I'm compiling a list of the Top 40 Longhorns of all time, and have a pretty good idea of which players I want to include, but this is project is tailor-made for a community project. So I'm enlisting your help.
As I have mentioned before, I'm editing a Texas football preview book for publication in July 2007. One of the chapters will be a review of the best Longhorn football players of all time, and the more I think through this list, the more I think it makes a lot of sense to bring the list to the community for discussion.
Texas football goes back a long way, so here's how we'll do it. We'll start doing this list by decade and work our way back. I'll present a list of every Longhorn football player who was honored as an All American at some point during their career. You review the list and in the comment section below, make note of the players you think deserve strong consideration for Top 40 Longhorns of all time status. If you want to make a point about where on the list they should go, feel free.
Note, too, that some Longhorns who may deserve consideration on this list did not receive any All American honors, so you'll want to think hard about any missing names. Major Applewhite, for example, never received any All American honors, but it's hard to imagine this list without him on it. And what of Chris Simms? He's worthy of discussion, too.
So let's get started, beginning with 2000-2006.
-Players listed in alphabetical order.
-An asterisk indicates the player was a consensus First Team All American
2005 Will Allen
2002 Rod Babers
2004 Cedric Benson
2005, 2006* Justin Blalock
2006 Tim Crowder
2000* Leonard Davis
2002* Derrick Dockery
2006 Michael Griffin
2000* Casey Hampton (Note: All American in 1999 as well)
2003 Tillman Holloway
2005* Michael Huff
2001* Quentin Jammer
2003*, 2004* Derrick Johnson
2001, 2002 Corey Redding
2006 Aaron Ross
2005* Jonathan Scott
2000 Kris Stockton
2001, 2003 Nathan Vasher
2001 Mike Williams
2003 Roy Williams
2005* Rod Wright
2005* Vince Young
Those are your Texas Longhorn All Americans from 2000-2006. Who's worthy of consideration for Top 40 Longhorns Of All Time?
--PB--