Mount Rushmore of (Insert Your Favorite College Football Team)
 

I like Swagg's NFL thread, and thought a college team would be a good choice. too.


Mount Rushmore, go!



Mine:

WVU Mountaineers:

1. Amos Zereoue
2. Jeff Hostetler
3. Sam Huff
4. Pat White


The last one was close - Avon Coburne, Marc Bulger, Canute Curtis, Aaron Beasley or Gary Stills all jumped out at me.



Who are yours for your school?

Minnesota Golden Gophers

1. Bronko Nagurski
2. Sandy Stephens
3. Bruce Smith
4. Bernie Bierman

If it's only players and not coaches, then probably either Paul Giel or Bobby Bell insteal of Bierman.

Syracuse:

Jim Brown
Ernie Davis
Floyd Little
Donovan McNabb

Apologies to Larry Csonka....we'll find something for you to do in the gift shop.

Rutgers

Brian Leonard
Ray Rice
Mike Teel
Kenny Britt

Grew up going to games with my dad and this is the group that actually made them relevant. My Alma Mater is University of Washington, but I don't have the historical ties there that I have to RU.

Ole Miss Rebels

Archie Manning
Charlie Conerly
Eli Manning
Bruiser Kinard

What, no Troy Nunes?
I would go with the exact same list, in the exact same order.

UNLV Runnin' Rebels

Randall Cunningham
Ickey Woods
Mike Thomas
Keenan McCardell

Thomas is probably a guy most of you haven't heard of. He was a RB, UNLV's first All-American (albeit in D-II) and still holds several of the Runnin' Rebels rushing records. He was also the 1975 Offensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL and made the Pro Bowl in 1976.

I really struggled to find a fourth guy. Not a lot of choices there. Obviously a college basketball Mount Rushmore would be much more interesting. :D

Oklahoma State

1) Barry Sanders
2) Thurman Thomas
3) Justin Blackmon
4) Leslie O'Neal

Nunes is on the Mt. Rushmore of "absolute magicians".

Longhorns:

Vince Young
Ricky Williams
Earl Campbell
Bobby Layne

Clemson
Terry Allen
William Perry
CJ Spiller
Brian Dawkins

I tried doing it for Michigan and 'Bama off the top of my head and I think my head exploded. It would be easier without coaches, but I still think both would be hard to do.

Wolverines:

Tom Harmon
Charles Woodson
Desmond Howard
Anthony Carter

Good argument to be made for going with some coaches here.

Badgers -

Ron Dayne
Alan Ameche
Pat Richter
Al Toon

However.. if coaches are in there, definitely Barry Alvarez. I want to put Hirsch in there, but was only one season

I am just going with players I saw during my lifetime to make this somewhat easier.

Wolverines:

Woodson
Howard
Woodley
Graham

No love for Major Harris?!?!?


Virginia Tech
- Frank Beamer
- Bruce Smith
- Michael Vick
- Frank Loria

Honorable Mention - Carroll Dale & Hunter Carpenter

Kent State:
Josh Cribbs
Jack Lambert
...

Coaches and stuff are being mentioned by many NFL teams so I assume that's valid here:

Georgia Tech

John Heisman
Bobby Dodd
Joe Hamilton
Calvin Johnson

I don't know tech's history quite as well as others so curious to see what digamma among others will say here.

I was gonna say that Major Harris really should have been on the Mountaineers' list, he had a huge hand in bringing WVU to prominence. Maybe even the #1 guy despite having no pro career to speak of (that I know of).

Fresno State Bulldogs
Jim Sweeney
Trent Dilfer
Henry Ellard
Lorenzo Neal

I don;t have Jake Kelshner on it either and he had an undefeated regular season too.


EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention that I consider Hostetler the guy who brought WVU into prominence. In 1982 he defeated two teams ranked in the Top 10, including going into Oklahoma and doing it. During his two-years as starter we were ranked in the top ten in both years

LSU

Billy Cannon (heismen + national championship)
YA Tittle (post lsu accolades choice)
Kevin Faulk (put lsu back on the road that led to the current golden age)
Glenn Dorsey (national championship + only player to ever win Lott, Nagurski, Lombardi, and Outland)

dola, one more bcs bowl win of any type for Miles and I would put him there instead of Tittle.

BYU
I have to make 2 Mount Rushmores for the Cougs, 1 QB and 1 for the rest :)

QB's
Jim McMahon
Ty Detmer
Steve Young
Marc Wilson

Others
Lavell Edwards
Austin Collie
Gordon Hudson
Luke Staley

Surprised the Michigan guys left off Jake Long, he seemed so dominant in college.

Had I decided to go with coaches Schiano is likely on my list.

Arizona State

1) Pat Tillman
2) Jake Plummner
3) Danny White
4) Frank Kush

Indiana:

Anthony Thompson
Trent Green
Antawn Randle-El
Adewale Ogunleye

Kansas State

1. Bill Snyder
2. Bob Stoops
3. Bret Bielema
4. Brent Venables

(Actually, it should just be 4 heads of Bill Snyder)

If you include coaches, you nailed it.

If no coaches, add Pat Swilling and Clint castleberry. Castleberry only played one season but came in third in the heisman voting. Then killed in ww2. Tech's only retired number.

Iowa Hawkeyes

1. Nile Kinnick
2. Chuck Long
3. Alex Karras
4. Andre Tippett

If I were to add coaches it would change, of course. Hayden Fry would be on the list. Probably take Long off. But he was my favorite player growing up. So it would be hard.

Funny, that could be Iowas with the exception of Venables. ;)

Mine for WVU would be

1. Major Harris
2. Pat White
3. Sam Huff
4. Steve Slaton


Pat White was a fantastic football player and one of the best college QBs ever, but Major Harris is still WVU football for me.


The only one I'd add to Abe's list of guys that deserve consideration is Renaldo Turnbull.

Ohio State


Woody Hayes
Archie Griffin
Hopalong Cassady
Orlando Pace

Illinois

Red Grange
Dick Butkus
David Williams
Bob Zuppke

George Halas went there, but I don't think his college playing career was all that prolific. Zuppke, on the other hand, won 4 titles about a century ago. I put Williams in because he was so dominant compared to the other WRs to play at Illinois, while the QBs (Eason, Trudeau, Wilson, George, Kittner) were harder to separate. Ditto defensive players like Simeon Rice, Kevin Hardy, and Moe Gardner who were terrific but not all-timers.