Stats don't tell the whole story. You can see Palmer's greatness from how he played, the timeliness of his MVP type catches and runs and returns in crucial games where our offenses were not even mediocre. He was a MAJOR THREAT every time he 'got loose' as he weaved and dashed and bounced around like a pinball getting extra yard after extra yard. He put FEAR into the opponents. He was a MAJOR factor in tandem with the defenses in 1991-1992 that allowed us to go 24-1 in those two seasons and a 28 game undefeated untied streak going into the 1993 which carried onto a 30-0-1 streak.
Here's a very short Bio of sorts:
1991 - 314 Rec Yards 3TD , 156 Rushing Yards 1TD, 386 Punt Return Yards 3TD, 257 Kick Return Yards 1TD, 15 Passing Yards 0TD
1,128 Total Yards 8TD's
Signature Moments were a 90 Yard Punt Return TD against Tenn in a game that ended 20-17. In the Bowl game against Colorado he went off with 146 All-Purpose Yards and 2 TD's including a 52 yard Punt return TD that set the tone and a Rec TD for our Final score to narrowly win 30-25. As a Freshman he was the Leading WR, PR, and KR and 3rd on the team in yards from Scrimmage. He was so deathly scary in space that everyone kicked away from him the next 2 years.
1992 - 297 Rec Yards 1TD , 164 Rushing Yards 0TD, 236 Punt Return Yards 1TD, 145 Kick Return Yards 0TD, 0 Passing Yards 0TD
842 Total Yards 2TD's
Signature Moments were a 63 Yard Punt return TD in a NAILBITING game against LA Tech that was only 6-0 Bama late in the 4th Qtr. This was also his return from a 3 game suspension which plays a part in his season stats being lower his Sophomore year. He dropped 101 Rec yards on Florida in the SECCG and He also had a big 38 yard Punt return in the 1993 Sugar Bowl to set up the first score on Miami and set the tone a bit that we came to win.
1993 - 1000 Rec Yards (Bama Record at the Time) 7TD's , 278 Rushing Yards 0TD, 244 Punt Return Yards 0TD, 439 Kick Return Yards 0TD, 260 Passing Yards 2TD's
2,221 Total Yards 9TD's
Consensus All-American - Paul Warfield Award (Top WR) - Heisman Finalist (3rd) The highest an
Alabama player had ever finished at that point.
Of Course the Signature moment here was down 17-9 on the 17 yrd line with 1:44 to go Palmer has 3 Rec for 44 yards and then the HUGE 2-Point conversion RUN to keep the 28 game undefeated streak intact. Just 2 weeks earlier in yet ANOTHER Stallings era nailbiter he wrecked Ole Miss with 243 All-Purpose yards (38 Rushing, 54 Passing, 76 Recieving, 34 KR, and 41 PR) in a 19-14 win.
When his time was over he finished with 4,491 Total Yards and 19 TD's and did it all EVERY way possible. He was a THREAT to Receive, Run from the backfield or from under center at QB, Return Punts and Kicks and even Pass when needed. He was our Deadliest WR ever in a Season during 1993 and set 4 Records.
Most Receiving Yards and Catches in a Season (1,000) and (61) in 1993 which is even more impressive when Barker and Burgdorf only combined for 2,058 passing yards on 146 completions. He also caught 7 or their 8 Total passing TD's.
Highest YPC in Season with a minimum of 50 REC's (16.4) 1993
Most Receiving yards in a single game (217) 1993
I'm still not doing him justice though. You had to SEE him play and the affect he had in games when our offenses were VERY conservative and average at best. He never had close to the type of surrounding talent we have had lately. He was ELECTRIC and sparked not only the crowd but the team. I'll say this. IF he had come back in 1994.... He would have won our 1st Heisman and we also would have won the National Championship and he would have set some records that would still be standing.
He is at LEAST a Top 10 All-Time player for Bama. Putting him at 100 just makes that list hot garbage before it could even get started.
