As exciting as Tennessee basketball is right now, forget not that spring football is resuming.
Dynamic athlete Boo Carter has stirred up some what-if. Surprising that Dr. Danny hasn’t yet moved the drills to the stadium and tried for three sellouts each week.
Boo is campaigning for triple duty – defensive back, slot receiver and punt returner. It was inevitable. He did that and more as the state’s Mr. Football at Bradley Central High in 2023. He told Vol recruiters that was what he wanted to continue doing. Nobody dared say no.
There is added inspiration and motivation. Travis Hunter gathered fame and fortune as a two-way player at Colorado. He won the Heisman Trophy.
Boo is multi-talented, 5-11 and 200, strong, nimble, quick and competitive. He also talks a lot. He might be able to sometime sell Bush’s beans as does Peyton Manning.
There were unsettling Boo days early in this off-season, a rumor in the wind that another school had offered a larger NIL payday. We didn’t hear Carter say a word.
He had earned Southeastern Conference all-freshman recognition. He was on the academic honor roll. He took over the Star position at midseason and made a difference for the defense – 38 tackles, three for losses, one sack, one interception and three quarterback hurries. He was very promising as a punt returner.
Boo and his guidance council didn’t issue a public threat of transferring but he did receive a raise.
His ambitions have alarmed Tennessee fans. Oh my, what if Boo gets tired.
Some in the great Vol Nation don’t realize college football used to be an iron-man game, a vigorous test of endurance and willpower. Players earned positions based on versatility. Because of restrictive substitution rules, many players played every snap, offense and defense. They rested at halftime.
There were no 330-pound offensive linemen because they couldn’t play chase-and-catch defense. Great quarterbacks were also safeties who broke up enemy pass plays and tried to tackle breakaway runners when there was no other choice.
Name-dropping from my historical file:
Jim Thorpe was an all-time great running back and defensive back for Carlisle, 1911-12 and other years at his convenience. He was good enough that eligibility wasn’t a factor.
Bronko Nagurski, fullback and defensive tackle at Minnesota, 1927-29, was legendary. Great name, rugged dude.
Paul Hornung, quarterback, halfback and defensive back, Notre Dame, 1954-56, won the only Heisman Trophy ever awarded to a player from a losing team. I thought John Majors deserved that prize.
Dick Butkus, linebacker and center, Illinois, 1962-63, was one tough guy both ways.
Football changed in 1964 to, more or less, what it is today. Specialists took over. There are many great athletes now doing only what they do best.
Two-way players of this era, good enough for Boo to use as measuring sticks:
Hunter won the big award as a wide receiver and defensive back. He also won Walter Camp, AP and Sporting News national player of the year awards, the Bednarik and Lott IMPACT Trophy for defensive player of the year, the Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player and the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver. He had 96 receptions for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Hunter’s other measurables were four interceptions and 15 passes defended. The NFL will tell us what is his top talent.
Travis is a good story. He was raised in Boynton Beach, Florida, before moving to Suwanee, Georgia. He became a five-star recruit who said he was going to Florida State but flipped on signing day to Jackson State “to learn and grow under one of the greatest football players and most versatile athletes in history, Coach Prime.”
Of course he followed the leader, Deion Sanders, to Colorado.
Champ Bailey, DB/WR, Georgia, had 52 tackles, three interceptions and seven pass breakups plus 47 catches, 744 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 1998.
Charles Woodson, DB/WR, Michigan, had seven interceptions and 11 catches for 231 yards and three touchdowns (two receiving and one rushing) in a unanimous All-American, national championship season of 1997.
Ah yes, Charles was good. Against Ohio State, he returned a punt for a touchdown, picked off a pass in the end zone and had a 37-yard reception. As a favored son and Heisman promotional beneficiary of ESPN, he was all-world.
Closing thought (a deliberate distraction): Woodson’s “Heistman” was more than a million or so Tennessee fans could tolerate. Peyton was not a two-way player but he was the No. 1 choice at draft time. Strange, indeed, was the fact that 110 trophy voters left Manning off their 1-2-3 ballots.
I thought the fix was in. My best Michigan friend has several times said “get over it.” Not yet. Maybe never.
Note to Boo: No Vol has won the Heisman Trophy but two-way might help your chances.
Personal reminder: Basketball resumes on Friday.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
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