Tennessee football: Vols top 30 players since 1998 national championship

Cedric Houston was part of a group of running backs in 2001 set to take the baton from the elite class of 1997. Remember, that 1997 class had Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and Travis Stephens. That trio carried the load through the 2001 campaign.

In 2002, it was the time of Houston, Jabari Davis and Derrick Tinsley. Houston however, was clearly the best of those three. The only question was if he could stay consistently healthy to become a great back.

After missing half the 2002 season due to injury, Houston came back and missed part of 2003 again. But he got rolling late and never looked back. In both 2002 and 2003, he rushed for over 700 yards and averaged over five yards a carry, registering eight total touchdowns.

But in 2004, the coaches forced him to split time with upstart back Gerald Riggs Jr. Houston didn’t let that phase him his senior year. He ended up becoming part of the first duo in UT history to each rush for 1,000 yards.

Houston was the feature back who needed to help carry the two freshman quarterbacks and eventually Rick Clausen en route to an SEC East title. He had 1,005 rushing yards and 180 receiving yards with nine total touchdowns, while averaging over five and a half yards a carry.

Because of his play, he was able to make All-SEC two years in a row. And were it not for Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown being in the SEC in 2004 at the same time, he would have made First-Team All-SEC and maybe even All-American. He was that valuable to Phillip Fulmer and Randy Sanders. Houston carried his success into a decent brief NFL career.