Re: Derrick Thomas Snubbed Yet Again for College HoF
What an utter disgrace.
Let me say this - I did not see Lee Roy Jordan play. But I'll say this - Derrick Thomas was the most dominating college linebacker I ever saw. Keep in mind he wasn't a full-fledged starter his first two years because a certain college football HOFer named Cornelius Bennett was the star. He didn't have the mouth of Brian Bosworth. Thomas just went out there and dominated. He finished tenth in the 1988 Heisman voting - and that was back when defensive players virtually never even got consideration for it. (I can't complain that Barry Sanders won it - he deserved it). He was far better than Suh or Teo, who both got hype and undeserved high finishes in recent years.
Go back and look at 1988. Alabama finished 9-3 and a fan threw a brick through Bill Curry's window* they were so angry at the Ole Miss loss. Yet without Derrick Thomas, we probably fire Curry at the end of that year. The man single-handedly won the Penn State game. The final was 8-3, and Thomas had eight tackles including three sacks - including the safety. He sacked Kentucky four times in a game we trailed, 17-0, in the third quarter and won, 31-27, on the last play. And we beat Tennessee primarily because of Thomas as well. Three losses there makes a 9-3 year a 5-6 year - and probably gets Bill Curry fired.
To give some of you young folks an idea......think about who we've had as fearsome pash rushers lately - McClain, Dareus, Hightower, Upshaw - I'd take Thomas over all of them combined without pausing. I'd take Thomas over any other single Alabama linebacker I've ever seen play and that says a LOT folks. In the 1988 Sun Bowl, he blocked TWO field goal attempts, broke up a pass, and made SIX unassisted tackles (two for loss) against Army's wishbone. Once again - without Thomas we lose that game and badly as we gave up 350 yards rushing (the same total we got against UGA last December).
Boy I'm hot about this one.
* - allegedly. We still need a Snopes investigation.
What an utter disgrace.
Let me say this - I did not see Lee Roy Jordan play. But I'll say this - Derrick Thomas was the most dominating college linebacker I ever saw. Keep in mind he wasn't a full-fledged starter his first two years because a certain college football HOFer named Cornelius Bennett was the star. He didn't have the mouth of Brian Bosworth. Thomas just went out there and dominated. He finished tenth in the 1988 Heisman voting - and that was back when defensive players virtually never even got consideration for it. (I can't complain that Barry Sanders won it - he deserved it). He was far better than Suh or Teo, who both got hype and undeserved high finishes in recent years.
Go back and look at 1988. Alabama finished 9-3 and a fan threw a brick through Bill Curry's window* they were so angry at the Ole Miss loss. Yet without Derrick Thomas, we probably fire Curry at the end of that year. The man single-handedly won the Penn State game. The final was 8-3, and Thomas had eight tackles including three sacks - including the safety. He sacked Kentucky four times in a game we trailed, 17-0, in the third quarter and won, 31-27, on the last play. And we beat Tennessee primarily because of Thomas as well. Three losses there makes a 9-3 year a 5-6 year - and probably gets Bill Curry fired.
To give some of you young folks an idea......think about who we've had as fearsome pash rushers lately - McClain, Dareus, Hightower, Upshaw - I'd take Thomas over all of them combined without pausing. I'd take Thomas over any other single Alabama linebacker I've ever seen play and that says a LOT folks. In the 1988 Sun Bowl, he blocked TWO field goal attempts, broke up a pass, and made SIX unassisted tackles (two for loss) against Army's wishbone. Once again - without Thomas we lose that game and badly as we gave up 350 yards rushing (the same total we got against UGA last December).
Boy I'm hot about this one.
* - allegedly. We still need a Snopes investigation.
