On Texas Football's Top 25 Players of the Modern Era (1992-Present)

[Bobby Burton]

3 hours ago, Alex Butler said:

Rod B get any love?! I agree about Brackens!! @Blake Munroe do we need to post the kicker destruction to make our case lol? I’m just gunna do it

   

 

 

I knew the girl who married the Tech kicker. They're divorced now I believe.

But I remember her telling me that the kicker never remembered that hit. And I said, "well, I'll never forget it!"

[HookedOnTF]

What did the member poll look like? Same top 10?

[Burnt Orange Horn]

Bottom line is this just needs to be a top 50 as there are 25 out of the 2095 team alone.

🤘🏻🤘🏼🤘🤘🏽🤘🏾🤘🏿

[Hornio]

38 minutes ago, Bobby Burton said:

Agree!

He had better stats in 3 years than Orakpo in 4!

[Hornio]

I would actually have Brackens tied with DJ at 4

[Alex Butler]

1 hour ago, Bobby Burton said:

I knew the girl who married the Tech kicker. They're divorced now I believe.

But I remember her telling me that the kicker never remembered that hit. And I said, "well, I'll never forget it!"

Hahaha I bet he didn’t. She probably got the ick after seeing him get demolished by TB lol. I’ll never forget that hit either. I was watching with a bunch of friends in middle school at a birthday party and my dad and brother were at the game. It’s all any of us could talk about for 2 weeks straight. 

[Here for the Wins]

26 minutes ago, Hornio said:

I would actually have Brackens tied with DJ at 4

Brackens was a shining light in an era of dark and ill-advised defensive schemes.  

I would have a hard time putting him over Hampton though.

[Judd_Irby]

All those guys make perfect sense.  But I have to give a tip of the hat to Peter Gardere.  He is the only QB from either Texas or Oklahoma to have beaten the other team four straight seasons.  In each of those four seasons OU was ranked and Texas wasn't.  Results count.

[Longhornfrenzy]

Quinn deserves some recognition. Led Texas to 2 straight playoff appearances. If he hadn't been injured and missed multiple games throughout the season. I think he could have been on the list

Edited 8 hours ago by Longhornfrenzy

[Jacket Horn]

I like the list!  I would have Leonard Davis significantly higher though - a truly dominant player at a critical position

[Pwood]

35 minutes ago, Judd_Irby said:

All those guys make perfect sense.  But I have to give a tip of the hat to Peter Gardere.  He is the only QB from either Texas or Oklahoma to have beaten the other team four straight seasons.  In each of those four seasons OU was ranked and Texas wasn't.  Results count.

The chants by the OU fans at his final RRS for him to graduate 🤭

[Blake Munroe]

4 hours ago, Judd_Irby said:

All those guys make perfect sense.  But I have to give a tip of the hat to Peter Gardere.  He is the only QB from either Texas or Oklahoma to have beaten the other team four straight seasons.  In each of those four seasons OU was ranked and Texas wasn't.  Results count.

I get what you’re saying, but to play devils advocate…

21-19 during his four years  

37 TD. 46 INT. 

Only had one season where he threw more TD than INT (16:13). 

That doesn’t all fall on him by any means, but as you said… results.

Not even close to sniffing this list, imo. 

 

[Blake Munroe]

4 hours ago, Longhornfrenzy said:

Quinn deserves some recognition. Led Texas to 2 straight playoff appearances. If he hadn't been injured and missed multiple games throughout the season. I think he could have been on the list

Someone voted Quinn No. 1… in the fan vote.

Ill release the fan vote tomorrow. 

[Here for the Wins]

33 minutes ago, Blake Munroe said:

I get what you’re saying, but to play devils advocate…

21-19 during his four years  

37 TD. 46 INT. 

Only had one season where he threw more TD than INT (16:13). 

That doesn’t all fall on him by any means, but as you said… results.

Not even close to sniffing this list, imo. 

 

Blake, you have no idea how shitty the QB landscape was in the state of Texas at that time.  High school and college.  And it was lack of physical talent.

[Migas & Fajitas]

Lots of Htown on the list 

[Blake Munroe]

33 minutes ago, Here for the Wins said:

Blake, you have no idea how shitty the QB landscape was in the state of Texas at that time.  High school and college.  And it was lack of physical talent.

I get it. And that was just a tad before my time lol. I was 7 his final year. 
 

But he’s also automatically disqualified from the list, as he didn’t play in the modern era. I guess technically 1992, but 75% of his career was pre-poll. 

[Blake Munroe]

13 minutes ago, Migas & Fajitas said:

Lots of Htown on the list 

Good observation. It will be interesting to see if we see a DFW switch over the next decade or not. 

[Here for the Wins]

2 hours ago, Blake Munroe said:

I get it. And that was just a tad before my time lol. I was 7 his final year. 
 

But he’s also automatically disqualified from the list, as he didn’t play in the modern era. I guess technically 1992, but 75% of his career was pre-poll. 

My post should have it was not a lack of physical talent rather than it was.

He’s not top 25.  But undefeated versus OU always worth a mention.

[DanielOnorato]

Where did the guys have Ehlinger? Seems like an NFL list a bit. I know Bobby hates Tebow. Tebow is one of the best winners of all time had a lot of Bobby Layne and James Street to him.

Edited 1 hour ago by DanielOnorato

[DanielOnorato]

2 hours ago, Here for the Wins said:

Blake, you have no idea how shitty the QB landscape was in the state of Texas at that time.  High school and college.  And it was lack of physical talent.

Quinn also had an expiration date at Texas. He could have been better than Carson beck for a nice payday. Instead he went late. It meant something to him. Quinn is a special dude. 

[westx]

14 hours ago, Blake Munroe said:

After combining ten individual Top 25 ballots from the On Texas Football staff into one composite ranking, we now have our Top 25 Players of the Modern Era list. Each ballot was scored on a 25-to-1 points system, with 25 points awarded for a first-place vote, 24 for second place and so on.

At the top, two of the most iconic players in Texas football history separated themselves from the rest of the field.

Vince Young finished No. 1 overall, narrowly edging Ricky Williams for the top spot. Young totaled 247 points across the 10 ballots, while Williams finished just four points behind with 243.

Young received seven first-place votes, while Williams received the other three. Every voter ranked both players either first or second.

Behind them, Colt McCoy came in at No. 3 with 227 points, followed closely by Derrick Johnson at No. 4 with 223.

The top four created a clear consensus among the OTF staff, but the rankings became much tighter from there.

Cedric Benson rounded out the top five, followed by Bijan Robinson, Casey Hampton, Michael Huff, Kelvin Banks Jr. and Brian Orakpo.

Banks, Orakpo and Earl Thomas were separated by just one point, with Banks finishing ninth at 160 points and Orakpo and Thomas tying at 159. Orakpo earned the No. 10 spot through the composite tiebreaker (using the highest individual placement on any ballot).

The list features players spanning more than three decades of Texas football, from stars of the early 1990s to members of the Longhorns' recent College Football Playoff teams.

It also highlights just how difficult it is to compare players across positions and eras.

Quarterbacks and running backs dominate the very top of the ranking, but the Top 25 also includes elite linebackers, defensive backs, offensive linemen and defensive linemen who helped define their respective eras.

Still, the biggest debate may be the one at the very top.

Williams owns one of the greatest individual résumés in college football history, including the 1998 Heisman Trophy, while Young delivered perhaps the most iconic season and championship performance Texas football has ever seen.

When the votes were totaled, Young had just enough support to claim the title of On Texas Football's No. 1 Longhorn.

 

View full news story

 

Casey Hampton, D'Onta Foreman and Dan Neil have one thing in common.  They had to be pretty damn good to play under the dark coaching days of Texas and still make the list.  I opted not to include Ricky because Mack was at the helm when he broke out and won the Heisman.  The one guy that comes to mind when talking dark days of coaching is Britt Hager, yes prior to 1992, but nonetheless, he jumps out instantly in my brain.