Georgia football: 10 Bulldogs who defined Running Back U
By Josh Yourish
NFL: 1990-1997. Rodney Hampton. 5. player. . Georgia: 1987-89. Rodney Hampton. 527. RBU.
Georgia rushing yards: 2,668 Georgia rushing touchdowns: 22
NFL rushing yards: 6,897 NFL rushing touchdowns: 49
The lineage continued from Herschel Walker to Lars Tate to Rodney Hampton. Tate and Hampton overlapped on the 9-3 1987 Georgia Bulldogs. That season, Hampton ran the ball 126 times for 890 yards, an average of 7.1 yards per carry.
Naturally, that level of efficiency dropped in 1988 when he only turned his 128 carries into 719 yards and six touchdowns. In 1989, Ray Goff replaced Vince Dooley and leaned heavily on his third-year running back. Hampton ran for 1,059 yards and 12 touchdowns on 218 carries. He finished his career as Georgia's third all-time leading rusher behind Walker and Tate but has since fallen to No. 9 on that list.
However, Hampton checks in above Tate because of his NFL career. He was drafted No. 24 overall by the New York Giants in 1990 and by his second year became the workhorse for Bill Parcell's team. From 1991 to 1995, Hampton put together five straight 1,000-yard seasons and was twice a Pro Bowler.