OTF Premium On the football legacy of Tommy Nobis, two-way talents and Jermaine Bishop Jr.'s future

[Jeff Howe]

Nobody needs a reason to celebrate the life and football career of Tommy Nobis.

Nevertheless, the countdown to the 2025 football season reached 60 days on Tuesday, making it the perfect time to reflect on Nobis’ gridiron legacy.

It’s hard to argue against Nobis being the best defensive player to come through the Texas program. The only sophomore starter for Darrell Royal’s 1963 national champions, Nobis remains the standard for what a Longhorn defender should be, even though his last snap on the Forty Acres was almost 65 years ago.

One of the most decorated defensive players in college football history, Nobis won the Maxwell Award in 1965, meeting the criteria for the University of Texas to retire his No. 60 (a Longhorn must be named a consensus All-American and win a recognized national player of the year award to get their number retired). Before the Texas defensive charge that led to LenDale White coming up short on fourth-and-2 late in the fourth quarter of the 2006 Rose Bowl, Nobis thwarting Joe Namath’s attempt to convert a fourth down in the 1965 Orange Bowl (a 21-17 win for the Longhorns over the Crimson Tide in college football’s first-ever live prime-time telecast) was arguably the top defensive play in school history (the top competitor might be the fumble Pat Culpepper and Johnny Treadwell combined to force on the goal line in a 7-3 win over Arkansas, helping Texas secure the 1962 Southwest Conference title).

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Tributes for Nobis poured in when he died in 2017.

Mike Perrin, who oversaw the Texas athletic department between the end of Steve Patterson’s forgettable tenure and the powers that be hiring Chris Del Conte, was a freshman during Nobis’ final season on the Forty Acres.

“Tommy Nobis was an icon not just at The University of Texas,” Perrin said, “but in all of college football.”

Bill Little, who was the sports editor of The Daily Texan as a UT student when Nobis played for the Longhorns and, later, the football program’s sports information director, said of Nobis, “There are few players that strike fear in opponents the way Nobis did in his time.”

There’s no shortage of scribes, observers, coaches or players willing to back up Little’s opinion. Hall of Fame running back Larry Csonka is one of them, going on the record that he’d "rather play against Dick Butkus than Nobis."

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Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981, the one tribute Nobis should’ve received while he was alive was enshrinement alongside Butkus, Csonka and other gridiron legends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Rich McKay, the CEO of the Atlanta Falcons, wrote an open letter regarding Nobis’ Hall of Fame candidacy in 2020.

“It is time to rightfully acknowledge, appreciate, and celebrate one of the greatest to ever play the game: the late Tommy Nobis,” McKay wrote. We can — we should — do that by immortalizing Nobis with a bronze bust at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.”

It’s long been acknowledged that Nobis, who was the Falcons’ first-ever draft pick (No. 1 overall in the 1965 NFL Draft) and wore his “Mr. Falcon” moniker like a badge of honor, played on some dreadful squads. In 11 seasons with the Falcons, Nobis never played in a playoff game, enjoying just two winning seasons in his NFL career.

Nobis is one of only four defensive players on the NFL’s 1960s All-Decade Team not currently in the Hall of Fame. Nobis, the 1966 NFL Rookie of the Year, was a two-time All-Pro who was named to the Pro Bowl five times.

Longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Furman Bisher once wrote the following regarding Nobis' exclusion from the Hall of Fame: “There isn't much more one can say about Tommy Nobis. In the glow of a winning team, where he would have been a star on the isolated camera, he would already have been residing in Canton. It's not a Falcons thing, it's a Nobis thing, and here is a man who lives up to all the ideals I would establish for admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame."

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The finest two-way player I have ever seen," is a quote often attributed to Royal regarding Nobis' ability on the field. Royal maximized Nobis’ unique skill set by playing him at guard on offense.

So, when Kelvin Banks became the first Longhorn offensive lineman to win the Outland Trophy last season, that’s not entirely true. Nobis, lining up as a ferocious lead blocker for Royal’s Wing-T offense, won the Outland Trophy two years after Scott Appleton became the first of the program’s five Outland Trophy winners in 1963 (Appleton, Nobis, Banks, Brad Shearer in 1977 and T’Vondre Sweat in 2023 put Texas behind only Nebraska’s nine and Alabama’s six Outland Trophy winners for the most produced by one school).

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I’m happy that during his Tuesday appearance on “Coffee & Football,” Ramonce Taylor mentioned how Mack Brown’s staff initially recruited him to Texas to be a part of Duane Akina’s secondary.

I remember going to watch Taylor’s last high school game (Belton’s bi-district playoff loss to Leander at Killeen’s Leo Buckley Stadium in 2003), believing I was watching a prospect who had a chance to become the next great Longhorn defensive back.

Then, I watched Taylor cut through the defense like a hot knife through butter.

I left the stadium knowing Texas had to find a way to let Taylor touch the football. Thankfuly, that’s something Taylor said was in the works before his epic senior year started; Taylor rushed for 2,370 yards and 29 touchdowns as an all-state running back, he was an all-district basketball player while sharing the court with current Stephen F. Austin men’s basketball coach Matt Braeuer and won his second consecutive state championship in the long jump.

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Whether it was Taylor, Curtis Brown, Earl Thomas, Quandre Diggs or Ja’Tavion Sanders, the true two-way players who’ve come through the Texas program over the last two decades have, for the most part, ended up on the side of the ball where they were meant to play. Jermaine Bishop Jr. is the one 2026 recruit, currently committed to the Longhorns, who should be the source of a healthy internal debate regarding whether he’ll help Steve Sarkisian’s offense or Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense.

Bishop caught 83 passes for 1,565 yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior, ending the season with 2,009 all-purpose yards. Even though Bishop posed for photos with the Jim Thorpe Award during his June official visit and has a bright future as a defensive back, I agree with Gerry Hamilton’s take on this week’s episode of the “Recruiting Breakdown" regarding Bishop's future.

Sarkisian could see enough of Xavier Worthy in Bishop’s game to at least experiment with ways to get the ball into the hands of such an electric, game-changing talent.

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[Jeff Howe]

If you need a break from today's recruiting news cycle, I've got a few things not related to impending decisions on my mind for you to check out.

[Jeff Howe]

 

[Jeff Howe]

Tommy Nobis should, without question, be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It's a shame he's not in and won't be able to see his bust in Canton whenever it happens.

 

[CJ Vogel]

Really cool read, Jeff!

[Hi im Boo Corrigan]

I played Jermaine and Willis at the state 7v7 tournament. Dude's a freak. Let's just say we're in good hands with him wearing Burnt Orange.

[thatdude2]

Certified Gangsta!

[CHorn427]

Thanks for this, high quality and informative 

[Austalgia]

Great read, thank you . Bishop should be offense.  I’m going I look it up now, but I remember Nobis had some gaudy defensive stats in college. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Austalgia

[Austalgia]

Ok, yep, averaged (20) !! tackles a game his entire college career while starting on both sides of the ball..  Won the Maxwell, Outland, and Rockne awards.  Wow, that’s crazy.