MikeHamiltonFan
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I was having a conversation with a friend the other day who is a UGA grad who grew up in Athens. He actually believes this statement is true, "if Georgia had gotten Eric Berry, we would have beaten Florida last year."
Now I do not know about the above statement, but I did start to think about individuals and their impact on programs. Does Florida win the NC without Tebow? I think the answer is no. Does Nebraska win without Crouch? No way. Who are players who are physically gifted enough in your memory to win games that without them the team definitely would have lost. Also who cost their team by being soo bad?
I am not going to say the worst TN player in my lifetime in terms of throwing games away, but it was a RB who fumbled the ball away in soul crushing and game changing ways, taking 75 yard drives and turning them into 6 points for our opponents. Instead I will turn my attention to Alabama.
I was friends with, tutored and played around with lots of TN football players for a time period. I never watched them and thought, "man I could do that better!" However there was someone I did watch and think that about and his name was Freddie Kitchens.
Looking at
Kitchens was the starting quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 1995 to 1997. During his career he threw for 4,668 passing yards and 30 touchdowns. During his three seasons as a starter Alabama went 22-13 and played in the 1993 Gator Bowl, 1994 Citrus Bowl, and the 1996 Outback Bowl. At the time of his departure, he ranked third in the schools history in career passing attempts, fourth in career passing yards and fifth in career completions.
The man is a coach now in the NFL BamaOnLine.com - Where they are now: Freddie Kitchens so he must be pretty smart, but boy was he bad in college. I remember sitting in the end zone at Neyland in wonder as his wide open WR's furiously waved their arms in the end zone and then ran back towards him as he was being sacked. I think he seriously could not throw far enough to hit them. He was fat, slow and did not have a great arm.
When I think of a player physically and emotionally taking over a game in a good way, I think of Vince Young but the QB position is almost too easy to dominate from. At UT Al Wilson dominated. The year that we beat Florida 20-17, Florida may have had a more physically gifted team, but Al needed that victory and he made it happen. He played like a man possessed and made everyone forget about Alex Brown's dominance with an unreal game.
What players can you think of who dominated in a team sport in a good way? What about players who singlehandedly ruined their teams chance to win? Bonus points if you can think of people dominating in good and bad ways from less obvious positions than QB and RB.
Now I do not know about the above statement, but I did start to think about individuals and their impact on programs. Does Florida win the NC without Tebow? I think the answer is no. Does Nebraska win without Crouch? No way. Who are players who are physically gifted enough in your memory to win games that without them the team definitely would have lost. Also who cost their team by being soo bad?
I am not going to say the worst TN player in my lifetime in terms of throwing games away, but it was a RB who fumbled the ball away in soul crushing and game changing ways, taking 75 yard drives and turning them into 6 points for our opponents. Instead I will turn my attention to Alabama.
I was friends with, tutored and played around with lots of TN football players for a time period. I never watched them and thought, "man I could do that better!" However there was someone I did watch and think that about and his name was Freddie Kitchens.
Looking at
Kitchens was the starting quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 1995 to 1997. During his career he threw for 4,668 passing yards and 30 touchdowns. During his three seasons as a starter Alabama went 22-13 and played in the 1993 Gator Bowl, 1994 Citrus Bowl, and the 1996 Outback Bowl. At the time of his departure, he ranked third in the schools history in career passing attempts, fourth in career passing yards and fifth in career completions.
The man is a coach now in the NFL BamaOnLine.com - Where they are now: Freddie Kitchens so he must be pretty smart, but boy was he bad in college. I remember sitting in the end zone at Neyland in wonder as his wide open WR's furiously waved their arms in the end zone and then ran back towards him as he was being sacked. I think he seriously could not throw far enough to hit them. He was fat, slow and did not have a great arm.
When I think of a player physically and emotionally taking over a game in a good way, I think of Vince Young but the QB position is almost too easy to dominate from. At UT Al Wilson dominated. The year that we beat Florida 20-17, Florida may have had a more physically gifted team, but Al needed that victory and he made it happen. He played like a man possessed and made everyone forget about Alex Brown's dominance with an unreal game.
What players can you think of who dominated in a team sport in a good way? What about players who singlehandedly ruined their teams chance to win? Bonus points if you can think of people dominating in good and bad ways from less obvious positions than QB and RB.
