No player carried their team like Walker
You would think players occupying over 40-percent of their team’s offense would have been commonplace decades ago. Surely Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders and the numerous Heisman winning running backs of this era were just as important to their teams as Herschel Walker was to Georgia football. This era isn’t known for passing after all.
But it is true. Walker was a rare breed even in this era. Teams seldom relied on one running back with most teams running some variation of the option, that’s often forgotten by those who believe Bo Jackson to be the greater back between him and Walker.
Not to say Jackson wasn’t a great running back, but he had way more help than Walker in his four years at Auburn. Lionel James gained over 1,500 yards in two seasons as Jackson’s teammate. Tommie Agee rushed for 1,462 yards behind Jackson, while Brent Fullwood rushed for 1,312 yards in two seasons. Based on total yards gained by Auburn, Jackson only accounted for a quarter of their offense. Overall, Auburn as a team was great in 1983, but that was its only year with Jackson in which it won over nine games.
But what about other Heisman winning running backs? Two-time winner Archie Griffin for instance? Griffin didn’t even account for a third of Ohio State’s total yards over his four years. Griffin wasn’t even the Buckeye’s only 1,000-yard rusher in 1975, Pete Johnson joined him above the millennium mark and scored 25 touchdowns (to Griffin’s four) while doing it. Ohio State also had players like Cornelius Greene, Champ Henson and Bruce Elia to take attention away from Griffin.
Other great running backs of this era; Billy Sims, Earl Campbell, Mike Rozier, Charles White and Marcus Allen did not account for as much of their team’s offense throughout their careers as Walker. Walker’s future Dallas Cowboys teammate Tony Dorsett came close in his mid-1970’s career at Pittsburgh, but the Panthers only had one 10-win season with Dorsett.
Only one great running back accounted for more of his team’s total yards than Walker and that’s O.J. Simpson with 48.6-percent of USC’s total offensive yards. The Trojans were fantastic with O.J. Simpson, but Simpson was a junior college transfer and only played two seasons at USC.
Barry Sanders didn’t play in an option offense at Oklahoma State and he had a 2,700-yard Heisman season in his 1988 Heisman Trophy season. Surely he has an argument against Walker. Again, he does not. Sanders only had one great season in Stillwater, the rest was spent as a backup. And in that one great season, quarterback (and current Oklahoma State head coach) Mike Gundy passed for 2,163 yards. Sanders doesn’t have the longevity and he played alongside a great passing game.