Is Mohamed Ibrahim the greatest RB in Gophers history?

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Mulligan said:
All these references to Maroney gives me flashbacks to Kucek's botched punt. Maroney ran up and down the field that day for over 250 yards. And I can still see him stopped on third and short which led to the punt. I think he also recovered the crazy onside kick that we failed to field and was bounced down the field inside our ten. Ah, hell, might as well keep torturing myself. All Kucek would have had to do was to knock the ball out of the end zone for a safety but he tried to punt it. Walking out of the Dome with all those assholes in red whooping it up might have been the most painful moment ever in my Gopher fan life.
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I have PTSD from that game my 3 cousins from Milwaukee took me to that game!! Oh the agony!
 

Mulligan said:
All these references to Maroney gives me flashbacks to Kucek's botched punt. Maroney ran up and down the field that day for over 250 yards. And I can still see him stopped on third and short which led to the punt. I think he also recovered the crazy onside kick that we failed to field and was bounced down the field inside our ten. Ah, hell, might as well keep torturing myself. All Kucek would have had to do was to knock the ball out of the end zone for a safety but he tried to punt it. Walking out of the Dome with all those assholes in red whooping it up might have been the most painful moment ever in my Gopher fan life.
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One of the (strange) reasons I recall that game so vividly was that Cupito got dinged up the week before but the word from the Gophers ALL weeklong was that he was going to play, and the Gophers were (-5) point favorites against the skunks.

It gets released LATE Friday night that Cupito wasn't going to play and the Gophers were going to roll with Tony Mortensen, who I think at the time had attempted like 7 career passes. Vegas books hadn't adjusted the line yet, I'm ashamed to say that I placed a decent size wager on the skunks, on the moneyline.
 

Go4Broke said:
There is only one choice for the Gopher's greatest running back (and maybe defensive tackle):

Bronko Nagurski became a standout playing both tackle on defense and fullback on offense at Minnesota from 1927 to 1929. In 1929, after posting 737 rushing yards, he was a consensus All-American at fullback, and despite playing fewer games at the position also made some All-American teams at tackle.

His greatest collegiate game was against Wisconsin in the season finale in 1928. Wearing a corset to protect cracked vertebrae, he recovered a Badger fumble deep in their territory, then ran the ball six straight times to score the go-ahead touchdown. Later in the same game, he intercepted a pass to seal the victory.

During his three varsity seasons at Minnesota, the Gophers went 18–4–2 (.792) and won the Big Ten Conference championship in 1927. Nagurski was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.

The pre-eminent sportswriter of the day, Grantland Rice, listed him at the two positions in picking his 1929 All-America team. Rice later wrote, "Who would you pick to win a football game - 11 Jim Thorpes - 11 Glen Davises - 11 Red Granges - or 11 Bronko Nagurskis? The 11 Nagurskis would be a mop-up. It would be something close to murder and massacre. For the Bronk could star at any position on the field."
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This is the only correct answer


Bruce smith has gotta be 2


Marion B3
Marion B2
Ibrahim
Thompson
Maroney are in the conversation for 3-7

Keep mind maroney and barber played behind the most decorated o lines of all of them. When maroney and barber 3 were on same team I know which guy I wanted to get the ball in crunch time.

I would rate them:
Mb3 - 3
Ibrahim - 4
Maroney - 5
Thompson - 6
MB2 - 7
 

Paul Giel is the most decorated RB in Gopher History. He should be at or near the top. Giel's narrow Heisman loss, and Bruce Smith's small vote share win, should not obscure the reality that Giel is the best RB in Gopher history.

2-Time BIG TEN MVP
The Gophers have had the Big Ten MVP 6 times, the last one in 1961. Paul Giel won it twice (1952-53) (the first player to win it twice and 1 of 5 Big Ten multiple winners) (Bruce Smith never won it once, unlike every other Big Ten player to win the Heisman). This award has been given since 1924.

3-Time FIRST TEAM ALL BIG TEN Giel was First Team All Big in 1951 (AP), 1952 (AP, UPI) and 1953 (AP, UPI). He is the only "skill" player in Gopher History to be First Team all conference 3 times, joining 3 lineman (Greg Eslinger [2003-05], Leo Nomellini [1947-49] and Ed Widseth [1934-36]. (This list is hard to research, so if I missed anybody, please add them [I could only verify Reuben Rosenwald as All Western in 1910-11, not 1909]). Four other Gopher running backs have been 2-time First Team All Big Ten (Maroney, Barber, Jr., Lund, and Joestling).

2-Time FIRST TEAM ALL AMERICAN Giel was First Team All American by AP and the Football Writers in 1952 (AP and FWAA remain to this day two of the selectors for Consensus All American) and Consensus All American in 1953. He is 1 of 3 backs in Gopher history to be First Team All American 2 times (Herb Joestling, FB 1926-27; and Francis "Pug" Lund, HB/FB 1933-34).

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR Giel was selected in a vote by NCAA coaches as UPI College Player of the Year in 1953 (an award given from 1950-1991). All of the Big Ten Heisman winners from 1950-1991 were also UPI College Player of the Year. This was a big award in its day, but did not survive the bankruptcy of UPI.

HEISMAN Giel is 1 of 5 players in Big Ten history to finish in the Heisman top 3 twice (Archie Griffin,Howard Cassady, Leroy Keyes, and Tom Harmon), finishing 3rd in 1952 and 2nd in 1953. While Bruce Smith won the Heisman in 1941, receiving 23% of the votes received by the top 10 vote getters, Giel finished runner up in '53, receiving 34% of the votes received by the top 10 vote getters. Giel lost in the then closest vote ever, which is still one of the five closest Heisman races.
No doubt, the team's record of 4-4-1 kept Giel from winning the Heisman.

Finally, putting Smith first is giving too much credit to a Heisman winner whose career does not match Giel's. Smith finished 3rd on his own team in 1941 in rushing. Smith is generally ranked last among the Big Ten Heisman winners, which is not surprising given his paltry Heisman winning vote total, failure to win Big Ten MVP, and failure to win the Maxwell Award. In 1939 and 1940, Kinnick and Harmon also won the Big Ten MVP, Maxwell Award and AP Athlete of the Year (all sports). Smith won none of these other awards.

Smith had the legendary 80-yard TD run in 1940 against a great Michigan team in a 7-6 Gopher victory. That is the greatest single play in Gopher history. But Giel had the better Gopher RB career.
 

Paul Giel finished 2nd in the Heisman voting.
Rick Upchurch averaged 6.2 yards a carry.
I'm sticking with Bronko. Back when the spring game featured the alumni vs varsity he played at age 52 and they had trouble bringing him down.
 


I love DT, but would note he had two seasons in a very good option scheme with Ricky. His numbers were better those two years...Foggie drew a lot of attention.
 


WriterGoph said:
As far as individual stats, it's hard to argue with DT and Maroney. As far as Mo, it's pretty safe to say that (outside of Bruce Smith), he will be always be a major part of the conversation around one of the winningest eras in modern Gopher football history.
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Agree on DT and Maroney. Barber and Darkins could be nominated too. I think Darkins could have put up some pretty crazy stats running in our current offense.
 

I believe had he stayed healthy last year and still returned this year he would have the most yards in school history so will have to say yes. Still a tough call because Maroney was so special and wasn’t here as long. Those two I think stand alone at the top though.
 



I don't get what makes Ibrahim a better back than David Cobb -- both of whom are a tier below those in the running for greatest gopher back of all time.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
One of the (strange) reasons I recall that game so vividly was that Cupito got dinged up the week before but the word from the Gophers ALL weeklong was that he was going to play, and the Gophers were (-5) point favorites against the skunks.

It gets released LATE Friday night that Cupito wasn't going to play and the Gophers were going to roll with Tony Mortensen, who I think at the time had attempted like 7 career passes. Vegas books hadn't adjusted the line yet, I'm ashamed to say that I placed a decent size wager on the skunks, on the moneyline.
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I seem to remember a play (and I could be wrong), but the rules in that era required the clock to stop every time a player went out of bounds. I can easily be wrong, but is that still the case or does the clock just stop after a certain point in the quarter/half/game. I seem to remember Mortensen going out of bounds on a run midway through the fourth quarter and the clock then stopped. I think a couple of years later after a rule change, the clock wouldn't have stopped and I think the Gophers could have successfully run out the clock if that were the case. Again, I could be dead wrong.

As for all-time greatest RB, SON summed it up best when you have to look at the eras and coaching strategies in those eras. Thompson played a classic 7-yards-deep tailback position. He didn't have the first step of a lot of the other guys, but he hit his top end pretty quickly and he could run both through and past linebackers. Maroney/Barber III were also really good. The thing to remember there is that Mason's offenses got RBs great stats (Tellis Redmon went over 1,000 twice). Rodney Smith was probably the best all-around back we've had as he did just about everything on the field in addition to running the football. The thing that has impressed me most about Ibrahim is that the guy is a well-rounded player who is a really good blocker when called upon to do that.

I guess I've always been uncomfortable labelling one guy "the best." Clearly Ibrahim is in the upper tier of Gopher RBs. I'll leave it at that.
 

Thompson was the most talented RB we have ever had I think that’s a pretty easy call. Combination of size and power and speed that you just don’t see much of. If he had run behind Maroney and Barber’s O Line he likely would have outperformed both; and I love how both of them played. I’ve always had a bit of a bad taste with Thompson felt at the time his senior year ran softer and went out of bounds more to save himself for the draft, but that’s been so long ago now I could have been wrong. When I see all the names thrown out there it’s pretty cool how many great runners we have had. Brewster never was able to bring in a feature back that was a black hole for a quite a few years until Cobb broke out under Kill.
 

BigTenGuy said:
Paul Giel is the most decorated RB in Gopher History. He should be at or near the top. Giel's narrow Heisman loss, and Bruce Smith's small vote share win, should not obscure the reality that Giel is the best RB in Gopher history.

2-Time BIG TEN MVP
The Gophers have had the Big Ten MVP 6 times, the last one in 1961. Paul Giel won it twice (1952-53) (the first player to win it twice and 1 of 5 Big Ten multiple winners) (Bruce Smith never won it once, unlike every other Big Ten player to win the Heisman). This award has been given since 1924.

3-Time FIRST TEAM ALL BIG TEN Giel was First Team All Big in 1951 (AP), 1952 (AP, UPI) and 1953 (AP, UPI). He is the only "skill" player in Gopher History to be First Team all conference 3 times, joining 3 lineman (Greg Eslinger [2003-05], Leo Nomellini [1947-49] and Ed Widseth [1934-36]. (This list is hard to research, so if I missed anybody, please add them [I could only verify Reuben Rosenwald as All Western in 1910-11, not 1909]). Four other Gopher running backs have been 2-time First Team All Big Ten (Maroney, Barber, Jr., Lund, and Joestling).

2-Time FIRST TEAM ALL AMERICAN Giel was First Team All American by AP and the Football Writers in 1952 (AP and FWAA remain to this day two of the selectors for Consensus All American) and Consensus All American in 1953. He is 1 of 3 backs in Gopher history to be First Team All American 2 times (Herb Joestling, FB 1926-27; and Francis "Pug" Lund, HB/FB 1933-34).

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR Giel was selected in a vote by NCAA coaches as UPI College Player of the Year in 1953 (an award given from 1950-1991). All of the Big Ten Heisman winners from 1950-1991 were also UPI College Player of the Year. This was a big award in its day, but did not survive the bankruptcy of UPI.

HEISMAN Giel is 1 of 5 players in Big Ten history to finish in the Heisman top 3 twice (Archie Griffin,Howard Cassady, Leroy Keyes, and Tom Harmon), finishing 3rd in 1952 and 2nd in 1953. While Bruce Smith won the Heisman in 1941, receiving 23% of the votes received by the top 10 vote getters, Giel finished runner up in '53, receiving 34% of the votes received by the top 10 vote getters. Giel lost in the then closest vote ever, which is still one of the five closest Heisman races.
No doubt, the team's record of 4-4-1 kept Giel from winning the Heisman.

Finally, putting Smith first is giving too much credit to a Heisman winner whose career does not match Giel's. Smith finished 3rd on his own team in 1941 in rushing. Smith is generally ranked last among the Big Ten Heisman winners, which is not surprising given his paltry Heisman winning vote total, failure to win Big Ten MVP, and failure to win the Maxwell Award. In 1939 and 1940, Kinnick and Harmon also won the Big Ten MVP, Maxwell Award and AP Athlete of the Year (all sports). Smith won none of these other awards.

Smith had the legendary 80-yard TD run in 1940 against a great Michigan team in a 7-6 Gopher victory. That is the greatest single play in Gopher history. But Giel had the better Gopher RB career.
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Finishing 3rd in Heisman voting his junior year and 2nd his senior year cans it for me. Giel is right up there in the top three RBs.
 



interesting question in the article, statistics show he may end up being, and while he is a fantastic rb, he just doesn’t pass the eye test as the best of all time.
 

I think he’s top 5 maybe 3. I’d put DT number 1 though. Maroney and Barber are right up there too IMO.
 

Schnauzer said:
Daryl Thompson accomplished a lot and did not play with an offensive line that was as good as Maroney or Ibrahim.

He had a unique blend of power and speed. I hope Ibrahim breaks all his records but DT gets my vote.

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Holy S, he looked like a linebacker and he was just pulling away from those DBs like it was nothing.
 



Here's another name that I don't think anyone brought up. Herb Joesting was a two time All American FB in 1926 - 1927.

Knute Rockne had had enough. The famed Notre Dame coach had seen too much of Minnesota fullback Herb Joesting shredding his Irish defenses for two straight years. In 1927, Joesting's senior season, Rockne looked ahead and proclaimed: "I'll buy a new suit for the guy who can throw Joesting for a loss." Rockne never had to pay off. The Gophers and Irish played to a 7-7 deadlock, and Minnesota went on to finish 6-0-2, and Joesting became the third player from his school to win All-America recognition in consecutive years, matching the feat of fellow Hall of Famer Bert Baston. Joesting was a thundering fullback and Gopher coach Clarence "Doc" Spears built his offense around the powerful runner. The dividends were obvious. The "Owatonna Thunderbolt" gained 1,850 yards in 24 games for a career average of 4.2 yards a carry. He knew only one way to play the game. "I play each game for all it's worth," he said. "No more can be asked of an athlete than that he goes all out in every situation." Those words struck deepest in the heart of a young Gopher sophomore named Bronko Nagurski, who would be inspired to great performances during the next two seasons. Joesting later became a member of the Motor Vehicle Division of the state of Minnesota.

At best the original poster should have asked if Mo was the best running back in the past 50 years. It's too hard to compare the modern era to guys 50 years ago. Even at that I'd answer the question as no. Just another great back in Gopher history.
 

Schnauzer said:
Daryl Thompson accomplished a lot and did not play with an offensive line that was as good as Maroney or Ibrahim.

He had a unique blend of power and speed. I hope Ibrahim breaks all his records but DT gets my vote.

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I was at this game, only 12 rows up from this exact spot. I can still recall the parting of the "blue" sea and seeing Thompson run 98 yards unimpeded for the touchdown.
I also note that the Gophers got hosed that day by the refs (if ever video review was needed, it was this game). Ricky Foggy had us on the goal line for a game winning touchdown. He lept over the line with arms outstretched. The ball clearly was over the line and then Michigan knocked the ball out of his hands. The refs call a fumble with Michigan recovering in the end zone. Fans went ballistic, throwing every conceivable object onto the turf, turning the end zone into an local garbage dump. Play had to be stopped to clear the field and fans were warned to stop throwing objects onto the field. Every piece of garbage around me was deposited on the field. Just another game where the Gophers got hosed.

But, man that run by Thompson was a sight to see.
 

Gopherchase said:
Thompson was the most talented RB we have ever had I think that’s a pretty easy call. Combination of size and power and speed that you just don’t see much of. If he had run behind Maroney and Barber’s O Line he likely would have outperformed both; and I love how both of them played.
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Although, DT did have four NFL draftees blocking for him in Ray Hitchcock, Troy Wolkow, Brian Williams, and Jon Melander and AllBig Ten guys like Jim Hobbins, Paul Anderson and Dan Liimata on the o-line.
 



The "greatest" is all relative to me, so I rarely think in those terms; especially when some of the best backs played several decades ago.

What I do know is this. I would take a healthy Mo as a college RB over any of the backs I've watched as a serious fan going back to the late 1990s.

Mo still has a chance to do some special things. For example, The NCAA record for 100 yard games in a season is 13. Mo has a chance to get that if he stays healthy. He's already rushed for 11 consecutive 100 yard games that he's played in, but not in a season. Let's hope he stays healthy; most importantly for the team, but also for his legacy and future career.
 

Memories seemed to extend as far back only to when you became Gopher fans.
 





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