Was thinking about something the other day. The runs teams go on almost have to include a run of 3+ years from a transcendent player. I’m not talking Murray, a truly exceptional college football player, but not transcendent. When you get those years, you get an unprecedented run, because it sometimes even takes a year to learn how to win.
Dorsett at Pitt
-Freshman year went to first bowl in like 16 years (6-5-1)
-sophomore (7-4)
-Jr (8-4) Finished #15
-12-0 and national champs
Walker at UGA – you know the story
Bo @ Auburn (this is really a testament as to how average Pat Dye was as a coach)
-82 – barely lost out on SEC to Walker and UGA
-83 – won SEC and probably should have been crowned MNC. Went 11-1
-84 - 9-4
-85 – 8-4
Weurffel @ Florida
-93 – SEC champs
-94 – SEC champs
-95 – SEC champs and got curb stomped in MNC game
-96 – SEC champs and finally won it all
Manning @ UT
-94 – came on late to start in mid-season
-95 -11-1
-96 -10-2
-97 -12-1 – Manning finally got his SEC Title
Lienart/Bush @ USC
-03 – 12-1 AP National champs
’04 – 12-0 BCS Champs
’05 – 11-1 lost BCS championship
Tebow @ UF
-’06 – BCS champs
-’07 – 9-4
-08 – 13-1 BCS champs
-’09 – 13-1 lost to 12-0 Bama in SEC title game
And, you look at guys like Luck at Stanford as guys that took 3 years to elevate a terrible program to national prominence. Essentially, it takes a talent to stay healthy and stick around to go on a run. When I look at Richt’s tenure, we’ve had a handful of players that you could call transcendant:
Pollack
Knowshon
AJ
Gurley
Pollack played 4 years, and look at the results we got. Knowshon played 2 years. AJ played what seemed like about 10 games in 3 years. Todd played one entire season. We came within a breath of all the marbles.
If Nick is healthy for 3 years, maybe even 4…who knows what’ll happen. I just know that it takes a transcendent player a few seasons to go on a run.
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