Derrick Thomas: NFL Hall of Famer

by kleph on Aug 8, 2009 9:20 AM CDT Comment 6 comments

Soundrack alert.

Today former Crimson Tide linebacker Derrick Thomas will be posthumously enshrined into the NFL Hall of Fame. While the honor will cement his legacy as a player in the pros, he is still remembered as one of the most potent defensive players in Alabama football history.

As a true freshman he played in 11 out of 12 games and started twice. In 1987 he broke the school's sack record, racking up a astonishing 18, surpassing the previous total of 11 set by Emanuel King in 1983. Then, the next year, he obliterated his own record by racking up an incredible 27 sacks over the course of the season.

Thomas was a consensus All-America and Dick Butkus Award winner finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1988. He was selected fourth in the 1989 NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, the first defensive player selected. As a pro he was one of the most dominating defensive players of the 90s and was named to nine Pro Bowls although the honor was not his key motivation on the field.

"I don’t ever want it to be a question whether I’m a Pro Bowl-caliber player," he said after a game in 1997. "I believe I’m the best at what I do, and it’s my responsibility to play like I’m capable of playing and help this defense as much as possible."

These are the twelve records Thomas holds at Alabama according to the Alabama Media Guide (by way of The Birmingham News)

Blocked Kicks, Game: 2, at Kentucky, 1988 (tied for first)

Blocked Kicks, Career: 5

Sacks, Game: 5, at Texas A&M, 1988

Sacks, Season: 27, 1988

Sacks, Career: 52

Combined Sacks and Tackles for Losses, Game: 7, at Texas A&M, 1988

Combined Sacks and Tackles for Losses, Season: 39, 1988

Combined Sacks and Tackles for Losses, Career: 74

Quarterback Hurries, Game: 9, vs. Penn State, 1988

Quarterback Hurries, Season: 44, 1988

Fumbles Forced, Season: 7, 1987

Fumbles Forced, Career: 10 (tied for first)

Also, the folks over at SB Nation blog Arrowhead Pride covering all things pertaining to the KC Chiefs say they will have coverage of the enshrinement today, so you might want to pop over there periodically and check it out.

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arrowhead nation has posted a fantastic youtube retrospective of thomas’ career with the chiefs that is worth checking out in and of itself. but the shot of thomas plowing into the LSU backfield at 4:23 is simply epic.

by kleph on Aug 8, 2009 11:11 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I read...

…this in today’s Birmingham News. My favorite quotes came from (gasp) Bill Curry:

Curry said Marty Schottenheimer, the Chiefs’ coach then, was concerned before the draft whether Thomas would be big enough to merit a high draft pick.

“Let me tell you how good he is,” Curry told Schottenheimer. “You will put him on the field on day one, and he will be your best player. And he will be the best player that you have on the Kansas City Chiefs every day.”

“He was the best football player I ever coached.”

by NiceLittleSaturday on Aug 8, 2009 1:31 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Link:

Derrick Thomas

by NiceLittleSaturday on Aug 8, 2009 1:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

are those season/career sack totals ncaa records as well?

’cause I found this at ask.com

In the early 2000s, there was one player that no Pac-10 quarterback wanted to see lined up across the line of scrimmage: Terrell Suggs.

In just three years at Arizona State, the defensive end registered an incredible 44 quarterback sacks, setting the NCAA career record in the process.

The rest of the NCAA’s all-time sack leaders are listed here.

Terrell Suggs, Arizona State (2000-02): 44 career sacks

what’s the deal? 52>44, no?

by Zoltar on Aug 8, 2009 2:55 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The NCAA...

…did not keep sack records in 1988, so Suggs is the ‘official’ NCAA record-holder, while DT actually outperformed him by a mile on the field.

by NiceLittleSaturday on Aug 8, 2009 3:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was at the Penn State game

It was memorable for two things: the cretinous behavior of the yankees rooting for PSU, and Thomas winning the game almost single-handedly. The score was 8-3; he shut down the Penn State offense and scored two points on a safety. He probably should have been playing quarterback; that was the year of the David Smith Experience, just two weeks after the Brick Game against Ole Miss.

by Mac T on Aug 8, 2009 4:49 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs