Five running backs who played for Tennessee football since 1993 have made Pro Bowls in the NFL. None of them is either first or second for the single season rushing title. The second place finisher in career rushing yards is also not on the list.
Simply put, UT has quite a recent history of elite running backs. Somehow, though, none of them made the list of top 100 running backs the past 60 years that Bill Connelly of ESPN posted this week. That’s flat-out ridiculous.
Connelly separated his list into dual-threats (all-purpose backs), elite backs relative to their time in the 1960s, one-year wonders, Heisman candidates and four-year starters before getting into his top 60. Leaving Tennessee football off all of those lists is laughable.
If you were going to put a former Vol on there, you’ve got plenty of options. Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Arian Foster, Alvin Kamara, Charlie Garner, Travis Stephens and James Stewart all warrant discussion. Now, to be fair, there are some we can eliminate by Connelly’s standards.
Lewis had an injury-shortened 1998 season and, despite being UT’s best NFL back ever, couldn’t get the production after that in college. Stephens was a one-year wonder, but Connelly’s one-year wonders required 2,000 yards, which he didn’t have. Kamara was grossly underused by Butch Jones, leaving him off.
That still leaves Foster, Garner, Henry and Stewart. Of those, Henry clearly belongs on the list. No serious person would leave him off. The guy rushed for over 3,000 yards while at UT, significantly more in a career than many on the list.
Now, some of those ahead of him, including the first six on the list, got to be on there because Connelly wanted to include dual-threat backs. It still shouldn’t have been enough to completely exclude Henry given what he was able to do.
Others got on the list with fewer yards because they technically only played three seasons, but Henry didn’t really play in 1997. He only had two carries. He didn’t start touching the ball in 1998 until the fourth game of the season, after Lewis went down, and he helped UT to the national title.
Of course, a big part of no running back being on this list speaks to the depth and style of play Tennessee football has mostly enjoyed. The Vols have mostly run a balanced offense over the past 40 years, and that’ll keep a back from hitting 2,000 yards in a single season in the SEC.
Beyond just that attack, it’s hard for running backs to get a four-year resume at UT because they all have to wait their turn to start. Lewis was the best NFL running back from UT. Henry was behind him and is the school’s all-time leading rusher. Stephens was behind him and has the single-season rushing record.
Simply put, Tennessee football has historically been loaded at running back, and that can make it difficult for anybody to stand out. However, Henry, Foster and Stewart had the four-year careers to do so, and Stephens, Lewis and Jay Graham had the single seasons to do so. Connelly’s method is flawed to leave all of them off.