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This was really cool this week. The
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Athletic delivered the top 25
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college football players of the 1990s. I
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love this. I really I loved this story
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and I thought it was so cool to kind of
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go back through history and look at the
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type of players that maybe you had
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forgotten about because they were so
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good at the time that you thought you'd
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never forget them and then you look back
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and go, "Wow, that's right."
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As a Syracuse alum who was at SU during
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the final two years of Donovan McNabb's
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brilliance there, '97 and '98,
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I was so happy to see McNabb recognized
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as the number 20 greatest player of the
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1990s in college football because I
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think there is a generation or two of
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Syracuse football fans that have no idea
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how great it used to be and how great
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number five was. McNabb in it in an era
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where offensive numbers were not crazy
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unless you played at Houston or BYU,
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unless you were playing in some type of
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crazy pre-air raid system. In the
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mid-to-late '90s, offenses were pro
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style. Offenses were ground based. In
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college football, offenses were always
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about running the football first to set
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And McNabb as a dual threat star was
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elite, elite at both. And he brought the
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points that they, even as good as the
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'80s and '90s were before he got there,
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that even they had not been in a long,
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long time. He went to the Big House at
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Michigan in Ann Arbor and won there.
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He beat the brakes off of Miami when
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Miami was just a few years removed from
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their dynasty of the '80s and '90s,
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He went to a Fiesta Bowl. He went to an
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Orange Bowl. I mean, Syracuse won the
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Big East when the Big East still had
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elite Miami and elite Virginia Tech and
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elite football teams in it and they won
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that conference. They went to the Orange
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McNabb was brilliant and because
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Syracuse football has been such an
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up-and-down roller coaster and mostly
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down for the last 20 years,
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I just think people forget how great he
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was. He was drafted number two overall
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by the Eagles. He ended up being
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a 15-year starter in the NFL. He went to
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five NFC Championship games in the Super
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Bowl, but he is largely remembered for
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puking in the Super Bowl in the fourth
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quarter, feuding with Terrell Owens, and
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now kind of saying goofy things to the
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media sometimes. It's not right because
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his football his football history is
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was is without peer in many ways from a
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college standpoint. And even in the NFL,
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he had an excellent excellent career.
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So, I was really happy to see Bruce
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Feldman from The Athletic list him as
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player of the 1990s. And the list, I
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mean, you look at some of these guys,
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just phenomenal players. And I'm I
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really like this list. Just behind
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McNabb was Eddie George who was a beast
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at Ohio State at number 21.
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Okay, just ahead of McNabb at number 19,
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Blocked out that entire side of the
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Steve Atwater who was a draft bust but
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ended up, you know, was a unbelievable
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player at Washington, part of a national
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championship team. Warren Sapp at 17,
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and Sapp was a beast as part of the
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Miami great teams. Dre' Bly, North
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Carolina at number 16, shut down guy.
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Desmond Howard number 15. And yeah,
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Desmond Howard's not just a College
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GameDay legend. He was an actual legend.
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Danny Wuerffel, never had a great NFL
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career, but he was dynamic for that '96
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Florida Gator team that won the national
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championship. Florida State linebacker
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Marvin Jones at 13, Teddy Bruschi from
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Arizona number 12, Ray Lewis at Miami
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number 11, he was filthy. Champ Bailey,
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ridiculous all-around player number 10
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from Georgia. Peyton Manning nine, Ron
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Dayne eight was never great NFL back,
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but my god was he productive. He ran for
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1,800 yards and 19 touchdowns for
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Wisconsin when he won the Heisman.
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Charlie Ward seven, Marshall Faulk six.
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You think Faulk was great in the NFL?
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Check out his San Diego State stats.
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Number five, Randy Moss. Number four,
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Ricky Williams. Number three, Tommy
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Frazier, who never had an NFL career,
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but my god, for the Cornhuskers, they
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were unstoppable when he ran the option.
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Orlando Pace number two and Charles
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Woodson number one who won a Heisman as
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a defensive player and a special teams
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star for the '97 Wolverines. The number
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one player of the 1990s in college
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football was a great list. Great to read
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through it. I thought it was awesome.
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But in general, yeah, I just think
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McNabb gets forgotten because Syracuse
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football has been such a
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an afterthought, so they're never in big
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games anymore. So they never get to kind
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of dust off some of the old highlights
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and some of the old legends. But man,
