Last night I started doing a lot of reading and research into the NFL Hall of Fame, and different players with stellar careers who are not currently enshrined in Canton. It really is amazing to see how subjective the voters have been over the years as to who they let in and who they keep out. That said, this post won't stray too far off the topic at hand. Here are five former Gators with a case for one day joining Jack Youngblood and Emmitt Smith in one of the most hallowed spaces in all of football.
1. LT Lomas Brown (1981-84 UF, played with five teams over 18 NFL seasons)
One of the great left tackles in NFL history, Lomas Brown first came to fame as the 6-foot-4, 280-pound cornerstone of the famed "Great Wall of Florida" offensive line (which produced an additional pair of NFL lineman in Crawford Ker and Jeff Zimmerman) in the early 1980's. Brown was selected with the 6th overall pick of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, and he would see the bulk of his success as a professional over 11 seasons in the Motor City. Brown missed only eight starts during his time in Detroit, and would be selected to six Pro Bowls and was a consensus first-team All-Pro once (1995, his final season in Detroit), as the Lions developed into one of the top offensive powerhouses in the league. After leaving the Lions, Brown would make the Pro Bowl once more with Arizona (1996), and later played for the Browns and Giants before winning the Super Bowl as a back-up offensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, his final season as a pro. His 257 career starts are tied for seventh all-time in NFL history -- the only offensive lineman who found himself in the starting lineup more being the great Bruce Matthews. Of the six players to have started more NFL games than Brown, only one (Jim Marshall) is not currently in the NFL Hall of Fame.
2. OLB Wilber Marshall (1980-83, UF, played with five teams over 12 NFL seasons)
Marshall was one of the players who set forth the "new age" of what an outside linebacker should be like. Mobile, agile and hostile, standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 230 pounds Marshall was originally recruited out of high school to play tight end for the Gators, but that would only last a season until Florida head coach Charley Pell convinced Marshall to switch to the weakside linebacker position on defense. Marshall would terrorize defenses over the course of his college career (the most notable example being a 14-tackle, 4-sack performance in a 17-9 upset win over USC in 1982) and would go on to do much of the same in his professional career as well. Selected with the 11th overall pick of the 1984 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, Marshall would quickly develop into a key component of Buddy Ryan's famed "46" defense, which also featured the likes of Mike Singeltary and Dan Hampton (both in the Hall of Fame) as well as Richard Dent and Steve "Mongo" McMichael (both of whom are deserving of bids as well). Marshall would win a Super Bowl in 1985 with the Bears, and eventually move on to the Redskins after four seasons of service in Chicago. Marshall would experience some of his greatest individual success in Washington, recording 24.5 sacks and going over 100 tackles in all five of his seasons with the Redskins. He would add another Super Bowl ring in 1991 as Washington marched to their third World championship under Joe Gibbs. Following perhaps his greatest individual season in 1992 (138 total tackles, six sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions), where he was named to the Pro Bowl and garnered first team All-Pro honors, Marshall left Washington to sign with the Houston Oilers. However, injuries caught up with him in Texas, and Marshall's final three seasons (one-year stints with the Oilers, Cardinals and Jets) were relatively quiet. He retired from football after the 1995 season. However, Marshall left quite an impact across the league, having recorded over 1,000 tackles, 45 sacks, 23 interceptions, and 24 forced fumbles during his 12 seasons. Those numbers are right about on par with that of Chiefs great Willie Lanier, who was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1986. Marshall is a player whose abilities transcend time. He is one of just a handful of members of the exclusive career 20 sack/20 interception club.
3. FB Rick Casares (1951-53 UF, played with three teams over 11 NFL seasons)
Here is Florida's one entry for the Senior Committee to consider. A prep star in three sports (football, basketball and track & field) at Jefferson High School in Tampa. Casares is often thrown in the short list of players that pro scouts have described as possessing the rare combination of tools that would have allowed the player to make a prep-to-pros jump (along with name such as Earl Campbell, Herschel Walker, Andre Carter, Adrian Peterson and a few others). The college career of Casares was actually cut short due to his being drafted by the U.S. Army in 1953 (his junior year at Florida). A second-round pick (18th overall) of the 1954 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, Casares would join the team in 1955 after serving a two-year military commitment. At 6-foot-2, and 225 pounds, Casares immediately became a bulldozing threat for the Bears coming out of the backfield. He led the league in rushing yards per attempt (5.4) as a rookie in 1955. The following year, Casares would lead the NFL in rushing with 1126 yards and 12 touchdowns on 236 carries as the Bears advanced to the 1956 NFL Championship, where they were soundly trounced by the New York Giants by a score of 47-7. Casares would be named to the Pro Bowl in each of his first five years with the Bears and was given a consensus first team All-Pro nod once (1956) before injuries relegated him to primarily blocking duties in the backfield. He would help lead the Bears to the 1963 NFL Championship before moving on to play a season in Washington (1965) and finally Miami (1966) where he would end his career. His 5,797 career rushing yards still rank 79th all-time, all these years later. His 5,657 rushing yards with the Bears still rank third in franchise history, behind Walter Payton and another Florida Gators product in Neal Anderson (and ahead of Gale Sayers, a Hall-of-Famer who spent his entire career in Chicago, I might add). With names such as Ken Stabler, Jerry Kramer, Jim Marshall, Ray Guy, and others to consider as well, Casares would be a hard sell to the Senior Committee. But you can make a legitimate case for his Hall induction.
4. DE-DT Kevin Carter (1991-94 UF, played with four teams over 14 NFL seasons)
This one is easily the weakest case of all. Carter did the bulk of his damage as a pro in St. Louis. He recorded 17 sacks with the Rams in 1999, earned first team All-Pro honors and made the Pro Bowl as the franchise won it's first Super Bowl Title. Drafted as the sixth overall pick of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Rams, Carter would record 62.5 sacks over six seasons with the team. He would move on to Tennessee for a big pay day in 2001, and while he was named to his second Pro Bowl in 2002 (a season where he recorded 10 sacks), his production generally tailed off as he was utilized in a number of roles across the defensive line under Jeff Fisher in Nashville. Carter would go on to play two seasons in Miami (2005-06) and Tampa Bay (2007-08) where he would finish his career crossing the 100-sack plateau. His 104.5 sacks rank 19th all time. At 6-foot-5, 290 pounds, Carter was a versatile player who could get after the quarterback, but also had the size and ability to play strong against the run, and move inside to play tackle if necessary. While the first stanza of his career was superb, the final two suggest his body of work was simply great, and not quite at the level for which the Hall of Fame requires for induction.
5. RB Fred Taylor (1994-97 UF, has played for two teams over 12 NFL seasons)**
**Here is the one exception to the rule, as Taylor is the lone player on this list still active in the NFL.
Taylor is set to play his second season for the New England Patriots this fall. The ninth overall selection of the 1998 NFL Draft, Taylor is one of the great specimens at the running back position in football history. In terms of physical talents, Taylor is on the same level as greats such as Jim Brown (who has noted his appreciation for Taylor's abilities in the past), Herschel Walker, and Bo Jackson in that he combines a massive frame (listed at 6-foot-1, 230 pounds) with a sprinter's speed. The one thing holding Taylor back is that he has always been overlooked for much of his career, however. In college, he split time in the Florida backfield, and was not leaned on heavily as a feature back until the second half of his senior season with the Gators. In Jacksonville, his abilities were routinely ignored, and despite an injury-marred tenure with the Jaguars, he still posted seven seasons of 1,000 yards or more (despite playing in just 140 of a possible 176 games with the Jags). Taylor has been named to just one Pro Bowl in his 12 seasons (2007). However, he stands just 460 rushing yards away from 12,000 for his career (an attainable number this season if he can stay healthy). Only 14 backs have passed that mystical plateau. Nine of them currently have a bust in Canton, three others (Curtis Martin, Jerome Bettis and Marshall Faulk) become eligible for enshrinement next year, and two more (LaDanian Tomlinson and Edgerrin James) are still considered active, although James is not currently on an NFL roster. In all likelihood, all 14 of the backs with 12,000+ career yards will one day have a presence in Canton. If Taylor gets to that number, would be the first denied entrance? It's certainly possible. He has never been overly media friendly, which probably not only kept him out of a couple of Pro Bowls, but will hurt him going forward with the Hall as well. However, his career numbers certainly deserve strong consideration for the Hall of Fame, that much is not in question. Whether he finds himself one day in Canton is another matter entirely, however.
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