Best college football players of all time from every state

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STILLWATER, OK – 1986-88: Runningback Barry Sanders #21 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys runs the ball upfield for a gain at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma, circa 1986-88. (Photo by Oklahoma State/Collegiate Images/Getty Images) /

Kansas – Barry Sanders

The greatest single-season performance by any college player might be Barry Sanders’ 1988 campaign.

In 11 games that season, the Wichita, Kansas native had 2,628 rushing yards and a ridiculous 37 touchdowns. To put that into perspective, he averaged an impossible 238.9 rushing yards per game, a virtually unstoppable force. All of the statistics listed above went down in the record books as NCAA records, and they still stand to this day.

Sanders was a unique talent and holds all of these records despite bowl games not officially counting on the statistics sheet just yet, meaning that his five touchdowns and 200+ yards in that year’s Holiday Bowl also didn’t count.

There’s no doubt in any (sensible) mind that Sanders ranks up as one of college football’s best players ever, and just in that year he took All-American honors, won the Maxwell Award, was the Walter Camp Player of the Year, and won the Heisman Trophy.

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