Championship Round: SEC’s best individual seasons of all time
We started out at 64, but now we’ve managed to whittle our way down to the two best single-season performances in SEC history.
On one side of the bracket, Herschel Walker emerged from the Running Back region by defeating Todd Gurley, Tre Mason, Darren McFadden and Derrick Henry along the way. He was fairly unchallenged by his ball-carrying peers.
As for other side, Amari Cooper cruised through the Wide Receiver region with victories over Percy Harvin, Cobi Hamilton, Peerless Price and Julio Jones, although Jones — just a 15-seed — put up a fight in the regional final.
In the Final Four, Walker faced the winner of the Quarterback region, Cam Newton. As for Cooper, he battled the champion of the Defensive Player region, Derrick Thomas. While Walker ousted Newton in relatively convincing fashion, Cooper had to survive a slugfest with Thomas. Now, it’s Walker vs. Cooper for all the marbles.
Your vote determines who comes out on top at the end of this three-week affair, so here’s the tale of the tape for the Championship Round.
Credit: University of Georgia Athletics
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
1 Herschel Walker (1981) vs. 1 Amari Cooper (2014)
The SEC had been blessed with terrific talent at running back for decades, but Walker (above) was truly one of a kind when he arrived at Georgia.
Perhaps never before had a ball carrier — not just in this conference, but across the country — blended raw power and blinding speed into such a terrifying cocktail. Walker was the total package and borderline unstoppable.
As a freshman in 1980, he was already arguably the premier player in America with 274 carries for 1,616 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was just getting started, though. Walker set single-season league records for attempts (385), yards (1,891) and TDs (18) in ’81. They’ve since been broken, but the current record-holders played in more games.
He never had fewer than 23 rushes in any game that year and got as many as 47. Walker rushed for at least 111 yards every week, including eight games over 160 and two with at least 225. Only twice was he held out of the end zone.
While he finally won the Heisman Trophy in 1982 as somewhat of a career achievement award, it was ’81 when Walker was the quintessential workhorse.
Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Alabama always has been and always will be known for defense under coach Nick Saban, but Cooper (above) was a one-man offensive juggernaut.
Following in the footsteps of Jones, who redefined what a Crimson Tide pass catcher could be, Cooper was even more productive. Cooper’s even 1,000 yards receiving in 2012 broke Jones’s freshman standard of 924 set in ’08.
However, it was 2014 when Cooper did things never seen before at ‘Bama — and they have their fair share of history in Tuscaloosa. He caught 124 passes. That’s a program record. He reeled in 1,727 yards worth of passes. That’s also a record. He had 16 touchdowns through the air. That’s a record, too.
Not only were the 124 receptions a school record, but they remain an SEC record, as well. Cooper’s 1,727 yards receiving have only been topped in this conference by the 1,740 that LSU’s Josh Reed recorded in 2001.
Cooper has more catches, yards receiving and receiving TDs than any player in Tide annals, based largely on what he did his junior campaign.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
