Tag Archives: bill fralic

1984 Heisman Trophy Finalists

1. Doug Flutie – Boston College QB: Finishing in 3rd place the previous season, Flutie took his game to an entirely new level in 1984. His signature game happened against Bernie Kosar and Miami when Flutie threw a famous Hail Mary into the End Zone to lead his Eagles to a shocking victory over the home team Hurricanes. Flutie was phenomenal in that game throwing for over 470 yards and the last second Touchdown pass to Gerard Phelan. Flutie was listed at 5-9, 175 which was really generous, but he didn’t let that stop him from becoming the first college football Quarterback to throw for over 10,000 yards in his career. As a senior, he threw for 3,634 yards and 30 Touchdowns against 13 picks. Flutie was way too small for NFL coaches, yet he played 21 years in either the NFL the CFL or the USFL. He was such a scrambler much like Fran Tarkington and he didn’t get hit as often as a classic drop back passer with all of the size and talent. Flutie has worked in broadcasting in recent seasons and in 2016

was a color commentator on Notre Dame games.

2. Keith Byars – Ohio State RB: 1984 was Byars junior season at Ohio State and this was as close as he would ever get to winning the Heisman because he was injured much of his senior season. As a junior, Byars ran for an impressive 1,764 yards on 336 carries at 5.3 yards per carry. Maybe Byars’ best effort came that season when he helped the Buckeyes come back from a huge deficit against Illinois and Byars lost his shoe in the middle of a 62 yard Touchdown run and never lost a step. He ran for 274 yards in that game total and 5 Touchdowns in helping the Buckeyes come back and win. In spite of missing most of his senior season, Byars was still impressive enough to be the 10th player picked in the 1986 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. The 6-1, 235 Byars was big, strong and very fast and he played 13 seasons in the NFL for 4 different teams.

3. Robbie Bosco – Brigham Young QB: The Cougars of Brigham Young were awarded the national title in 1984 after playing a very mediocre 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl and barely squeaking by them. But, Bosco was a hero by leading his team to victory on a very significant limp. He had injuries to his ribs, knee and ankle and he kept playing. Bosco placed 3rd in the Heisman race in both 1984 and 1985 and he never played football beyond BYU.

4. Bernie Kosar – Miami QB: After leading the Hurricanes to a national championship in 1983, Kosar returned for his redshirt sophomore season in 1984 and it was somewhat disappointing. Head coach Jimmy Johnson had been hired from Oklahoma State to take over from Howard Schnellenberger who had moved on. Quarterbacks threw a lot more Interceptions back in these days because the offenses were different. Kosar had 16 Interceptions in 1984 alone. He had a completely different seat than what Flutie had of the Hail Mary play losing that game and a couple of others by 2 points each. Kosar graduated in 2 and a 1/2 years at Miami and was an early pioneer in declaring for the NFL. Herschel Walker leaving early for the USFL made the NFL reconsider it’s old rules so that they wouldn’t lose too much talent to the new league. But, Kosar was taken in a supplemental draft by the Cleveland Browns

which was going home for Kosar. He played 12 seasons in the league and threw for over 23,000 yards.

5. Kenneth Davis – TCU RB: A major recruiting victory for TCU a few years earlier and a major reason why the Horn Frogs were placed on probation. Note to recruits, Davis rushed for 1,611 yards and 16 Touchdowns and he finished 5th in the Heisman. Davis was taken in the 2nd round in the 1986 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers and he played there for 3 seasons before being injured and then he signed with the Buffalo Bills where he played 6 more seasons. He backed up Thurman Thomas at Buffalo and he finished his career with just over 3,500 rushing yards.

6. Bill Fralic – Pittsburgh OT: Fralic was just a super talented Offensive Tackle in his day. Pittsburgh was still in it’s hey day back in the 1980s and Fralic was one of their best. Pitt Panthers

If you want to share robertrobb.com prescription viagra online ideas on an irregular basis you may be better off setting up an article site rather than a blog. Acute ear buy tadalafil no prescription infections are painful, but short in duration. Some of them are very effective viagra 100 mg for maintaining hard erection for long time. You could be suffering from a condition like low testosterone, or maybe you might online viagra purchasing just have not been established. Bill Fralic was considered one of the very best Offensive Line recruits in the country at Penn Hills High School and he signed with the Pitt Panthers. He was named to the All Century team of Pennsylvania high school football players. He was just dominating.

Fralic was the 2nd player picked in the 1985 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons where he started at Guard for 8 seasons before moving and finishing his career with the Detroit Lions. Fralic was very outspoken against the use of steroids in the NFL. After football, Fralic moved back to Atlanta and started his own insurance business.

7. Chuck Long – Iowa QB: The best Quarterback of the Hayden Fry era at Iowa, Long threw for 2,871 yards in 1984 and 22 Touchdowns. But, Long’s best season was yet to come in the 1985 year where he led the Iowa Hawkeyes to the Rose Bowl and a 10-2 finish. Long would finish 2nd in the Heisman race in 1985 to the great Bo Jackson in the closest voting of all time. Long was the leader of the best Iowa team of all time under head coach Hayden Fry, who was a most deserving coach. The poor Detroit Lions drafted Long with their 1st pick of the 1st round which was 12th and he was a major bust in the NFL. He played 4 seasons with the Lions before being traded to the Rams. He only lasted there a year before returning to the Lions as a back up. Chuck Long was hired by Hayden Fry to be his Defensive

Back coach when he was out of football and he’s been coaching since. He got the head coaching job at San Diego State and that did not work well at all for him.

7. Greg Allen – Florida State RB: Allen tied with Long for 7th place in the Heisman voting. He actually had a better season in 1983 when he ran for 1,134 yards. In 1984, Allen only ran for 971 yards. But, it was good enough to earn Allen a tie for 7th place in the Heisman balloting with Chuck Long. Allen was Florida State’s all time leading rusher until the great Warrick Dunn came along and thrashed it. Allen was a consensus All American in 1983 with his biggest season and he’s in the Florida State Hall of Fame. In the 1985 NFL Draft, he was a 2nd round selection by the Cleveland Browns. But, he only lasted there 1 season before going to the Tampa Bay Bucs. Generally, a team will hang on to their 2nd round picks for a while just because of where they were taken so that was a surprise.

9. Jerry Rice – Mississippi Valley State WR: Playing at historically black Mississippi Valley State did not do much for Jerry Rice’s reputation. Later, when it was time for the NFL to draft him, they said he was too slow. Rice only went on to become the greatest Wide Receiver in the history of the game. Jerry Rice’s accolades are too much for a blog post about the 1984 Heisman Trophy finalists, he was just simply the best there ever was and his NFL stats are mind boggling. There has been other Wide

Receivers at every level with more physical abilities than Rice, but his work ethic and over all skills are just beyond description. Jerry Rice is Jerry Rice and the standard for all receivers from here on out.

10. Rueben Mayes – Washington State RB: Mayes had a really good season rushing for 1,637 yards and 11 Touchdowns at 6.3 yards per carry, but voters are not going to look much at Washington State. Mayes was a native Canadian from North Battlefield, Saskatchewan. I don’t know much about Canadian sprinting speed other than former Olympic gold medal winner Ben Johnson, but Mayes still holds sprinting records in his home country. Mayes was a consensus All American in 1984 and he set the career rushing record at 3,519 yards. Against Oregon, which traditionally has poor defense, Mayes ran for 357 yards in 1984. Mayes went in the 3rd round to the New Orleans Saints in 1986 and was the Offensive Rookie of the Year. His NFL career would have been better if not for injuries, but he still made 2 Pro Bowls and lasted 5 seasons for them and 2 more for the Seattle Seahawks. After football, Mayes got his Masters degree and worked with troubled youth for a while.