Building the Best College Football Team of All Time

19 of 28

UNITED STATES – OCTOBER 05: October 12, 1964 Sports Illustrated Cover, College Football: Illinois Dick Butkus (50) in action vs Northwestern, Champaign, IL 10/5/1963 (Photo by James Drake/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (SetNumber: X9543 TK1) /

Dick Butkus also played center during his career with the Illinois Fighting Illini from 1962-1964, but middle linebacker is where he was most dominant. Butkus was big, strong, mean, nasty and loved to inflict pain on the ball carrier and those attempting to block him.

Butkus was a two-time consensus All-American in 1963 and 1964 and finished sixth and third in the Heisman those years, a remarkable achievement for linemen and linebackers. Butkus finished his career with the Illini with 364 tackles, many of which left ball carries bloodied, bruised and battered and afraid to cross paths again with No. 50.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1978 and is also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was the No. 3 pick in the 1965 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. In 1985, the Butkus Award was created to honor the nation’s best linebacker.

Next: Derrick Thomas

Home/College Football News