Georgia football: Herschel Walker is college’s greatest back and that shouldn’t be up for debate

Herschel Walker was Georgia’s offense.

In Herschel Walker’s three seasons with Georgia football, the team accumulated 13,019 yards. 5,502 of those yards belonged to Herschel Walker. Walker accounted for 42.3-percent of Georgia’s yards over his entire career.

Walker’s chunk of Georgia’s offense also reflects in the total number of plays that involved him with the ball. The Bulldogs ran 2,417 plays in Walker’s three seasons, 1,020 either involved Walker receiving a handoff or a pass.

Georgia football really didn’t have a plan-B when Walker played. Buck Belue had a pair of decent passing seasons with Lindsay Scott catching a vast majority of his passes, but that was it for Georgia’s offense. None of Walker’s backup running backs carried the ball more than 70 times or gain more than 400 yards in any season.

Despite Georgia football placing the weight of its entire offense on Walker’s shoulders, he never faltered and opposing defenses never stopped him. Walker played in 36 Georgia football games, eclipsing 100 yards in 28 of them.

Walker averaged 5.4 yards per scrimmage throughout his career and he owns the school record for rushing yards per game with 159.4. No one in Georgia football history comes anywhere close to that average. His nine 200-yard games is another school mark no one is close to catching.

Georgia football’s over-reliance on Walker rarely cost it. Georgia won a national championship in 1980, only lost three games and won the SEC Championship ever year with Walker. After a great second half by Walker in the 1982 Sugar Bowl against Penn State, the Bulldogs were one defensive stop away from possibly a second title in three years.

Opposing teams knew what was coming, a toss or handoff to Walker, and they never had an answer. Simply put, Walker dominated and the nation took notice. Walker won the Heisman trophy in 1982 after finishing third in voting as a freshman and second as a sophomore.