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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Woodling

Woodling: Sayers utilized properly

By Chuck Woodling

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Gale Sayers received his Medicare card a couple of months ago, and you know what that means.

People who sat in the Memorial Stadium stands back in the early '60s and watched the man many consider the greatest open-field runner in college football history are becoming fewer and fewer.

I never saw Sayers perform in person, yet, like most of you, I've heard plenty about how amazing he was. At the same time, the Sayers legend has been dogged over the years by speculation he was underutilized.

Should Jack Mitchell, Sayers' coach at Kansas University, have used "The Kansas Comet" more often than he did?

That question arose again in a just-published book penned by former Kansas University Chancellor Gene Budig, a slim paperbound that contains pocket biographies of nine people Budig admires.

In the chapter on Sayers, Budig resurrects a quote from the late Bob Devaney, the man generally credited with turning Nebraska University football into a religion in The Cornhusker State.

In reference to Sayers, Devaney says, "I would have run him a lot more than Kansas did." Then Budig adds that Tom Osborne, Devaney's successor in the NU pulpit, feels the same way.

Parenthetically, Budig's book "Grasping the Ring" also contains a chapter on Devaney. The other anointees are George Steinbrenner, Jerry Reinsdorf, Larry Doby, Roy Williams, Bob Kerrey, Al Neuharth and Bob Dole.

Did Mitchell really waste one of college football's all-time great offensive weapons? Or are Devaney and Osborne simply sour-graping because Mitchell recruited Sayers out of Omaha (Neb.) Central High?

If you look strictly at KU's career-rushing stats, Devaney and Osborne have a point. Sayers ranks No. 5 on that chart behind June Henley, Tony Sands, Laverne Smith and Clark Green.

Yet Sayers ranks No. 1 among the KU rushers who played only three years. (Freshmen didn't become eligible for varsity competition until 1972.) Sayers had far fewer carries than the other four and not, incidentally, strictly because of the three-season factor.

Back in those days, games were much shorter. College teams rushed more than they passed, and that ate more clock time. Too, the clock didn't stop to move the chains after first downs.

Note this comparison: In Sayers' senior year (1964), the Jayhawks averaged 59.1 offensive plays a game. Last year's KU team averaged 76.0 plays. The Jayhawks of '64 ran the ball 470 times and passed 121 times in 10 games while KU's '07 team rushed 512 times and passed 476 times in 13 games.

Sayers was the Jayhawks' leading rusher each season. No surprise there. But he was also - little-known fact - KU's leading receiver as a junior and a senior. Moreover, he was the Jayhawks' leading punt and kickoff returner each season.

How many contemporary college players would lead their team in all four of those categories? Few, if any. That would be considered overutilization.

So I'm not convinced Sayers was used too little as a collegian. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I just don't see it.

Comments

njjayhawk (anonymous) says...

A lightweight article, Chuck. But prompts memories of a great football player whom I did see - twice - when he was at KU when I was a grade schooler. Sayers was a fascinating runner, who could turn on a dime in the open field, leaving the linebackers and defensive backs leaning the wrong way, grasping for air. No, Mitchell didn't underutilize Sayers. Mitchell's transgression was not recruiting talented enough players to be on the field with Gale to allow Sayers the freedom to truly display his many talents.

August 19, 2008 at 5:53 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

5DecadeHawk (anonymous) says...

Chuck also misses the most obvious point.

When you have ONE GUY carrying most of the load all by himself, defenses will key on stopping him.

2008 KU FB showed very very well what a balanced distributed attack can accomplish.

The offense around Sayers was far more predictable and he still couldn't be stopped. That says a lot about his abilities.

Laverne Smith, as great as he was, benefited from a wishbone offense with several incredible options to spread the defense out. Norris Banks was one of the best battering rams up the middle I've ever seen. Billy Campfield was the ultimate all around back and a great blocker. Nolan Cromwell was... well... awesome. He could do it all mentally and physically. Smith was the guy with the afterburners. Each man complimented the other so well.

June Henly and Tony Sands both enjoyed running behind great smashmouth offensive lines. Henly's day againt NU is legendary. Why Glen Mason didn't have Henly on the field for the game's deciding play is a mystery for the ages.

Tony Sand's day against Mizery was almost comical. The tiggers were so helpless. KU could have drawn a chalk line on the field showing the exact hole Tony would be running through and every player the Tiggers threw in there to try to stop him would have gotten flattened by a big blocker.

What I've seen of Sayers on tape was that he was able to get lots of yards all by himself. I love all the other backs mentioned, but Sayers is clearly the best I've ever seen.

It seems to me that if KU had more weapons to compliment Sayers we would have been a National Title contender back then. Underutilization? I think KU would have been better to have more options, utilize him LESS, and get more from him with the fewer touches. This is hard for me to say with conviction since I haven't had the good fortune to watch full games of his performances while at KU.

Underutilized or not. I'm proud to count the Kansas Comet as a fellow alumnus. (Even if he doesn't know jack squat about me personally.)

August 19, 2008 at 9:38 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

blogthis (anonymous) says...

Gayle Sayers is the most talented college football player to never win the
Heisman Trophy. Period

I vote: Underutilized (Big Time)

August 19, 2008 at 3:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Gene Budig loses all credibility when he includes Steinbrenner and Reinsdorf among his most-admired people. Steinbrenner and Reinsdorff??? Are you kidding me???

August 19, 2008 at 4:53 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

63Jayhawk (anonymous) says...

I did watch Gale Sayers play. I watched him play in a freshman game and all of the home games as a sophomore. I also watched every time I got a chance when he was with the bears. There has never been another like him. He is, in my opinion, the best offensive weapon to ever play college or pro football. As I recall, he also returned kickoffs and punts for the bears along with running the ball and sometimes taking passes. I remember watching the game the bears played against the 49er's when Gale scored six touchdowns.

Friends of mine who knew him in college also say that he was a very nice young man.

August 19, 2008 at 11:19 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

FlaHawk (anonymous) says...

Sayers had a gift of quickness and agility. At that time, teams did not feature one back like they did starting in the 70s. Sayers was much better in NFL than KU because he had better blocking.

I don't think KU could have used him more than they did. It was not the times in the 60s to do this. Example: Jim Brown and Ernie Davis did NOT have eye popping stats at Syracuse in the same era.

Can you image what Galloping Gale could do in Coach Warniner's offense today!!! I would pay to see this!!

yea galloping gale! go hawks!

August 19, 2008 at 11:48 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

TheTruth08 (anonymous) says...

Retire.

August 20, 2008 at 8:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

prairie_dog (anonymous) says...

The Comet was certainly the greatest cut-back runner to ever lace them up. He could run sideline-to-sideline, turn on a dime, make people miss in a crowd, simply amazing. He was the definition of a "hold-your-breath" runner every time he touched the ball.

My first KU game, I think it was 1964, OU was stupid enough to kick the ball deep to Gayle on the opening kickoff. He took the ball up the student sideline, made at least 4 people miss in a crowd, cut back clear across the field and ran it into the south endzone on the alum side. I think it was a 91 yd return.

Needless to say, I have been hooked ever since.

August 21, 2008 at 8:54 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Hawkish4bigM (anonymous) says...

It is high time that the football stadium be named after the great Gayle Sayers. Even the people with money that usually buy naming rights would agree with that!

August 23, 2008 at 7:48 p.m. ( | suggest removal )