Top 10 College Football Players Coached by Steve Spurrier
When Steve Spurrier resigned as head coach of South Carolina this week, he left behind a legacy of witty one-liners, offensive showcases, visor tosses and plenty of victories.
He also left behind a legacy of fantastic college football players who once called him their "Head Ball Coach."
In his 25 full seasons of coaching at the collegiate level, Spurrier had more than his fair share of top-level talent spread across three different stops—South Carolina, Florida and Duke. Spurrier was known for producing excellent passers and big-play skill position stars in his famous offenses, but he also got his hands on some elite defensive talent too.
The following slides will count down some of the best players to ever suit up for Spurrier. We chose this top 10—and a few honorable mentions—based on the players' individual honors and statistics in college only, not in the professional ranks.
Of course, limiting Spurrier's legendary career of coaching college football to just a handful of names is a difficult task, and some greats just missed the cut. Let us know your top 10 Spurrier players in the comments below.
Honorable Mention
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Kevin Carter (Florida DE, 1991-1994): A consensus All-American and member of three SEC championship teams, Carter was a pass-rushing menace at the defensive end spot and later became the sixth overall pick of the 1995 NFL draft.
Marcus Lattimore (South Carolina RB, 2010-2012): Two awful knee injuries derailed what was a promising career, but Lattimore still had a South Carolina-record 38 rushing touchdowns in what amounted to less than three seasons of work with the Gamecocks.
Connor Shaw (South Carolina QB, 2010-2013): The seemingly unbreakable Shaw simply won a lot of games as Spurrier's quarterback, and his 27 victories as a starter are the most any signal-caller has ever had in South Carolina history.
Lito Sheppard (Florida CB, 1999-2001): Sheppard was a highly touted high school recruit who starred for three years at Florida, taking home consensus All-American honors in 2000 as a member of the Gators' SEC championship team.
Fred Taylor (Florida RB, 1994-1997): While Taylor had a more successful NFL career than his collegiate one at Florida, he still rushed for more than 3,000 yards and scored 31 touchdowns on three different SEC championship teams.
10a and 10b. Reidel Anthony and Ike Hilliard (Florida WRs, 1994-1996)
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It's seemingly impossible to separate the one-two punch of Reidel Anthony and Ike Hilliard, two of Florida's all-time greatest receivers.
Anthony and Hilliard both played from 1994 to 1996—three straight SEC championship seasons, mind you—and were consensus All-Americans with more than 1,000 receiving yards apiece in the Gators' 1996 national title campaign. Anthony's 18 touchdowns that year remain a single-season SEC record.
"Everybody's defense wants to rush the quarterback and get pressure in [the quarterback's] face," Spurrier said in 1996, per the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "Of course, you have to cover people, also."
Defenses had plenty of trouble covering both Anthony and Hilliard, who finished their careers with high-ranking stat lines in the Florida record books. Anthony had 2,274 yards and 26 touchdowns, while Hilliard had 2,214 yards and 29 scores on more receptions.
On their own, Anthony and Hilliard are two standout receivers in Florida and SEC history. The offensive guru Spurrier got to play them together for three straight seasons en route to three conference titles and a national championship.
9. Alshon Jeffery (South Carolina WR, 2009-2011)
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Spurrier's offenses produced some great quarterbacks—especially during his time at Florida—but they had a special way of shelling out fantastic wide receivers when he was in charge at South Carolina.
The best of the bunch was Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina's all-time career leader in receiving yards, 100-yard games and touchdown receptions. He was a do-it-all receiver for the Gamecocks in some of their best years in school history, combining outstanding athleticism with a ridiculous catch radius.
After a freshman All-American campaign in 2009, Jeffery became a first-team All-American in 2010 with 1,517 yards and nine touchdowns on just 88 receptions. While his production slipped in 2011, he was a constant touchdown threat and made fantastic receptions all the way to the end of his time at South Carolina.
"His highlight film continues to impress—the dismayed expression on Nick Saban’s face when Jeffery hauled in a one-handed sideline catch while being held versus the last reception of his magnificent career," David Cloninger of the State wrote. "You know, where he leaped over two Nebraska defenders to grab a Hail Mary, then have the presence of mind to turn, elude another defender and fall into the end zone."
Jeffery rewrote the South Carolina record books in just three seasons of action, and no other Spurrier receiver had a career quite like his.
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8. Jason Odom (Florida OT, 1992-1995)
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Spurrier's Fun 'n' Gun offense wouldn't have worked as well as it did for all those years without great offensive line play, and Jason Odom was perhaps the best offensive lineman he ever coached.
Odom was a four-year starter for the Gators at offensive tackle, and he excelled on three straight SEC championship teams from 1993 to 1995. In his last two seasons as a Gator, Odom was named the best blocker in the SEC by winning the Jacobs Trophy.
"I think obviously we've got one of the best offensive lines in the country," Spurrier said in 1995 after awarding a game ball to Odom, per the Orlando Sentinel. "We can go ahead and say that."
Odom protected one of Florida's best-ever quarterbacks and played a huge role in Spurrier's all-around offensive success during the Gators' dominant run in the 1990s.
In 1996, Odom was named a unanimous All-American, becoming the third Florida player to achieve that feat. The other two unanimous All-Americans before him? Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith—and Spurrier himself.
7. Jevon Kearse (Florida LB, 1996-1998)
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He might have arrived in Gainesville in 1995 as just Jevon Kearse, but he left as The Freak—a name given to him by his opponents.
Kearse made an instant impact as a redshirt freshman in 1996, recording 8.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in the Gators' run to the national championship. In a 2013 interview with GatorZone.com, Kearse said he wouldn't have been able to crack the starting lineup that season without some input from Spurrier.
"I would especially like to thank Steve Spurrier," Kearse said. "I remember him telling our defensive coordinator, 'If No. 42 is not on the field on defense, I’m going to snatch him and put him on offense.' I think after he said that, that is when they made me a starter."
Pretty soon everyone was seeing what Spurrier saw in The Freak. In 1997, he had 6.5 sacks in his first All-SEC season, and he stepped up his pass-rushing numbers one more time in 1998 to win the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year award and first-team All-American honors.
Kearse's fantastic career made him a household among football fans nationwide, and it all started with his excellent play under Spurrier in the mid-1990s.
6. Alex Brown (Florida DE, 1998-2001)
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While Kearse was the more famous defensive name to come out of Florida during the Spurrier years, Alex Brown bulldozed his way into the Gator record books in four seasons of action.
Brown started his career behind Kearse at linebacker, but he made much more of an impact at defensive end. He grabbed his first of three straight All-SEC and two overall All-American nods as a sophomore in 1999, when he broke out with a five-sack performance against hated rival Tennessee.
“People still talk to me about that game," Brown told Chris Harry of GatorZone.com last month. "I joke with them sometimes that before that game I was just ‘Alex,’ but after that game I was ‘Alex Brown’ or just ‘That No. 13.'"
The dominant defensive end had 10.5 sacks as a junior in 2000, and then he returned to the All-American lists in 2001 with an amazing 13 sacks. He was the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year as a senior and was in the thick of several national award races.
His 33-sack career, 13-sack senior season and five-sack game against Tennessee are all school records at Florida, and it's hard to imagine any Gators breaking them anytime soon.
5. Errict Rhett (Florida RB, 1990-1993)
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Right before Spurrier took over as head coach at Florida in 1990, Emmitt Smith starred for three incredible seasons as the Gators' top running back. But Smith's time atop the all-time rushing charts for Florida was short-lived thanks to Errict Rhett.
Rhett led the Gators in rushing during all four of his seasons in Gainesville. Despite playing in a pass-first offense under Spurrier, Rhett was a two-time All-SEC running back and earned first-team All-American honors in 1993—his second SEC championship season with the Gators.
"Everybody played, everybody participated in the game," Rhett told Bill Bender of Sporting News last year. "With [Spurrier], 12 different people touched the ball. Everybody's happy in the locker room afterward. Everybody's thrilled."
By the end of his career, Rhett had already set a new all-time Florida rushing record with 4,163 yards in four seasons. In addition to his 34 career rushing touchdowns, Rhett also was a valuable weapon in the passing game, recording 1,230 receiving yards.
Although Rhett is far from the most famous name in Florida running back history, he is statistically the best the Gators have ever had, and he did it under a head coach who is known for producing fantastic passing attacks.
4. Clarkston Hines (Duke WR, 1987-1989)
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Don't sleep on Spurrier's first run as a college head coach. His 1989 ACC championship team at Duke—the school's most recent title—had a legendary wide receiver.
Clarkston Hines played for Spurrier during his final three years at Duke, and he led the ACC in receiving yardage during all three seasons. He was a perfect fit in the schemes of Spurrier, who took the Blue Devils to unforeseen heights.
"Coach Spurrier brought a level of optimism to our team," Hines told Laura Keeley of the News & Observer last year. "He was the perfect remedy for us."
In 1989, Hines won the ACC's Offensive Player of the Year award and was named to his second straight All-American team after catching 61 passes for 1,149 yards and 17 touchdowns. With Hines leading the way offensively, Duke overcame a 1-3 start to win seven straight games and a conference championship.
Hines is still the ACC's all-time leader in career receiving touchdowns—and the second player on the list is six scores behind him. In 2010, Hines was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and he stands tall as the most successful receiver ever to play in a Spurrier offense.
3. Jadeveon Clowney (South Carolina DE, 2011-2013)
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Jadeveon Clowney wasn't the statistical best or the most highly decorated player in Spurrier's career, but he was easily the most talked-about and the most intimidating.
Clowney signed with Spurrier's Gamecocks in 2011 as the nation's unanimous No. 1 overall recruit on 247Sports—he was a dominant defensive end with freakish size and athleticism. He had eight sacks and five forced fumbles as a true freshman, setting the tone for what would be an incredible sophomore season.
In 2012, Clowney finished second nationally in both sacks and tackles for loss, breaking South Carolina records in the process. The unanimous All-American finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting that season—a rare achievement for a defensive player—and delivered one of the most famous hits in recent college football history in the Outback Bowl against Michigan.
"He was such a marvelous athlete," Spurrier said earlier this year at SEC media days, per NFL.com. "When the ball was snapped, he was the best."
Even after a subpar 2013 season by his lofty standards, Clowney was still the No. 1 overall pick at the 2014 NFL draft. Injuries have limited his impact at the next level so far, but he proved under Spurrier that he can be the most dominant player on the field when he's 100 percent.
2. Rex Grossman (Florida QB, 1999-2002)
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From a purely statistical perspective, Rex Grossman has a strong claim to the title as Spurrier's best-ever quarterback and best-ever player.
Grossman took over the starting quarterback job at Florida midway through the 2000 season after a standout performance off the bench in a loss to Mississippi State. He would lead Florida to five straight SEC wins to close the regular season—each of them featuring at least 34 points from the Gators—and then a conference championship victory over Auburn.
In 2001, Grossman led the nation in passing yards per attempt and efficiency while recording 3,896 yards and 34 touchdowns. He had nine straight 300-yard games that season, a Florida record, and took home AP National Player of the Year honors.
He finished second to Nebraska's Eric Crouch in a controversial and close Heisman Trophy vote that would have—and probably should have—given Spurrier his second winner of the famous award. With Grossman at quarterback in 2001, Florida only lost two games by a combined five points.
One could definitely make the case that Grossman was the best Spurrier ever had at running the Fun 'n' Gun offense, as he zipped the ball around the field for big-time yardage and even better-looking efficiency numbers during his Florida career.
1. Danny Wuerffel (Florida QB, 1993-1996)
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In the long list of outstanding college players Spurrier ever coached, none were as highly decorated as his most successful quarterback—Danny Wuerrfel.
The Florida native won an SEC title in each year of his career under Spurrier, and he led Florida to its first national championship in 1996. He won first-team All-American honors, SEC Player of the Year and the Davey O'Brien Award twice.
In 1996, Wuerrfel's Heisman season made Spurrier the first person in college football history to ever win the trophy and then coach another winner. Wuerrfel threw for 3,625 yards and 39 touchdowns during that championship season—and the HBC believed he could have had a lot more.
"Most of those games we got so far ahead the backup quarterback would play the whole fourth quarter," Spurrier told The Post Game in 2013. "Danny had to throw all of his TDs in the first half."
Wuerrfel won almost every individual award imaginable during his four years in Gainesville, and the Gators racked up several championships with him running Spurrier's offensive showcase.
Historical stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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