We have all heard of the Heisman jinx. It seems that the winner of the ultimate college football award invariably fails in the NFL, but one major exception was 1988 winner Barry Sanders. After being Thurman Thomas's understudy as an underclassman at Oklahoma State, Sanders hit the ground running. If it weren't for an early retirement, he would probably still be running, and I seriously doubt that anybody would catch him. Forget about Emmitt Smith, the NFL's career rushing leader, and don't dig into the NFL Films archives for Gale Sayers footage. From 1989-1998 Barry Sanders made his mark as the most explosive running back in the history of the National Football League.

Barry did retire abruptly in 1998, after only ten seasons with the Detroit Lions, but what a ten years it was. He made the Pro Bowl every season, and the career numbers are staggering. Sanders is fifth all time in total rushes and third in total yards (15,269). Tack on 2,921 career receiving yards, and the result is over 18,000 yards from scrimmage, or roughly 112 yards of total offense per game. Remember, all of this happened while he played for arguably the most pathetic franchise in the history of the NFL!

As a one man show in Detroit, Sanders faced stacked defenses every week. The opposing team walked onto the field knowing that if they stopped Sanders they would win the game. In spite of this, his career is that of a one man highlight reel. A perfect example is the 1997 season. This was Barry's career year, as he rushed for 2053 yards and averaged an incredible 6.1 yards per carry. 6.1 YPC! Know what that means? If a running back averages that many yards every time he touches the ball, he is a threat to score from anywhere on the field.

The fact that Sanders had his greatest year in '97 and then retired after the '98 season is remarkable in itself. This guy was in his prime when he hung up his cleats. Otherwise, the final tally could have been well over 20,000 yards, and there is one other factor to take into consideration: what if Barry Sanders had played for a better team? I don't think there is much room for debate on this topic, but if Sanders' resume included a Super Bowl ring or two, it would be a closed book. Even so, Barry Sanders was the most feared player to touch the ball in the NFL; one mistake and defensive players were looking at his back as he sprinted down the sideline.

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