Who is the Best KU Running Back of All Time?

Or maybe your top five, since that one is pretty obvious. Hit comments to get in.

Comments

[bryan]

gale "the kansas comet" sayers

[DJ]

yep, I should have made it more interesting by qualifying it as after 1990.

However, the Comet has to be the one. Interesting that June Henley, Tony Sands, Laverne Smith and Clark Green all finished with more career yards though. When I was a kid, I thought Kerwin Bell was big time. His best season of 1114 yards only ranks as the 11th best in KU history.

For players that I've watched live though, I would throw Henley, Sands, Cornish, B-Mac, Winbush and Moran Norris out there. Man, I loved watching Norris light up DBs. One of the few bright spots of the Terry Allen era.

[AzHawk97]

Doesn't this say it all:

396 yards
58 carries
4 TD's
KU 53 MU 29

"Tuxedo" Tony Sands

[DJ]

You know, that's going to be tough for Deshaun to live up to .... if he can't put up a 400-yard game, he won't even have braggin' rights on his dad.

[Pbbut]

After Sayers, even with only four posts it's hard for me to believe the name John Riggins hasn't come up. My favorite was Laverne Smith, 100-yd. Big 8 track champion, too,

[DJ]

Yep, Riggins and Smith should be both be discussed. The problem for me is that I never really saw them play in college. Obviously, you get your name on the Ring of Honor, you're pretty good. For discussion purposes, here are the top 10 career rushing leaders at KU:

June Henley
Tony Sands
Laverne Smith
Clark Green
Gale Sayers
John Riggins
David Winbush
L.T. Levine
Jon Cornish
Kerwin Bell

[CW]

I can't believe Clark Green is ranked that high...not because he was horrible or anything...but he just wasn't ever really a game changer. He was consistent and dependable for years upon years but it wasn't like he was dominant or anything. That is crazy.

As far as Moran Norris being one of the only bright spots of the Terry Allen years...he may very well be THE only bright spot.

John Riggins is probably my all time favorite. He was a Kansas kid, who played for the Jayhawks...that in and of itself is awesome. Then he had that mustache...you know what I am talking about...the one that was a cross between John Holmes and Lucifer. It was awesome.

[DJ]

In 2002, they really ran Clark Green into a brick wall on every play. In what was really a dismal season, that guy went to war as a true freshman. Running backs only have so many hits to give in life and I think CG used up most of his career in 2002. He was a solid back for us from 2003-2005, but I don't think he ever was quite the same after 2002. Still, my opinion is that he set a great example of what KU football would be going forward throughout his career. Plus, he always played his best against Missouri.

[CW]

You know, the 2003 team had two really good options at running back. Clark Green was the starter, but John Randle came in and contributed. That was a great one-two punch. It sucks that Randle got into a little trouble later on down the road because he could have just been a beast for Mangino...maybe he could have sparked a turnaround a year or two sooner. Then again...maybe not...who knows.

I used lived down the hall from Clark Green one year at KU. He was just an incredibly nice guy. My mom used to make him and a bunch of the other football players cookies when my family would come up to see me. Brandon Rideau and Clark Green helped her bring some groceries up to my room the first week of school...so she made them cookies. Then the other guys ate them and wanted some...so she just kept bringing more and more up.

At one point, I am pretty sure that she was making cookies and brownies for half of the defense, most of the offensive line, and a lot of the backs and receivers. She had no idea that any of them played football until about 3/4 of the way through the year. She was watching the jumbo-tron in Memorial when she started to recognize faces...it was actually pretty funny.

The line was quite literally "Hey, that's Clark, I KNOW him....GOOOO CLARK!" I about fell out of my chair.

[moyae84]

Clark was a good back. I remember Mangino getting mad at him for putting on weight and losing a step or two. Him coming out really allowed then junior Cornish a chance to shine though.

[DJ Goodwin]

Good stuff on Green and Rideau, CW. You don't always hear the good stories like that one.

I also checked out stats for 2002 and I guarantee that the 813 yards Clark got that year were the toughest earned yards in the NCAA.

http://kansas.rivals.com/playerstats.asp?Team=KANSAS&year=2002

Flip over to the 2003 stats and you'll see that he came up about 50 yards short of 1,000 and also added another 44 receptions. That's one thing I remember -- he was a favorite target for Whittemore.