[81alum]

I wish I'd seen Darrin Nelson play!

I looked around for some youtubes of his college days and could not find any video.  Darrin was electrifying to watch during his freshman and sophomore years.  He was lighter and more nimble, and quite often he would reverse field to turn a loss into a long gain.  (He did have back to back 1000 yard seasons these years--in contradiction to the Stanford press release before the recent Oregon game which incorrectly said Taylor was the first to do it.)  Nelson was as slippery to tackle as any running back ever.

Then he was injured and sat out a year.  When he came back for his junior and senior years he had put on muscle and was attempting to be a more well rounded back who could run with power up the middle too.  Rumor was that he was told he could not make it in the pros unless he got stronger.  While his numbers were good in those years, his running did not look to me to be as flashy as during brilliance of his early days.

Nelson's true importance as Stanford's best running back, though, comes after you consider that in addition to his 4000+ yards rushing, he would catch at least 50 passes a year, averaging around 10 yards a catch.  A lot of them were swing passes which were in reality some of his best running plays.  He also caught some bombs that would often be disguised as if they were going to be a swing pass until he streaked down the sideline.  His is our #3 all time receiver, behind Troy Walters and DeRonnie Pitts.

Then add to that the punt returns.  That brings him to 6885 all purpose yards.  That will be a very difficult number for anyone to duplicate.  Glynn Milburn was also brilliant and probably the closest kind of back to Nelson that we have had--and he was a thousand yards short.

In any case, backs like Nelson and Milburn were suited to the Walsh style offense and not to power running.  Comparing them to Taylor is a bit unfair.  But Nelson was in my frosh class, and I thank him for helping turn me into a football fan.  No one who watched him that year could fail to be excited.

[81alum]

I wish I'd seen Darrin Nelson play!

I looked around for some youtubes of his college days and could not find any video.  Darrin was electrifying to watch during his freshman and sophomore years.  He was lighter and more nimble, and quite often he would reverse field to turn a loss into a long gain.  (He did have back to back 1000 yard seasons these years--in contradiction to the Stanford press release before the recent Oregon game which incorrectly said Taylor was the first to do it.)  Nelson was as slippery to tackle as any running back ever.

Then he was injured and sat out a year.  When he came back for his junior and senior years he had put on muscle and was attempting to be a more well rounded back who could run with power up the middle too.  Rumor was that he was told he could not make it in the pros unless he got stronger.  While his numbers were good in those years, his running did not look to me to be as flashy as during brilliance of his early days.

Nelson's true importance as Stanford's best running back, though, comes after you consider that in addition to his 4000+ yards rushing, he would catch at least 50 passes a year, averaging around 10 yards a catch.  A lot of them were swing passes which were in reality some of his best running plays.  He also caught some bombs that would often be disguised as if they were going to be a swing pass until he streaked down the sideline.  His is our #3 all time receiver, behind Troy Walters and DeRonnie Pitts.

Then add to that the punt returns.  That brings him to 6885 all purpose yards.  That will be a very difficult number for anyone to duplicate.  Glynn Milburn was also brilliant and probably the closest kind of back to Nelson that we have had--and he was a thousand yards short.

In any case, backs like Nelson and Milburn were suited to the Walsh style offense and not to power running.  Comparing them to Taylor is a bit unfair.  But Nelson was in my frosh class, and I thank him for helping turn me into a football fan.  No one who watched him that year could fail to be excited.