Greatest college football player born in each state
Georgia has also produced a large number of great college football players, including four Heisman Trophy winners. However, there is no debate when it comes to the greatest player ever to hail from the Peach State.
A native of Wrightsville, Georgia, Herschel Walker put together the greatest three-year career ever for a college football running back. In just 33 games, Walker ran for 5,259 yards, which comes to an average of 159.4 per contest. He averaged 1,753 yards per season and scored a total of 49 touchdowns while earning All-American honors in 1980 (when he helped the Bulldogs win the national championship as a freshman), 1981 and 1982 (when he won the Heisman Trophy).
Walker finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting as a true freshman, ranked second as a sophomore, and won the award as a senior to become the first and only player in college football history to finish in the top three in each of his three collegiate seasons.
Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders receive more attention as dual-sport athletes because both played Major League Baseball, but Walker was an All-American sprinter at Georgia and competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics in the two-man bobsled. He also played 16 years of professional football in the USFL and NFL and even fought professionally in two MMA bouts.
Other Notable College Football Players Born in Georgia:
- Champ Bailey, CB, Georgia
- Jim Brown, RB, Syracuse
- Kevin Butler, K, Georgia
- Ray Guy, P, Southern Miss
- John Hannah, OL, Alabama
- Calvin Johnson, WR, Georgia Tech
- Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
- Jim Parker, OL, Ohio State
- David Pollack, DL, Georgia
- George Rogers, RB, South Carolina
- Charlie Ward, QB, Florida State
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