College football players have always been looked upon as heroes, but this is getting ridiculous.
The person Florida QB Tim Tebow is compared to most? Not another football player, but Jesus Christ himself. And after leading Florida past LSU despite a concussion on Saturday, his legend just continues to grow.
Which got us thinking: Has any college football player ever been more beloved than Tebow?
We decided to compare him with the most beloved players of all-time by their fans and college football fanatics in general. Obviously, each legend is worshiped by fans. But these are great players that created a bond with the public that extended beyond the playing, achieving a “rock star status” to the extend that fans almost considered them family.
Here’s our Top 10 with a couple notes before you get started:
1. Yes, almost all players listed are quarterbacks. While this might not be “fair” – QBs are usually the face of the program and therefore 8 of the last 9 Heisman winners have been signal-callers.
2. Before you accuse us of having a short-term memory, we’d like to point out the level of coverage and attention athletes receive today is unprecedented, making recent players most attractive for this list
.
Editor’s Note: For those new to the site, we have a database of over 150,000 former college athletes. Click on the player and school links to view it.
.
10. Vince Young (Texas)
No one will ever have a more meteoric rise in popularity than Vince Young.
It’s easy now to forget that Young was already being labeled a bust before his 4th-and-18 scamper vs. Kansas to save UT’s 2004 season. He blew up in the ’05 Rose Bowl, breaking Mack Brown’s hex in big games, and then guaranteed the Horns would be back for the national title a year later. And did he ever deliver; Young single-handedly brought the program its first national title in 35 years.
Passed over by the Houston Texans in the 2005 NFL Draft, the town almost burned to the ground. When Young had his UT jersey retired in 2008, a record-breaking crowd of 98,000 showed up for a game – vs. Florida Atlantic. And every year the Horns go without winning another national title, his legend as “Superman” will continue to grow.
.
9. Nile Kinnick (Iowa)
The 1939 Heisman Trophy winner was the Tim Tebow of his day – Mr. Perfect. Legend has it he admitted to officials a crucial goal line fumble against Michigan, costing his team the game. You think the media loves Tebow? Kinnick gave such a moving Heisman acceptance speech that one columnist wrote Kinnick typified “everything admirable in American youth.” Sounds familiar…
He passed on pro football and eventually volunteered for WWII, but was tragically killed during a 1943 flight training mission in Venezuela. Iowa named its stadium after Kinnick in 1972 and erected a statue of its fallen star in 2006, followed by a flyover of the same WWII plane used by Kinnick.
.
8. Charlie Ward (Florida State)
1993 was a good year to be Charlie Ward. He started it by leading the basketball Seminoles to the Elite Eight alongside a backcourt with Bob Sura and Sam Cassell. Months later he delivered FSU’s first Heisman and national title after running and passing laps around opposing defenses.
Ward was also in direct contrast to FSU’s image of Deion Sanders wannabes and “Free Shoes University.” Instead, Ward was a devout Christian, humble, soft-spoken and was even the school’s student government VP. Bobby Bowden sure misses him. The embattled coach recently stated his quarterback was better than Tebow.
.
7. Colt McCoy (Texas)
He hasn’t won a national title like Young – yet. But the legend of Colt McCoy sounds too good to be true. Born in New Mexico, his dad brought grass over the border just to make sure his son would be born under Texas soil. In 2006, the homegrown hero swam 300 yards to help save the life of a neighbor who suffered a seizure.
McCoy has basically gone into hiding on UT’s campus because any sighting will turn into a full-scale riot. If he adds a Heisman and a national championship to his resume, McCoy could achieve Tebow-esque status on the national stage.
.
6. Tommie Frazier (Nebraska)
All Tommie Frazier did was win, going 33-3 as a starter. He turned into a legend after missing seven games his junior year due to a blood clot, then leading the Huskers to the 1994 national championship. A year later, en route to back-to-back national titles, Frazier ran through the entire Florida defense in the ‘96 Fiesta Bowl, proving he was immortal after all:
Still doing public speeches, a man recently drove 10 hours just to see one of Frazier’s talks in Nebraska – 13 years after Frazier’s last game. And let it be noted that while Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas, Tebow himself was a huge Frazier fan growing up.
.
5. Rudy Ruettiger (Notre Dame)
Cher. Madonna. Sinbad. Rudy. This is the exclusive company he keeps of people known only by one name. Not bad for a player that accumulated one half-sack during his career.
Hardly known even by Irish fans in the 1970s, he turned into a superstar after the 1993 movie of the same name. Now he’s the epitome of everything right with college football and the most famous underdog not named Rocky. He’s parlayed his fame into a full business, Rudy International, a Las Vegas speaking and corporate training company. He charges up to 30 grand a pop for speaking engagements and still gets serenaded with chants of “RU-DY! RU-DY!” wherever he goes.
Yes, we know the movie exaggerated this final scene. Who cares? Roll the footage one more time:
.
4. Doug Flutie (Boston College)
He was Rudy Ruettiger 2.0, the underdog who turned out to have tremendous talent. Just 5-9, Flutie wasn’t offered a D1 scholarship anywhere else. 1984 read like a movie script as Flutie shattered the record books with his brother, Darren, as his favorite target. His 63-yard, game-winning TD pass to Gerard Phelan vs. Miami – a.k.a. “Hail Flutie” – defined his underdog charm; he ran around the pocket like a mad man, heaved the ball as far as he could, then jumped for joy like a little kid once it landed:
Like Rudy, Flutie turned himself into a brand, banking on everything from Flutie Flakes and the Flutie Brothers Band. Still making his home in Boston, he’s often seen on campus, giving fans an opportunity to still bow down in appreciation.
.
3. Peyton Manning (Tennessee)
Peyton Manning is Tennessee football and nobody even comes close to being a bigger face of their program.
UT fans loved him from Day 1, when he spurned his dad’s alma mater, Ole Miss, for Knoxville. Their worship went to a whole new level after Peyton turned down the NFL for his senior season, with billboards across town reading, “Thank You, Peyton.”
It’s easy to forget that it was actually Tee Martin that led them to the national title in ’98, not Manning. And Vols fans are still furious he got passed over for the ’97 Heisman that went to Charles Woodson instead.
The lasting image of Peyton in Knoxville is him conducting the band during his final home game vs. Vanderbilt, a symbol of his reign. To this day, you can find sites like this dedicated solely to Manning’s four years in Knoxville, better known as “the best four years of our lives.” Now each time UT players head on the legendary Vol Walk to the stadium, they do so on Peyton Manning Pass.
.
See above.
Then pick a description: Leader. Champion. Heartthrob. Missionary. The Greatest College Football Player of All-Time. They all work.
Already in 2009, the college football season has been dubbed “The Year of Tebow”, a minor league baseball team has tried to run a “What Would Tim Tebow Do?” promotion night, and a plaque has been placed outside The Swamp with his speech after last year’s Ole Miss loss.
As the media continues fawning over him, there’s been surprising little backlash from fans (other than SEC rivals) because he doesn’t take himself too seriously and is always gracious with the public – even when asked about his virginity.
Or as Tebow puts it: “What can people do if you’re just nice to them?”
And the year of Tebow isn’t even close to finished. Just image the hysteria if he wins his second Heisman and third national title.
.
1. Archie Manning (Ole Miss)
All you have to know about Oxford’s love affair with Archie Manning is that the town’s speed limit is still 18 MPH to honor his jersey number.
The eldest Manning was a two-time Heisman trophy finalist despite being surrounded by inferior talent, and Bear Bryant even called him the finest college football quarterback he’d ever seen. Manning went on to star at QB for the Saints and despite never playing in a postseason game, cemented his status as the most famous athlete in the South.
In an SI poll a couple years ago, Manning was rated the greatest athlete in Mississippi history – ahead of Walter Payton, Jerry Rice and Brett Favre. Recently called the “definition of an icon” by ESPN.com’s Chris Low, Manning was the ideal Southerner: strapping, tough, humble, hard-working, under-stated and charming.
And then there’s his wife and kids that top it all off: the “First Family of Football” – fitting because Archie is like the President of the South. His wife Olivia is his college sweetheart, while sons Peyton and Eli are both Super Bowl champion quarterbacks.
Eat your heart out, Tebow.
.
Reader Submissions:
“No John Cappalletti from Penn State? I would think that a man that gives a Heisman Trophy acceptance speech that they actually make a movie (Something For Joey) about would make that list.” — Eddie
“I would like to nominate Billy Cannon from LSU for this list. After all he’s been through, he is still beloved like no one else in Baton Rouge, our tragic hero so eloquently detailed in Everybody’s All-American.” — Don P.
“Archie Griffin is THE Ohio State University and how much more legendary can you get than winning 2 Heismans???” — Sara Prichard
Liked this story? Click here for Lost Lettermen’s RSS feed and receive all our great content
