Dooley’s Dozen: Florida football’s 1,000-yard rushing seasons, plus one
Some ideas for the Dooley’s Dozens come from something I see in a game or think about in the shower (bad visual, I know).
Or sometimes, I get a text from a friend who is working on a story and it gives me an idea. In this case, it was Chris Low from ESPN, who was doing a piece on Missouri’s Cody Schrader.
He wanted to know if Florida had produced a running back who was white and rushed for 1,000 yards in the last 50 years.
I had to look it up to be sure, but the answer was no. Low’s research found that there have been only three in the SEC – Schrader, LSU’s Jacob Hester and Mississippi State’s Wayne Jones.
But while I was doing my own research, I decided a great Dooley’s Dozen would be the 12 seasons Florida has had a 1,000-yard running back.
Except they haven’t. So, we included one who came close. (Of note: the combined rushing yards for Montrell Johnson and that other guy who transferred to Georgia were 1,570 last year and 1,560 the year before.)
I put these guys in the order of their rushing yards, not how good I thought they were.
Emmitt Smith, 1989
His final season as a Gator was a good one statistically, although the Gators started 6-1 and had some real heartbreakers to finish 7-5. He had the best performance ever with 316 yards against New Mexico on Homecoming (and they needed every yard) and had 202 vs. Vanderbilt.
His 14 TDs rushing are tied for the most for a UF running back with Buford Long (1952).
Emmitt Smith, 1987
Yes, Emmitt has the two best rushing seasons in Florida history, in part because Florida didn’t trust anything but Emmitt right and Emmitt left. Galen Hall tried to ease him into the lineup and then game Birmingham.
Smith rolled for 224 against Alabama that day, the second most in school history, and finished ninth in the Heisman voting on a 6-6 team.
Jimmy Dubose, 1975
The great Jimmy Du was in the right place at the right time as Florida went to the wishbone under Doug Dickey and he was the fullback. Defenses worried so much about Florida’s speed outside that Dubose would sometimes run right by defenders looking to see who had the ball.
He was named the SEC Player of the Year and finished sixth in the Heisman voting. He also had the most yards per carry that season (6.8) of anyone on this list.
Fred Taylor, 1997
The Hall of Fame finalist became the Florida offense, especially late in the season when Steve Spurrier leaned away from the Fun ‘n” Gun. He rushed for 1,292 yards and was an All-American and ran for 12 scores.
His 43 carries for 234 yards in the Citrus Bowl don’t even count because they did not start counting bowl game stats until 2002.
Errict Rhett, 1993
Nothing symbolizes the early Spurrier years like E-Rhett flashing the fraternity sign after touchdowns. In his final season at UF, Rhett rushed for 1,289 yards and was named an All-American after leading the SEC in rushing.
He became Florida’s all-time leading rusher in the process and only 4,000-yard career rusher. Not bad.
Ciatrick Fason, 2004
Fason is a little underrated in the Florida all-time running back room because he had a 1,267-yard rushing season and averaged 5.7 yards a carry… but his coach was fired. Ron Zook has a great story about Fason wanting to quit the team.
Zook said, “You’ll have to go through me to go through that door.” Fason led the SEC in rushing in ’04 and was All-SEC.
Mike Gillislee, 2012
Man, you played against that team and you left the game in need of multiple cold baths. Gillislee has the fifth most attempts in school history and finished with 1,152 yards, 4.7 a carry and 10 touchdowns.
That team also won 11 games and Gillislee was named first team All-SEC.
Errict Rhett, 1991
The biggest play Rhett made in Florida’s first official SEC title history was a catch of a dump pass against Kentucky, but that’s another list. As a redshirt sophomore. Rhett exploded onto the scene with 1,109 yards for a coach who was supposed to be pass-happy.
He averaged 5.0 yards per carry and went on to lead the SEC in rushing for the first of two times.
Earnest Graham, 2002
One of my favorite players and still a friend with a son coming to UF, Graham led the Gators in rushing three different seasons. In his first year with Zook, he went for 1,085 yards and scored 11 TDs. And somehow, he wasn’t even named to the second team when the All-SEC awards came out.
Go figure.
Kelvin Taylor, 2015
There is one father-son grouping here which is very cool. Kelvin got a tongue-lashing from Jim McElwain after getting a penalty against East Carolina, but it didn’t slow him down. He rushed for 1,035 yards and 13 touchdowns tied for the second most ever by a running back at UF.
He is also the last player to go over 1,000 yards in Florida history.
Neal Anderson, 1985
Anderson almost quit the team as a freshman because he wasn’t playing and went on to be part of the three-headed Gator monster at running back. When Lorenzo Hampton left for the first-round of the draft, Anderson became the featured back and rushed for 1,034 yards.
He was named first-team All-SEC.
And the one who almost got there
His name was Tebow, Tim Tebow.
He is the only Florida player to reach 900 yards in a season and not make it to 1,000. Tebow rushed for 910 yards during the 2009 season, his last, and set a record that will be hard for anyone to break (with the portal and all) with 57 rushing touchdowns — 21 more than Emmitt.
Read more
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