College football has been around for 151 years and the best running back ever played for Georgia football from 1980-to-1982.
Herschel Walker is the greatest running back in college football history. The entire Georgia football fanbase knows this. Many people outside the fan base know this as well, but if you spend enough time on sports news websites, channels, blogs and social media, you’ll see cases made for several other running backs.
Bo Jackson and Barry Sanders are popular names in the “greatest running back” discussion. You might hear or see someone bring up Archie Griffin, OJ Simpson or Ron Dayne. But there’s no case for those players, there’s no case for anyone else.
Certainly, there are other running backs with more career rushing yards or better rushing seasons that Walker. Many running backs have more touchdowns and better yards-per-carry averages. The argument for who the greatest running back of all-time should go beyond those stats.
To figure out who the greatest is, the questions you should ask are, “which running back was most important to his team,” and then ask, “what did that team accomplish.” The answer to that first question is Herschel Walker, the answer to the second is the 1980 National Championship, three-straight SEC Championships and a 33-3 record in three years.
No team in college football history accomplished more by putting so much on the shoulders of one man than Georgia football with Herschel Walker. Not Oklahoma State with Barry Sanders. Not Oklahoma with Billy Sims. Definitely not Auburn with Bo Jackson.