Greatest college football player born in each state
No one in college football history has ever had a season like Wichita, Kansas native Barry Sanders in 1988. After spending his first two seasons at Oklahoma State second on the running back depth chart to Thurman Thomas and as a return man on special teams, Sanders exploded as the primary ball carrier for the Cowboys as a junior and set just about every NCAA rushing record in the book.
In only 11 games, Sanders amassed an NCAA record 2,628 rushing yards and 37 touchdowns, meaning he averaged a practically unbreakable 238.9 rushing yards per game. All of those records still stand as the best in Division I history, despite the fact that bowl game statistics didn’t yet count in the official NCAA record books (Sanders actually had 2,850 rushing yards and 42 TDs if you take his Holiday Bowl performance into account).
Understandably, Sanders earned All-American honors, won the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and the Heisman Trophy.
Because the college football season is getting longer and longer, Sanders’ records may one day be broken. But right now, it’s still the unquestioned all-time best performance by a running back, and it’s the biggest reason Sanders is the best college football player ever born in Kansas.
Other Notable College Football Players Born in Kansas:
- Lynn Dickey, QB, Kansas State
- Jim Everett, QB, Purdue
- Kendall Gammon, TE, Pittsburg State
- Mark Haynes, DB, Colorado
- Billy Kilmer, QB, UCLA
- Ron Kramer, E, Michigan
- Terrence Newman, DB, Kansas State
- John Riggins, RB, Kansas
- Will Shields, OL, Nebraska
- Mark Simoneau, LB, Kansas State
- Mal Stevens, HB, Yale
Next: Kentucky