Greatest college football player born in each state
Nov 22, 2014; West Point, NY, USA; A general view of Michie Stadium between the Army Black Knights and the Fordham Rams. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
Many great college football players hail from Michigan, though one of the best and most unique is Pete Dawkins, who was the third and final Heisman Trophy winner from Army. Dawkins accounted for 919 total yards (which ranked third in the country), scored six touchdowns for the Black Knights in 1958, and helped the team finish ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll with an 8-0-1 record. An incredible receiver, Dawkins averaged 30.7 yards per catch that year.
In his three years in West Point, Dawkins ran for 1,123 yards and scored 11 touchdowns on the ground and added 716 receiving yards with nine TD grabs. He also had 88 passing yards and another score through the air.
Of course, Dawkins’ impact reached far beyond his college football career. As Kieran Darcy of ESPN.com pointed out in 2011:
"Academically, Dawkins also was a superstar, winning a Rhodes Scholarship and going on to study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford. Before that, he was Brigade Commander, president of his class, captain of the football team and a Star Man (in the top 5 percent of his class academically) — the only cadet in West Point history to hold all four honors at once. Following his time at Oxford, Dawkins served 24 years in the Army, winning two Bronze Stars for Valor in Vietnam and rising to the rank of Brigadier General. After his retirement from the armed forces in 1983, he entered the business world. He ran for a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey as a Republican in 1988, but lost to incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg."
Other Notable College Football Players Born in Michigan:
- Jerome Bettis, RB, Notre Dame
- Jon Jansen, OL, Michigan
- Pepper Johnson, LB, Ohio State
- Bennie Oosterbaan, Michigan
- Andre Rison, WR, Michigan State
- Jim Seymour, WR, Notre Dame
- Chester Taylor, RB, Toledo
- Tyrone Wheatley, RB, Michigan
- Reggie Williams, LB, Dartmouth
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