Herschel Walker Started The Recruiting Fanaticism Among College Football Fans

Talented Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist Mark Bradley took time to remember the recruitment of Herschel Walker by every major college football program in the country.

Even mild West Coast and Northeastern college football fans now follow recruiting, while college football recruiting now rivals college football itself as the most popular sport to follow in the South, in large part because recruiting coverage comes year-round wrapped in a blanket of optimism.

But hardly any fans followed recruiting before the efforts of Georgia, Southern Cal, Clemson and other schools to land Walker brought national attention, particularly since Walker waited until two months after signing day to select Georgia.

Of course, as Bradley points out, our present-day recruiting phenomenon would not have spread so much if Walker was not the rare athlete who actually lived up to or even surpassed the hype.

Without question, Herschel Walker was the greatest college football player of all time. Georgia had finished 5-6 in 1979, but posted a 12-0 record and won the consensus title national title with a victory over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl the next season.

Overall, the Bulldogs posted a 32-1 regular-season record in Walker's three years. Bowl games were not counted on the then-11 game season statistics, but Walker still compiled an amazing season rushing yardage totals of 1,616, 1,891 and 1,752 yards.

He was awarded the Heisman Trophy as a junior but should have won it all three seasons. Opposing defenses focused on stopping Walker since the Georgia offensive gameplan consisted of Herschel-left, Herschel-right and Herschel-up-the-middle, but few could even slow down his rare blend of power and speed.