College Football: Top 10 traditional option quarterbacks of all-time
5. Kordell Stewart, Colorado
Kordell “Slash” Stewart signed with Colorado in 1990 as another of Bill McCartney’s quarterbacks on this top 10 list. Stewart was the last of McCartney’s quarterbacks as the coach retired after the 1994 season. He shared the Buffaloes’ backfield with 1994 Heisman Trophy winning running back Rashaan Salaam.
With Stewart and Salaam teaming up the Buffaloes won twenty-eight games over three seasons capped off with an 11-1 campaign in 1994. Stewart was an All-American in 1994 and the Buffaloes won the 1995 Fiesta Bowl pounding Notre Dame 41-24.
Over his three years as a starter in Boulder Stewart threw for 6,481 yards and thirty-three touchdowns with nineteen interceptions on 8.3 yards per attempt. Slash added another 1,725 yards rushing and fifteen touchdowns on 6.3 yards per rush.
Stewart’s most famous moment would have to be the “Miracle at Michigan” where Stewart tossed a sixty-four yard Hail Mary with six seconds left on the clock to beat the Wolverines 27-26 in front of over 106,000 fans packed into the Big House in Ann Arbor.
As a pro, Stewart was a second round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1995 NFL Draft and went on to play in Super Bowl XXX against the Dallas Cowboys. Stewart became a starting quarterback in 1997 and won forty-eight career games in the NFL for the Steelers and Bears.