 Herschel Walker, despite having a career most players would envy, Herschel Walker always will be considered a disappointment by some fans.
As a freshman at the University of Georgia, Herschel Walker was All-America, Southeastern Conference player of the year and led his team to the national championship. By the time he was a junior he had three SEC player-of-the-year trophies, a coveted Heisman Trophy, held 80 NCAA, SEC, and Georgia records, and was ranked with the greatest runners ever.
In 1983, he skipped his senior year to turn professional and immediately became the greatest player in league history, recording 11 consecutive 100-yard games. That league, however, was the United States Football League, not the NFL.
When the USFL folded after three years, Walker joined the Dallas Cowboys. He responded with solid seasons in 1986 and 1987, but in 1988 he showed the form that had been predicted. He gained 1,514 yards rushing and earned 505 yards as a receiver.
The moribund Cowboys could have built the team around Walker, but they decided to use him to rebuild the team instead. In one of the most famous - or infamous - trades in NFL history, the Cowboys sent Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in the largest trade ever (18 players or draft picks were involved). The Cowboys won back-to-back Super Bowls in five years; in Minnesota, Walker was stuck in an offensive system unsuited to his talents. After three disappointing seasons with the Vikings, he signed with Philadelphia, where he surpassed 1,000 yards rushing in 1992.
|
