NFL Week 7: Where have you gone, Bert Jones?

Marcus Allen played fullback and blocked for Charles White.

 

Again, that's only two.

And, did Charles White ever have as good an NFL season as Cadillac did?

 

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/ram/1987.htm

1987 with the Rams

 

My thoughts exactly

 

For only one year (2003) and they were rarely all healthy at the same time. Jacobs transferred to Southern Illinois at the end of that season.

 

Very good. Thanks.

Still only two.

 

OK.......... and?

 

I hear there was a kid named Sanders behind Thurman Thomas at Okie State. He turned out pretty good. (I'm assuming that's the mid-'80s OSU reference on the first page.)

 

Yeah, but did they start and graduate at the same time?

 

2000 Miami had Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Frank Gore and Najeh Davenport, plus Jarrett Payton, who got a cup of coffee in the NFL, I think.

Their stats that year:

Portis (Jr.) — 1,304 yards, 11 TDs
Gore (Fr.) — 565 yards, 5 TDs
McGahee (Fr.) — 321 yards, 3 TDs
Davenport (Sr.) — 54 yards, 3 TDs
Payton (Soph.) — 22 yards, 2 TDs

 

So, we are talking only about groups of backs that all played their final seasons the same year?

Penn State had four running backs who went on to start in the NFL on its 1986 National Championship team, including two first-round draft choices (D.J. Dozier and Blair Thomas), but Thomas had his best seasons at Penn State later.

The Vikings took Dozier 14th overall 1987, but he was a bust, starting only 11 games in his career (I thought it was more until I checked Pro-Football-Reference.com). Tim Manoa and Steve Smith split time at fullback for that team and were both 3rd-round selections in '87. Smith was a starter for five of his seven seasons with the Raiders. Manoa started 15 games in 1989 for the Browns.

 

SMU with Craig James and Eric Dickerson. They took a pay cut when they went to the NFL.