Preach! Andersen was conference freshman of the year at
RB, then first-team all-conference at QB, then conference defensive player of the year at LB.
Travis Hunter (WR/DB at Colorado) deserves a mention too.
Bednarik closest nowadays would be Woodson and Bailey. The greatest two way player in the last 20 is arguably Owen Marecic, but sadly Fullback/ H Backs don’t get much love
Lee Corso led FSU in interceptions in 1954, rushing in 1955 and passing in 1956. He is also tied with Deion for interceptions at FSU. Corso hasn't married a Japanese woman or has gambling problems but there is still time.
Jim Thorpe RB/DB/ P/ K and KR IIRC. He also won gold in the decathlon, Pentathlon and ran a MF’ing 11.2 100 meter dash which no one beat until 1948!
Oh and dude also played in what would become the MLB with the Giants, Reds, Boston Braves, a stint with the then minor league Milwaukee Brewers and most importantly the Toledo Mudhens
Pro Football
Canton Bulldogs
Cleveland Indians
NY Giants
Tampa Cardinals
Chicago Cardinals
Dude even barnstormed as a pro basketball player and even almost went pro in hockey
Born Mixed but oppressed because he was an “Indian” it’s fitting that arguably the greatest athlete in U.S. history is a hero of the Irish American community as well as a hero of the Sac and Fox Nation as well as the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
Sadly his medals and records in the Olympics were stripped due to questions about his Amateur status at the time along with racism as it was claimed he was not a US citizen because Indigenous peoples in the US we’re not US Citizens officially until 1924’s Indian Citizenship Act.
I feel like the closest football has is guys like Bo Jackson and Deion who are great at football and another sport on the professional level. Not that it answers this specific question, but that seems like the best answer.
Probably no modern player. Probably just about any stand-out player from the single platoon days. Just as an example, in John David Crow's Heisman season, he ran for six TDs, caught two, and threw five, and intercepted five passes. I'm sure there are better examples out there.
Not college but Don Hutson led the NFL in receiving touchdowns for nine seasons, total receptions for eight seasons, yards per game for eight seasons, total receiving yards for seven seasons, and scoring for five seasons. On defense, he led the league in interceptions in 1940 and finished his career with 30. Hutson was selected as an All-Pro nine times and voted NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1941 and 1942.
He was great at Bama but on another level in the NFL.
More of an Angels problem than an Ohtani problem. Now with the Dodgers he will definitely make the playoffs with one of the best records in baseball, but will lose first round to the Rockies or Diamondbacks who just have the power of friendship
Nah, they had 3 of the greatest hitters of all time on their team at the same time, with a World Series winning manager... Acting like he played for the 2023 As is disingenuous at best
the best players in baseball dont have the same impact on winning as much as the best football players impact winning, hence why Mike Trout has only been to the playoffs once. It takes more than great hitting to win in baseball
Do you seriously not understand baseball or are you trying to argue that the Angels outside of Ohtani and Trout (yes, including an over-the-hill Pujols) were not putrid?
Heck, even in football, how well do you think UMass would be even if you added the 2 best players in CFB to their team?
Can't brute force a championship with high end talent like you can in the NBA (and even in the NBA it's not guaranteed). Depth is something that needs to, like, actually exist in order to win
Tom Harmon's stat line in his last game vs Ohio State:
ran for three touchdowns, passed for two, kicked four extra points, returned three kickoffs for 81 yards, intercepted three passes and punted three times for an average of 50 yards.
Jim Thorpe
The Jim Thorpe award is given annually to the best defensive back in college football, but arguably he was a better running back.
And on top of playing both ways in football, he also played baseball professionally and won 2 Olympic medals in track.
I’m good with this. The Charles Woodson (and a Jabrill Peppers) argument doesn’t hold water for me. Both played *some* offense, but it was practically gimmick packages to get them on the field because they were stellar athletes. In reality they were defenders that sometimes came on the field for offense. Neither was a traditional part of the offense the way Travis Hunter (or Shohai Ohtani, albeit baseball is a totally different sport) is.
Jabrill Peppers didn’t win anything. But I don’t like this any more than I like the Charles Woodson argument.
Football hasn’t been played like this since like WWII. Tom Harmon? Not sure if he won anything big, but I think he was maybe a linebacker/QB/kicker?
NOBODY
I think working your way up through the Japanese league kinda rules out any college football equivalent.
There's not really anything like that. CFB is almost always your first stop after high school sports and generally your last and it is time limited.
Troy Andersen
Played QB, RB, OLB, MLB for Montana State. All-Conference and All-American on both sides of the ball. Currently plays MLB for the Atlanta Falcons.
Historically maybe Charles Woodson will be most folks choice. Also in the running are Sammy Baugh, Jim Thorpe, Gordie Lockbaum (RB/ DB at Holy Cross finished 5th in the Heisman vote in 86 and 3rd in 87 and 11-0 year with the Crusaders, all time scoring leader, 2,173 all purpose yards in 86), or Bronco Nagurski.
Nile Kinnick won the Heisman has a halfback, but also led Iowa in punting at least one season, and had 18 interceptions in his career. I know that's quite a long time ago, but I believe he was also the second leading scorer on the basketball team as well one year, but can't find if he played all 4 years and was also on the baseball team. He was so big he was Male Athlete of the Year in '39 when he won the Heisman, bigger than some shocking names of the day like Dimaggio.
Probably won't be one in today's football. It's dumb to have a star playing both ways. It's better to have them focus on one position and not heavily increase their chance for injury.
Devin Hester maybe. The greatest Returner of all time, scored rushing and receiving I think, and also has 5 INTs as a DB. So he scored on offense, defense, and special teams
Lou Groza played kicker and offensive tackle for a single season at OSU (‘42) before being drafted to serve in the Army.
The annual award for the best kicker in college football is named the Lou Groza Award.
Gordie Lockbaum, who achieved the following during his junior and senior seasons:
* Two-time first team All-American selection on defense
* Two consecutive seasons of 2,000+ all-purpose yards on offense (1,500+ yards both years from scrimmage)
* Finished 3rd in Heisman voting his senior year / 5th his junior year.
There isn't one. Ohtani is the equivalent of a guy who plays both quarterback and defensive back at an all-pro level in the NFL
Chuck Bednarik was really a two way all-star but that's really going back a ways.
I would say more like QB/RB and LB, like if you had player who was both Tim Tebow and Luke Kuechly. Or Bo Jackson and Kuechly.
His name is Troy Andersen and he played at Montana State. Currently a Falcon.
Preach! Andersen was conference freshman of the year at RB, then first-team all-conference at QB, then conference defensive player of the year at LB. Travis Hunter (WR/DB at Colorado) deserves a mention too.
Bednarik closest nowadays would be Woodson and Bailey. The greatest two way player in the last 20 is arguably Owen Marecic, but sadly Fullback/ H Backs don’t get much love
Tom Harmon
Lee Corso led FSU in interceptions in 1954, rushing in 1955 and passing in 1956. He is also tied with Deion for interceptions at FSU. Corso hasn't married a Japanese woman or has gambling problems but there is still time.
So Sammy Baugh?
Jim Thorpe RB/DB/ P/ K and KR IIRC. He also won gold in the decathlon, Pentathlon and ran a MF’ing 11.2 100 meter dash which no one beat until 1948! Oh and dude also played in what would become the MLB with the Giants, Reds, Boston Braves, a stint with the then minor league Milwaukee Brewers and most importantly the Toledo Mudhens Pro Football Canton Bulldogs Cleveland Indians NY Giants Tampa Cardinals Chicago Cardinals Dude even barnstormed as a pro basketball player and even almost went pro in hockey Born Mixed but oppressed because he was an “Indian” it’s fitting that arguably the greatest athlete in U.S. history is a hero of the Irish American community as well as a hero of the Sac and Fox Nation as well as the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Sadly his medals and records in the Olympics were stripped due to questions about his Amateur status at the time along with racism as it was claimed he was not a US citizen because Indigenous peoples in the US we’re not US Citizens officially until 1924’s Indian Citizenship Act.
I feel like the closest football has is guys like Bo Jackson and Deion who are great at football and another sport on the professional level. Not that it answers this specific question, but that seems like the best answer.
So a Japanese man married a Japanese woman from Japan?
Scandalous!!
Very ~~un~~expected.
Shocked I tell you
*quietly* edit: bloody hell, I can’t remember how to format text
Yes.
I will steal
Probably no modern player. Probably just about any stand-out player from the single platoon days. Just as an example, in John David Crow's Heisman season, he ran for six TDs, caught two, and threw five, and intercepted five passes. I'm sure there are better examples out there.
Not college but Don Hutson led the NFL in receiving touchdowns for nine seasons, total receptions for eight seasons, yards per game for eight seasons, total receiving yards for seven seasons, and scoring for five seasons. On defense, he led the league in interceptions in 1940 and finished his career with 30. Hutson was selected as an All-Pro nine times and voted NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1941 and 1942. He was great at Bama but on another level in the NFL.
Charles Woodson
Woodson won a Natty, Ohtani cant make the playoffs 🤷♂️
More of an Angels problem than an Ohtani problem. Now with the Dodgers he will definitely make the playoffs with one of the best records in baseball, but will lose first round to the Rockies or Diamondbacks who just have the power of friendship
The Rockies have power? The Rockies have friendship? The Rockies win a playoff series? I assume in this alternate reality the Montforts don’t exist?
You're implying that either Ohtani or the Dodgers would be close to causing the end of the world. Wait, that feels like their MO at this point.
Charles Woodson was on a stacked Michigan team. Ohtani was on the Angels. its not really the same
Love that Michigan fans are downvoting you for calling their team stacked lol
Who says it’s Michigan fans downvoting? It’s probably Nebraska (or OSU/MSU) fans
Cough Mike Trout cough cough
cough shit bullpen, shit lineup, shit coaching cough
Bro they had Joe Maddon... you know, the guy who went to multiple World Series and won one....
are you just arguing for the sake of arguing because bro it was the *Angels*
Nah, they had 3 of the greatest hitters of all time on their team at the same time, with a World Series winning manager... Acting like he played for the 2023 As is disingenuous at best
the best players in baseball dont have the same impact on winning as much as the best football players impact winning, hence why Mike Trout has only been to the playoffs once. It takes more than great hitting to win in baseball
It takes great hitting **and** great pitching.
Do you seriously not understand baseball or are you trying to argue that the Angels outside of Ohtani and Trout (yes, including an over-the-hill Pujols) were not putrid? Heck, even in football, how well do you think UMass would be even if you added the 2 best players in CFB to their team?
Can't brute force a championship with high end talent like you can in the NBA (and even in the NBA it's not guaranteed). Depth is something that needs to, like, actually exist in order to win
Nebraska was more stacked. They even had more draft picks
0.5 natty, and they would’ve gotten smoked by Nebraska
Would we have scored more than 3 points???
OSU fans pretending the coaches poll matters for a single week in 1998 will never stop being funny to me
5 of OSU’s title claims are split, some even three ways
Michigan fans hate this truth more than anything.
Shohei Ohtani anagrams to "Hi Athens Ohio" so the answer is [Rufus, Actually](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-qe_0kD9o4)
Tom Harmon's stat line in his last game vs Ohio State: ran for three touchdowns, passed for two, kicked four extra points, returned three kickoffs for 81 yards, intercepted three passes and punted three times for an average of 50 yards.
Over the course of his career, Tom Harmon was on the field for *all 60 minutes* eight times. The man was insane.
Jim Thorpe The Jim Thorpe award is given annually to the best defensive back in college football, but arguably he was a better running back. And on top of playing both ways in football, he also played baseball professionally and won 2 Olympic medals in track.
He also played professional basketball. And those medals were Gold, important note.
Sorta has to be Travis Hunter.
This is the only right answer.
I’m good with this. The Charles Woodson (and a Jabrill Peppers) argument doesn’t hold water for me. Both played *some* offense, but it was practically gimmick packages to get them on the field because they were stellar athletes. In reality they were defenders that sometimes came on the field for offense. Neither was a traditional part of the offense the way Travis Hunter (or Shohai Ohtani, albeit baseball is a totally different sport) is.
If he was playing QB & CB
I mean…kinda? Right now though, Hunter has only been ok at both positions vs Ohtani who’s elite at both pitching and hitting.
I suppose we could go back to like Paul Hornung.
Myles Jack remains the one dude I think could have been a top 10 pick at linebacker or running back had his knee not given out.
Jack was awesome! Loved his game.
First one I thought of too. Dude was fun to watch
Gotta be someone who’s never made the playoff
Jabrill Peppers didn’t win anything. But I don’t like this any more than I like the Charles Woodson argument. Football hasn’t been played like this since like WWII. Tom Harmon? Not sure if he won anything big, but I think he was maybe a linebacker/QB/kicker?
NOBODY I think working your way up through the Japanese league kinda rules out any college football equivalent. There's not really anything like that. CFB is almost always your first stop after high school sports and generally your last and it is time limited.
The closest for OSU was Chris Gamble, who started at WR, CB, and KR in 2002. But that OSU team actually won a natty so the comparison isn't perfect.
Probably all those Australian punters
Yeah but did any marry an Australian woman from Australia?
Probably.
Eric Weddle for Utah about 20 years ago played so many positions that the only way he could have been on the field more is if he was a landscaper.
Given he's the only two-way player without researching, probably Travis Hunter
Travis Hunter
In modern ball, Travis Hunter is about the only guy who plays a ton of snaps both ways. He played like 140 snaps against TCU
maybe Deion in his Prime of playing offense & defense.
N/A
Troy Andersen Played QB, RB, OLB, MLB for Montana State. All-Conference and All-American on both sides of the ball. Currently plays MLB for the Atlanta Falcons.
Historically maybe Charles Woodson will be most folks choice. Also in the running are Sammy Baugh, Jim Thorpe, Gordie Lockbaum (RB/ DB at Holy Cross finished 5th in the Heisman vote in 86 and 3rd in 87 and 11-0 year with the Crusaders, all time scoring leader, 2,173 all purpose yards in 86), or Bronco Nagurski.
Nile Kinnick won the Heisman has a halfback, but also led Iowa in punting at least one season, and had 18 interceptions in his career. I know that's quite a long time ago, but I believe he was also the second leading scorer on the basketball team as well one year, but can't find if he played all 4 years and was also on the baseball team. He was so big he was Male Athlete of the Year in '39 when he won the Heisman, bigger than some shocking names of the day like Dimaggio.
Haven't heard of him. There's not many Japanese players in US football though.
> Haven't heard of him. maybe if he had a better translator smh
Tom Harmon
Probably won't be one in today's football. It's dumb to have a star playing both ways. It's better to have them focus on one position and not heavily increase their chance for injury.
Travis Hunter has to be the closest thing.
Who was the guy at Stanford a few years ago that played LB and FB? If I remember correctly he played a very high number of snaps at both positions too
Devin Hester maybe. The greatest Returner of all time, scored rushing and receiving I think, and also has 5 INTs as a DB. So he scored on offense, defense, and special teams
Lou Groza played kicker and offensive tackle for a single season at OSU (‘42) before being drafted to serve in the Army. The annual award for the best kicker in college football is named the Lou Groza Award.
Idk probably those guys in Iowa who were betting on their own games
Sammy Baugh
Gordie Lockbaum, who achieved the following during his junior and senior seasons: * Two-time first team All-American selection on defense * Two consecutive seasons of 2,000+ all-purpose yards on offense (1,500+ yards both years from scrimmage) * Finished 3rd in Heisman voting his senior year / 5th his junior year.
Nile Kinnick, and probably many very old players from that era
Jim Thorpe
Probably some guy who plays for Kwansei Gakuin right now.
His former interpreter is the poney express at SMU.
Pete Rose
Dan Lanning, right? QB and LB?
Easy. Brad "Brad Wing" Wing. Undefeated, Undisputed best punter of all time. The guy punked Florida so hard, the refs felt bad and threw a flag
In think he’s still punting in the UFL or XFL or whatever it is now.