Florida State football: 5 most underrated players in Seminoles history

Warrick Dunn is a certifiable Florida State football legend.

One could argue running back Warrick Dunn is the epitome of underrated. He never made it about himself, whether he was starring at Florida or in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons. Dunn won a national championship as a freshman at Florida State in 1993. He took home three First-Team All-ACC nods from 1994-1996, making Second-Team All-American.

As the No. 12 overall pick by the Buccaneers, he would win the 1997 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, earning his first of three career trips to the Pro Bowl. He rushed for nearly 11,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in his 12-year career. His No. 28 jersey is honored at his alma mater and he is in the Falcons’ Ring of Honor. A tremendous player, but Dunn was an even better person.

Two days before his 18th birthday, his mother, a Baton Rouge police officer was murdered. Dunn had to become the primary caregiver of his siblings while at Florida State. As a rookie in 1997, Dunn established Home for the Holidays in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. He builds homes for single parents in Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Tallahassee and Tampa.

Dunn won Walter Payton Man of the Year for his monumental charity work back in 2004 when he was on the Falcons. One of the families his charity positively impacted was Deshaun Watson’s, who grew up outside of Atlanta in Gainesville. Dunn’s football career was impressive, but his work off the field is what he will be best remembered for, and he’s a borderline hall-of-fame player!