• Welcome to Green Bay Packers NFL Football Forum & Community!
    Packer Forum is one of the largest online communities for the Green Bay Packers.

    You are currently viewing our community forums as a guest user.

    Sign Up or

    Having an account grants you additional privileges, such as creating and participating in discussions. Furthermore, we hide most of the ads once you register as a member! Furthermore, we hide most of the ads once you register as a member!

22 Days to Florida Gator Football! #22 Emmitt Smith

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator

22 – Emmitt Smith, Florida Gators




24 – Emmitt Smith, Escambia Gators

Emmitt James Smith III was born the second of five children in a podunk town in the panhandle of Florida called Pensacola. “Scoey” started scooting about the football field while he was a young lad growing up in the Attucks Court projects of Pensacola. As an 8-year old, Scoey took his first carry in Pop Warner football to the house on a 70-yard scamper. Not bad for a kid that was too small and too slow to play Pop Warner! This slow, short tailback continued to amaze the masses at Salvation Army and Bellview until he caught the eye of coach Dwight Thomas at Escambia high school. Coach Thomas never considered starting a freshman, especially a small, slow one like Emmitt…until he saw the kid in action. Here in Pensacola, Emmitt is remembered for wearing orange and blue jersey #24 for the Escambia Gators, not #22. Coach Thomas’ gamble on the freshman paid out as Emmitt rushed for 106 touchdowns and 8,804 yards (second most yardage in the history of American high school football at the time) and led Escambia to back-to-back state championships in 1984 and 1985. He rushed for over 100 yards in 45 of the 49 games he started for Escambia and finished with a 7.8 yards per carry average. Smith was named the USA Today and Parade magazine high school player of the year for 1986. Despite the accolades, prominent scouts still chided him for being too small and too slow. Emmitt was heavily recruited by Pat Dye of Auburn (the other orange and blue), Bobby Bowden of Florida State (the other Florida college), and Tom Osborne of Nebraska. Thankfully, Emmitt elected to attend the University of Florida despite ongoing NCAA sanctions against the Gators. Under Galen Hall, Emmitt did not start his first two games as a Gator, but he exploded onto the scene with a 66-yard touchdown run, 109 yards total in 10 carries in week 2 and earned the starting position for week 3, where he pummeled SEC foe Alabama to the tune of 224 yards and 2 touchdowns for a Florida single-game record. Emmitt singlehandedly carried the team, since NCAA sanctions hurt the depth chart and the offense lacked other offensive weapons. Defenses keyed in on Emmitt and hampered him with injuries. Despite this obstacle, Emmitt left Florida owning 58 school records, made the All-SEC 1st team all three years, and was the SEC MVP and 1st team All-American in his final year. Not bad for a kid that was too small and too slow to be a successful running back. I hear that after the Dallas Cowboys drafted him with pick #17 in 1989, Emmitt did pretty well for himself in the pros.
 

Escambia94

Aerospace Cubicle Engineer (ACE)
Moderator
Honorable Mention: John L Williams

Good idea! Here is some information on John L. Williams, my #57 rated top Gator!

John L. Williams came to Gainesville as one of the greatest Florida high school football players of all time. He played fullback for Charley Pell's and Galen Hall's Florida Gators from 1982 to 1985 where he shared the backfield with tailback Neal Anderson behind the Great Wall of Florida and was part of the two best seasons of Gator football, the 9-1-1 seasons of 1984 and 1985. In those seasons, John L. was named 2nd team All SEC and honorable mention All American. He finished his career with 2477 rushing yards on 478 attempts (5.2 YPA) with 14 TDs, 863 yards receiving, and 156 yards in kick returns. He was the 15th overall pick of the 1986 NFL Draft (fellow Gator Neal Anderson was 27th) where he went on to play for the Seattle Seahawks from 1986 to 1993. He finished his NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1994 to 1995 alongside fellow Gator running back James Jones. He was admitted to the University of Florida Athletic Association (UAA) Hall of Fame as a Gator Great in 1997.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
20,339
Messages
90,513
Members
1,226
Latest member
GeorgeDuema
Top