More great discussion yesterday on the players from the 1990s, but today we move on to the 1980s. Texas didn't have the army of All Americans that we've enjoyed in this decade, but there were some outstanding players who merit consideration for the Top 40 All Time list.
Since we're now getting into players many have not seen, I'm going to start listing the players' positions, and note that you can reference this statistical database to see how players in the 1980s performed.
-Players listed in alphabetical order.
-An asterisk indicates first team consensus All American
1983 Mossy Cade (DB)
1985 Gene Chilton (C)
1983* Doug Dawson (OG)
1984* Tony Degrate (DT)
1983*, 1984* Jerry Gray (DB)
1988 Britt Hager (LB) - set the UT single-season record for tackles with 195
1983* Jeff Leiding (LB)
1980* 1981* Kenneth Sims (DT)
1981* Terry Tausch (OT)
1986 Jeff Ward
Note that this list is only players who received All America honors. Dig through your memory banks for other players who may warrant serious consideration. I'll suggest Eric Metcalf, for starters, who sits at #4 on UT's career All Purpose Yards list. Another player to consider is Kiki DeAyala who had two of the most statisically dominant seasons in UT history in 1981 (12 sacks, 6 forced fumbles) and 1982 (6 forced fumbles, 22.5 sacks, 33 tackles for loss).
--PB--