I saw Emmitt at Florida Field before his college
career ever began. Pensacola Escambia played West Palm
Beach Cardinal Newman in a "bowl game" at the end of
the 1986 high school football season. Emmitt had a
game that didn't wow casual observers, but sure wowed
me. His patience running the ball, ability to avoid
clean hits and beautifully thrown halfback pass all
added up to a guy playing at another level even then.
Escambia won that game and afterwards all the media
wanted to talk with Emmitt. While he obviously liked
Florida a lot, he was pretty coy about the recruiting
process. And he said one thing that had to worry
Florida partisans. When asked about the artificial
surface at Florida Field he responded, "It's hard.
Man, it's hard." Still he signed up to play on that
hard rug and became UF's all-time single season rusher
and the man who almost single handedly carried the
Gator program through the most painful effects of NCAA
scholarship cuts. In the pantheon of great
accomplishments in UF football history, Emmitt running
for 3,928 yards in three years with those offensive
lines and those limited passing games is at the top of
the list.
I remember speaking to the Polk County Gator Club
prior to the start of the 1987 season. It was the
first speaking engagement I had ever done outside of
Gainesville and was just ten days before the season
opener. I told the club that night (and there are
witnesses to back me up!) that Emmitt would be
Florida's starter as a freshman, would run for a
thousand yards in his first year and would break the
school rushing record (3,234) held by Neal Anderson. I
gave the same prediction to a club in Orlando a week
later, and was somewhat concerned when Emmitt had all
of 16 yards on five carries in the season opener with
Miami. Fortunately the coaching staff gave up on the
"bring him along slowly" mindset and Emmitt gained 109
off the bench against Tulsa. Game three was in
Birmingham against Alabama and the freshman sensation
carried 39 times for 224 yards in a stunning Florida
win (23-14) and his legend was officially being
written.
To me, the Alabama game was Emmitt's greatest, but I
am proud to say I was on the microphone for
SportsChannel Florida when Emmitt set the school
record with 316 yards against New Mexico. Florida
barely won that game (27-21) but the joy was
short-lived since the following week was perhaps the
most disappointing of Emmitt's Gator career. With
Donald Douglas at quarterback (1-for-5 passing)
Florida rode Emmitt like never before. Against
eight-man fronts, nine-man fronts, eleven-man fronts
Florida kept giving it to Emmitt… and it almost
worked. Florida gave up a late touchdown pass as
Auburn pulled out a 10-7 win and Emmitt Smith openly
wept on the sidelines. It showed how important winning
was to the guy and convinced me he would be even
better at the next level.
Part of me will always regret not seeing Emmitt in
Steve Spurrier's offense. He could have run for
15-hundred yards and caught another 50 passes in the
fun and gun. And he would have gotten even with Auburn
and Georgia, two teams he never beat. Emmitt's career
rushing record was taken away by Errict Rhett, but he
still has a pretty impressive list of UF marks:
- most yards in a season (1,599 '89)
- career rushing touchdowns (36)
- 100-yard games (23)
- consecutive 100-yard games (8)
- average rushing yards per season (1,309)
Emmitt leaves the NFL as the All-time leading rusher,
but the thing I'll remember most is the game he played
against "my" New York Giants in 1993 when he ran for
over 200 yards despite a separated shoulder. He was
NFL MVP for that season as well as Super Bowl MVP.
Rushing Record May Not Last Long
I've been astounded by the nearly unanimous view from
national analysts that Emmitt's record is safe for a
long time. Allow me to introduce you to Curtis Martin.
The New York Jets runner is less than five thousand
yards behind Emmitt and is four years younger than the
Gator great. In the last four seasons, Martin has
totaled 5,612 yards. That's about 600 yards more than
he needs over the next four years to break Emmitt's
mark. Considering he has gained 1,000-plus in all ten
of his NFL seasons, he seems to be a pretty good bet
to give it a run. One key to Martin staying healthy
may be for the Jets to cut down on the times they
throw the ball to Martin (he averages 46
receptions/year) in order to cut down on the wear and
tear somewhat.
UF Wall Of Fame?
Gainesville Sun Sports Columnist Pat Dooley chose the
occasion of Emmitt's retirement to renew a call for a
"Wall of Fame" at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. It's a
discussion many have had before, especially since
Florida "unretired" number 11 and number 55 upon
Spurrier's arrival as head coach. I don't think the
stadium sets up well for a "ring of honor" that
several stadiums have, so I'm not sure that would work
aesthetically. Perhaps something outside in the area
where the North End Zone meets the West stands.
If there is a "Wall of Honor" then comes the debate:
how many names should be on it to start with? Then
should there be one addition each year? Two? What
should the criteria be? All-American? Championship
team? UF graduate? How significantly should their pro
career be considered? What about non-football
accomplishments?
Who should make those decisions? Ideally you would
have a committee that includes former players,
coaches, administrators and media.
Here's my committee:
- Keith Tribble
- Red Anderson
- Norm Carlson
- Jack Hairston
- Nat Moore
- Lee McGriff
- Carlos Alvarez
They ought to be able to get it done, although Alvarez
and Moore might be poor choices because they
could/should be candidates.
Next column, I will choose the first ten inductees to
the Wall of Honor. Ten might seem like too many, but
the first four (Spurrier, Wuerffel, Smith, Youngblood)
are so freakin' obvious I had to have something to
create an argument with.
Keep those emails coming!
Don't forget to email me your questions and comments, but please do not include attachments! My email address is: vettel@gatorcountry.com .
I look forward to you joining me on the radio, Sunday nights from 6:00-to-8:00 on Gainesville's WSKY-FM 97.3 (877/975-9825 toll free)
Have a great week.