15 best college football players we wish played in the Twitter era

5. Best college football players before Twitter: Charles Woodson, CB/WR/PR, Michigan

It seems like every few years we are promised the next Charles Woodson. You know the hype. It’s a player who has the ability to do anything on the field and do it at a high level. Most recently it was Jabrill Peppers. Before that, it was Devin Hester. They were great and exciting and all that, but the reality is there is, was, and always will be only one.

In 1997, Woodson won the Heisman after playing on both sides of the ball and returning punts. He scored four touchdowns — two receiving, one rushing and one returning a punt — while intercepting seven passes as a cornerback. It seemed like a singular quest to be the personification of the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding player.

But here is where he would be a lot of fun on Twitter: Charles Woodson only had 11 receptions for 231 yards in his Heisman season. He beat Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf and Randy Moss. How much would he have debated this one? Does “most outstanding” mean most well rounded? Because then Woodson is the pick. Or does it mean most important? Because that is Manning.

Those 11 receptions must really have been something, huh? Or maybe those touchdowns were really spectacular.

Either way, Woodson would light up the internet on skills alone. The arguments over his Heisman case would be the icing on the cake. The fact he so defeated Peyton Manning in the Heisman voting is a sign of how much the football world has changed since the mid-90s. Woodson was a beast at a premier program. That was enough back then, but in the Twitter era, he would need a lot more than that.