WRU? Name Your Top 5 of All-Time

#76
#76
Thunder Good-Oil said:
That's only about 65 yards per game. I doubt that that the majority of those yards were gained crashing into the heart of defenses. I doubt that Stanley ran over too many linebackers.
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65 yards rushing > 19 yards receiving. If he was really WR like you're suggesting, then he was one of the worst in school history since he averaged 9 catches and 191 yards and less than 1 TD receiving per season his soph thru senior seasons. How'd he even get drafted?

I'm just saying/confirming that he was very much a running back his last 3 years at Tennessee who gained the overwhelming majority of his yards via handoff as a tailback and not via reception as a wideout.

Also, remember that it was a different era when you had 195-210lb linebackers and 240 lb d-linemen. Stanley was a very fast, very quick slasher as a running back. He was kind of a poor man's Tony Dorsett....both ran both between and outside of the tackles with success due to their outstanding athletic ability.
 
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#79
#79
KBVol said:
65 yards rushing > 19 yards receiving. If he was really WR like you're suggesting, then he was one of the worst in school history since he averaged 9 catches and 191 yards and less than 1 TD receiving per season his soph thru senior seasons. How'd he even get drafted?

I'm just saying/confirming that he was very much a running back his last 3 years at Tennessee who gained the overwhelming majority of his yards via handoff as a tailback and not via reception as a wideout.

Also, remember that it was a different era when you had 195-210lb linebackers and 240 lb d-linemen. Stanley was a very fast, very quick slasher as a running back. He was kind of a poor man's Tony Dorsett....both ran both between and outside of the tackles with success due to their outstanding athletic ability.
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I didn't suggest that he was a WR. I'm saying that he wasn't a traditional RB. He wasn't 3 yards and a cloud of dust. He was a guy that they'd want to get the ball in space.

Also, even though the stats suggest a lot more runs than receptions, lining up as a WR but not getting thrown to and incomplete passes don't show up as passing plays.

Who else was a RB while Stanley was here? Kelsey Finch? Berry? Haskell Stanback? Rudder? Hubert Simpson?
 
#80
#80
Archie Manning's son played wr here didn't he? Did pretty well. Cannot for the life of me remember his name though... Payson? Pacun? Paydon?
 
#81
#81
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I didn't suggest that he was a WR. I'm saying that he wasn't a traditional RB. He wasn't 3 yards and a cloud of dust. He was a guy that they'd want to get the ball in space.

Also, even though the stats suggest a lot more runs than receptions, lining up as a WR but not getting thrown to and incomplete passes don't show up as passing plays.

Who else was a RB while Stanley was here? Kelsey Finch? Berry? Haskell Stanback? Rudder? Hubert Simpson?
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Sure seemed like you did IMO. You tried to poke holes in how many rushing attempts he had by claiming that he had a bunch of lateral screen passes that counted as rushes....what? That may be technically true, although I strongly doubt it.....but there's little to no chance that it had any significant impact on how he accumulated his offensive touches.

I don't know why so many want to try and debate this. Morgan came in as a WR and moved to RB as a sophomore where he stayed through his senior season. He transitioned back to WR in the NFL at 181 lbs and became a borderline HOF type wideout. Perhaps this is what confuses people?

In 1974, Morgan split carries with Mike Gayles...Morgan had 128 carries and 10 receptions, Gayles 120 and 4.

In 1975, again it was Morgan and Gayles as the primary running backs.....Morgan had 133 carries and all of 2 receptions....Gayles had 137 carries and 3 catches.

Finally, in 1976, Morgan's senior year, he had a lot of help at running back, the carries were spread around a lot, although he carried the ball more than anybody else again other than QB Randy Wallace. Morgan had 90 carries and 14 catches, Bobby Emmons 75/2, Frank Foxx 73/4, Kelsey Finch 67/0, Mike Gayles 60/0 and Hubert Simpson 40/0.

Morgan was incredibly versatile and still holds the school record for all-purpose yards iirc.....he returned punts and kicks in addition to accumulating 3000+ yards from scrimmage. But no matter how you slice it, he was a running back his last 3 years at Tennessee who could also be very effective catching the ball, not a WR who somehow had 8 times as many "rushes" as catches in his career he caught a lot of lateral screens.
 
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#82
#82
KBVol said:
Sure seemed like you did IMO. You tried to poke holes in how many rushing attempts he had by claiming that he had a bunch of lateral screen passes that counted as rushes....what? That may be technically true, although I strongly doubt it.....but there's little to no chance that it had any significant impact on how he accumulated his offensive touches.

I don't know why so many want to try and debate this. Morgan came in as a WR and moved to RB as a sophomore where he stayed through his senior season. He transitioned back to WR in the NFL at 181 lbs and became a borderline HOF type wideout. Perhaps this is what confuses people?

In 1974, Morgan split carries with Mike Gayles...Morgan had 128 carries and 10 receptions, Gayles 120 and 4.

In 1975, again it was Morgan and Gayles as the primary running backs.....Morgan had 133 carries and all of 2 receptions....Gayles had 137 carries and 3 catches.

Finally, in 1976, Morgan's senior year, he had a lot of help at running back, the carries were spread around a lot, although he carried the ball more than anybody else again other than QB Randy Wallace. Morgan had 90 carries and 14 catches, Bobby Emmons 75/2, Frank Foxx 73/4, Kelsey Finch 67/0, Mike Gayles 60/0 and Hubert Simpson 40/0.

Morgan was incredibly versatile and still holds the school record for all-purpose yards iirc.....he returned punts and kicks in addition to accumulating 3000+ yards from scrimmage. But no matter how you slice it, he was a running back his last 3 years at Tennessee who could also be very effective catching the ball, not a WR who somehow had 8 times as many "rushes" as catches in his career he caught a lot of lateral screens.
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Sure. I bet that he had a lot of laterals and pitch plays included in his rushing stats. If he was getting 10 or 15 touches a game most of them were not dives into the heart of the defense. TN used more RBs than WRs in that era and the featured WR was Seivers. Stanley wasn't a traditional RB.
 
#83
#83
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Sure. I bet that he had a lot of laterals and pitch plays included in his rushing stats. If he was getting 10 or 15 touches a game most of them were not dives into the heart of the defense. TN used more RBs than WRs in that era and the featured WR was Seivers. Stanley wasn't a traditional RB.
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Stanley was a versatile RB who got more carries out of the backfield than any other UT RB during that 3 year stretch. He was our first team, primary ball carrier from 1974-1975. Never claimed he was William Howard or Hubert Simpson, just that he sure as heck wasn't Willie Gault or Anthony Hancock by any measure. No matter how you slice it, he was a running back at Tennessee and I've made it my mission in this thread to point that out and subsequently prove it since so many erroneously think he was a wide receiver when he was a Vol.
 
#86
#86
KBVol said:
Stanley was a versatile RB who got more carries out of the backfield than any other UT RB during that 3 year stretch. He was our first team, primary ball carrier from 1974-1975. Never claimed he was William Howard or Hubert Simpson, just that he sure as heck wasn't Willie Gault or Anthony Hancock by any measure. No matter how you slice it, he was a running back at Tennessee and I've made it my mission in this thread to point that out and subsequently prove it since so many erroneously think he was a wide receiver when he was a Vol.
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Post some video.
 
#87
#87
This interview covers both his career at UT and in the NFL. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any game video, just conversation.

"We had our differences when he [Coach Battle] put me in the backfield. I really didn't want to be in the backfield, but they felt that they had to get the ball to me a lot more. We didn't throw the ball that much, even with Condredge Holloway at quarterback. . . . I understood [the move] but I was only about 170 pounds."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYGcnP9Saak
 
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#88
#88
Sports Illustrated had an article in the early 90s where they went through each position and which university had the best reputation at that position. The only ones I remember was that Tennessee was WRU and Penn St was LBU.
 
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#89
#89
TN-POSSUM said:
Sports Illustrated had an article in the early 90s where they went through each position and which university had the best reputation at that position. The only ones I remember was that Tennessee was WRU and Penn St was LBU.
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and when you say LBU you mean Little Boys University, right?
 
#91
#91
Plano Vol said:
Willie Gault always heard footsteps and seemed to care more about his physical well being than the team.

Tim McGee had heart. I would take him over Willie any day.

Eric Swanson was an overachiever. When there was a jump ball situation, Eric always seemed to mug the defender.
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Amen on Swanson. Most underrated WR we've ever had.
 
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