At his current pace, Adrian Peterson will pass Billy Sims' all-time rushing record in Week 8 against Missouri.
Peterson closing in
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
8/15/2006
Before every Oklahoma football game, Adrian Peterson tells Memorial Stadium patrons, "There's only one Billy Sims."
Sims, of course, reciprocates. But Sims said Monday night that his favorite Sooner is Joe Washington. And Washington says his favorite is Greg Pruitt.
So who's the best?
"Joe said it best last night," said former Washington teammate and OU linebacker Jimbo Elrod. "How do you pick the best running back at OU? Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington, Mike Gaddis, Quentin Griffin and on and on. They all had certain styles."
Washington said that during his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, so he should know. But by the end of the 2006 football season, the debate will be between Peterson and Sims.
Peterson goes into his junior season needing just 1,090 yards to supplant Sims as the program's all-time rushing king. Just 1,090? Sounds like a lot. But Peterson's rookie season resulted in 1,925 yards. In his two seasons, he's averaged 142 yards per game when healthy. At that rate, a healthy Peterson would pass Sims' total of 4,118 in Week 8 at Missouri, and would still have at least four games to go, maybe six.
"They're both very good backs," former Sooner coach Barry Switzer said at Monday night's Legends in Sports Rivalry dinner at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel. "Different types of backs, but both very good. Adrian will obviously, if they have a good season and he stays healthy, end up the statistical leader. More carries, more yards. But I've never been a statistics guy.
"What's the best statistic? Touchdowns? Then Steve Owens is the best player. Total yards? It's Billy. Average per carry? Greg (Pruitt), and Billy. Statistics come down, to me, to what ball games you do it in."
Monday's event, produced by Tulsa Sports Charities and benefiting the Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, the FCA and the Special Olympics, featured college football dignitaries from Oklahoma and Nebraska, including Switzer, Sims, ex-Cornhuskers coach Tom Osborne and '83 Nebraska Heisman winner Mike Rozier.
Switzer, Osborne, Arkansas' Frank Broyles and Oklahoma State's Pat Jones -- the all-time coaching victories leaders at their schools -- met before dinner and discussed, among other things, great running backs.
Jones, an NFL assistant the last decade and now co-host of a Tulsa radio show, said he still hasn't seen Peterson in person so didn't feel right comparing him with Sims.
"I saw Sims, unfortunately, with my own eyes," Jones said. "We got a good dose of him."
Said Osborne, "It seems like Peterson is a little bit more of a straight-up-and-down runner. Runs awfully hard. Billy Sims was a little more compact. Peterson's a tall guy. Maybe with Billy, it was a little harder to get a clean shot at him. He ran a little lower."
Jones and Broyles are close to Arkansas' Houston Nutt, and the Razorbacks' coach nearly landed Peterson. They both said Nutt confided that Peterson in high school had the potential to be the best -- not just the best Sooner running back, but the best ball carrier of all time.
"Houston told me that when he was recruiting him," Broyles said. "There was Peterson, and then there was the rest of them."
Monday's consensus determined that Peterson is bigger and faster, but Sims was more elusive and perhaps a little stronger. Peterson runs with more power, Sims with more flare.
"The only difference I see is he's a little faster, bigger," Sims said. "I was more finesse. I didn't try to run anybody over unless I had to. I used to dive a lot. You don't see guys doing that any more. But he's the total package, without a doubt."
For the record, Peterson is 6-foot-2, will play this season at 218 pounds and ran a 4.37-second 40-yard dash last spring. Sims was a shade under 6-foot, played his senior year at 215 and as an NFL rookie clocked 4.4 in the 40.
"If I tossed it wide, I'd probably rather have Sims," Broyles said. "If I went up inside, I'd probably have Peterson."
Sims' 1978 and '79 seasons were as good as any two years in college football history. He scored 45 touchdowns and averaged 1,783 yards per season and 7.2 yards per carry. He won the '78 Heisman and "got screwed out of the second one" in 1979, Switzer said, when he gained almost 600 yards in his final two games after most of the Heisman votes had been submitted. USC's Charles White won it.
Peterson, on the other hand, put up his best numbers just a year removed from high school. Sims' first three seasons netted just 552 yards because of injuries, immaturity and a backfield filled with Washington, Kenny King and Elvis Peacock.
Peterson, physically, was NFL-ready the day he walked on campus, Sims said.
"I was probably a year behind," Sims said. "I wasn't on that level."
Peterson's freshman year netted 1,925 yards and 15 touchdowns. He led the nation in rushing attempts and finished second in the Heisman balloting, the best ever for a freshman.
Also significant are each runner's offensive formations. Most of Peterson's yards have come out of the I-formation, where he's virtually the only running threat. Sims didn't get nearly as many plays because he played in the wishbone, where he split carries with the other halfback, the fullback and even the quarterback.
Then again, Peterson's offenses have averaged 29.7 pass plays per game. Sims' in 1978-79 averaged 8.0.
Why bother comparing, Switzer asked.
"We're talking about greatness," Switzer said. "Billy and Adrian are two of the best that ever played at Oklahoma."
John E. Hoover 581-8384
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