Double Extra Point
Tommie Frazier is my favorite athlete of all time, so it’s impossible for me to answer this question objectively. For that reason, I won’t even try. Nonetheless, I think it’s important to mention that Frazier's stats don’t do justice to his play on the field. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about the “heart” or “leadership” factor. Rather, what I’m referring to Frazier’s unrivaled ability run the option. More important than his 2000+ rushing yards was Frazier’s ability to consistently set up HUGE runs by the likes of Derek Brown, Calvin Jones, Lawrence Phillips, and Ahman Green with perfectly-timed pitches. Unlike later Husker QBs (Crouch and Lord, in particular) who were more apt to turn the ball upfield and settle for whatever gain they could muster with their own two feet, Frazier had a knack for holding out, drawing that extra defender, and, in turn, springing loose an I-back coming off the edge. It’s really hard to quantify this difference. But a simple comparison of rushing yard distribution (QB vs IB) in the Frazier era to that of later QBs gives a rough idea.
With respect to Tebow, I think that Frazier’s success running the option amounts to a fair difference. Specifically, I think that Frazier can claim more responsibility than Tebow for the success of his teammates running the ball.
I agree with everything you said GFW. I guess the main purpose of this post was to attempt an 'early' rebuttal as to what we are going to be hearing all season long about Tebow. Unfortunately, the 'experts' will be harping on awards and stats as they try to crown Tebow the greatest ever.
For example, this
http://cfn.scout.com/2/866531.html
Ugh. And I had forgotten about the Tim Tebow lovefest going on as of late.
Oh well--as soon as they fall out of the Top 10 (which they will IMO), that love fest will be soon be replaced with MackBrownapalooza on all ESPN networks, including the Ocho.
It's reassuring that two of the three people polled in the above Scout article had the good sense to pay due credit to Tommie Frazier. What I find mind boggling, though, is that there were also a few references to Danny Wuerffel. Really? He was just a system quarterback during the height of Spurrier's Fun n' Gun days. I would have hoped that the "experts" at College Football News would have enough sense to realize this fact.
One small error. Frazier's loss to Iowa State was not his first start. His first start was against Missouri three weeks earlier in Colombia.
Great debate!
GFW - Here's a list from the same guys from CFN from 2006...
http://forums.eog.com/college-fo...test-
35846.html
...regarding the top 10 qbs
danacz - congratulations on winning DXP reader of the week. Thanks for catching that.
Bam...
http://www.huskerpedia.com/
games...06missouri.html
Tommie Frazier, no doubt, is the greatest of the two. He was so fun to watch. Would love to have a guy of his caliber back at QB. On a sad note, DXP, Erin Andrews has been hit by a foul ball. Didn't know if you heard yet or not.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/
foo...rn=ncaaf,175760
Sammy great post. I just read it for the 3rd time. I have had this discussion with a few different fans over the last year and agree with your perspective. As it stands right now I'd take Frazier any day of the week and twice on Sunday over Tebow. Had he been healthy for all of 94' and not been juiced out of the Heisman in 95' it wouldn't even be a discussion. He was special. You can nitpick at his throwing motion etc. etc. but at the end of the day Tommie was just one of those kids that was going to beat you. If I were going to attempt to rank my Top 5 college QB's of all time it would be very difficult for me not to have Frazier as #1.
I say give Tebow one more year. Your forgetting just how great Nebraska was during 95 at every position. Tebow didn't lose games in 07..his defense did. That defense was terrible, and I don't think Tebow can do anything about that. I think right now it is Frazier but Tebow now has a team poised to be up there with 95 Nebraska.....Gators will have the top defense in the nation and I don't think anyone can argue that legitimately. Both are great...this season can vault Tebow over Frazier...a title and another Heisman would make him without a doubt the best player to play the position in my book...but I'm a Gator fan so :P.
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