Second, at 6'1", he was one of the shortest HH in the elite dozen or so. That (hitting hurdles) didn’t matter in college 120 meets but was death in a race with 8 of the best in the world.

Because of his height, the great Spec Townes of Georgia had advised Richmond to run the 400 Hurdles to go to Mexico City. There were few elite 400 hurdlers in the world that year. A side here, Richmond first ran the 400 Hurdles in the 1967 SEC Championships and was on a WR pace his first time when he ran through the 11th hurdle out of fatigue.

After that experience, he only trained for the 120s. thereafter.

 

[ZZ13]

Correct. I've been working closely with Richmond to research his Tennessee years for a while.


In 1968, he did have the world’s fastest time. On April 19th in Baton Rouge, Richmond ran a world’s best 13.3 120 HH's into a 3.4 mph wind at the all-black Pelican Relays/Southern U. Adjusted for wind and conditions, that was likely a 12.9 something in normal race conditions. 13.1 was the WR then. It was his first win over rival Wille Davenport after 13 losses in a row.

Richmond had two issues in 1968... American alone had 6 or 7 elite High Hurdlers; Richmond being one.... Not counting 3 or 4 more worldwide... no margin for error (injury) at that level.

Second, at 6'1", he was one of the shortest HH in the elite dozen or so. That (hitting hurdles) didn’t matter in college 120 meets but was death in a race with 8 of the best in the world.

Because of his height, the great Spec Townes of Georgia had advised Richmond to run the 400 Hurdles to go to Mexico City. There were few elite 400 hurdlers in the world that year. A side here, Richmond first ran the 400 Hurdles in the 1967 SEC Championships and was on a WR pace his first time when he ran through the 11th hurdle out of fatigue.

After that experience, he only trained for the 120s. thereafter.

I can't imagine being a world class high hurdler at 6-1. That's unreal.

 

[hndog609]

I can't imagine being a world class high hurdler at 6-1. That's unreal.

Gault was listed as 6-0.

 

[Dartmouth Vol]

I can't imagine being a world class high hurdler at 6-1. That's unreal.

1967 400 hurdles accident example

 

[ZZ13]

View attachment 716205
1967 400 hurdles accident example

You know that Auburn dude is quietly laughing. He's certainly not trying to lend a hand.

 

[Buzzbait]

No, they came to UT as dual sport athletes. We never had a great receiver who didn't come here to play football

I think Richmond Flowers was one of the first and as you said, TN was one of the first to recruit that 2 sport athlete. Doug Dickey and Bill Battle kept it going and Majors/Fulmer just continued the effort.

 

[Dartmouth Vol]

I think Richmond Flowers was one of the first and as you said, TN was one of the first to recruit that 2 sport athlete. Doug Dickey and Bill Battle kept it going and Majors/Fulmer just continued the effort.

One of the first for sure but in fairness, Gene Washington of Michigan State preceded Richmond by a couple of years in age so he and Duffy Daugherty gets some call out here.

Out of Houston, Gene played WR on Michigan State's 1965 & 1966 National Championship football teams and was also NCAA indoor Hurdles Champion in 1965. Like Richmond, both were All Americans in both football and track, both won NCAA individual titles and both had decent careers in the "League".

 

[Dartmouth Vol]

From my Richmond research.... For you long time track/history fans here.

April 1968.

Tennessee vs National Champion and #1 Villanova. Almost 10,000 (paying) for track meet at UT!

Sorry the photo copy is not better. Enjoy.

 

[anbailey76]

Does Justin Gatlin have any eligibility left?

I thought that the whole he was in school here. I remember thinking " can't we get this guy in space on the football field".

 

[pimo1]

Does anyone remember when Majors and Fulmer needed speed receivers how they would hit the track team and teach them to run routes and catch? It's a random thought, but we had some good receivers come from there.

That was a different era.... now pretty much all WR's are track athletes already. I don't think people realize how much faster the average D1 athlete is these days. We probably have 15-20 guys on roster that run 4.4 back in the 80's and 90's 4.4 was a huge deal.

 

[AndyMizunogolfer]

Those guys run track for a reason most of the time. Most track guys that I have ever met shy away from contact. Not to mention a lot of these track guys have olympic dreams. The days of a dual sport athlete are almost all but gone.

 

[pimo1]

I thought that the whole he was in school here. I remember thinking " can't we get this guy in space on the football field".

Those are not get him in space types. Straight line speed does not always translate into running fast routes. They are blow the top off the defense types. Back in the day when the average safety ran a 4.8 that worked very well. You gotta be able to do more than run i na straight line. People have this misconception that all slots and yac guys are burners.. most are not. They are guys who are agile have good body control and vision. DK Metcalf is a good example of a straight-line beast. The reason he was drafted end of second round instead of the first is because he is a straight-line speed guy with stiff hips (their words not mine). The reason JJ is on a 15 mil contract after running a 4.7 is because he can make things happen in space. Jerry Rice ran a 4.7 40 no one ever called him slow. Look at his film he is not slow. Football speed and track speed are not always comparable. Also not always comparable across positions.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

That was a different era.... now pretty much all WR's are track athletes already. I don't think people realize how much faster the average D1 athlete is these days. We probably have 15-20 guys on roster that run 4.4 back in the 80's and 90's 4.4 was a huge deal.

I rather seriously doubt we have 15 guys running a 4.4.