Bubba Bean was excellent. Had a bad attitude though

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There will be no agreement on this.

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No and as is the case with all "All-Time great" arguments it is usually better to take each era separately. In the old days players like Crow and Kimbrough played both ways and the offenses didn't always lend itself to huge stats. In the Bellard era we were running the Wishbone. Lots of running but also lots of options. I'm sure Curtis Dickey rarely ran between the tackles. With Jackie we shuffled the backs and Keith Woodside almost became more of a receiver than runner. When RC took over is when we started utilizing the big blocking fullbacks that we were known for. Now we have a pass oriented offense and shuffle 3 backs. It's hard to compare between eras and even coaches.

John David Crow
Darren Lewis
Rodney Thomas
Greg Hill
Curtis Dickey
George Woodard
Bubba Bean
Leeland McElroy

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Darren Lewis holds all time SW conf rushing record.

John David won a Heisman(how good do you have to be to do this?)

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If I'm not mistaken, he had about 5-600 yards rushing. However, he also played defense. No doubt he was a tremendous player in that era, it was definitely a different era of football.

Yes - not many people realize that Darren Lewis is the ALL TIME leading rusher in SWC history - a record that can never be broken :-). It's a shame he lost his battle with drugs, etc and never made it in the NFL.

I think when you look back and say we've never had a truly GREAT RB, it's only because we haven't had any that became GREAT NFL backs.

We've had a bunch of REALLY good backs, but none, at least in last 40-50 yrs, that had great NFL success, as a RB. Most were back-up and/or roll players. I think Curtis Dickey probably had the most NFL success.

Dante Hall grabbed some NFL highlight reel attention briefly, but as a return specialist and WR.

Darren Lewis strictly from a statistical standpoint. Rodney Thomas from an Aggie Heart point.

Curtis Dickey and Darren Lewis were the best I've ever seen in person, but I LOVED watching Rod Bernstine run. Jackie moved him to tight end after his freshman year, but he still lined up behind QB many times.

I am 68 years old and attended games since 1956. Manziel is best runner in A and M history. Best passer too.

Best at A&M, Hunt, Kimbrough, Lewis(RB's). Best to ever come to A&M- Kenneth Hall. Best including NFL-Hill, Dickey,Hector,Vick.Anyone else?

Without looking at stats, my all-time favorite to watch was Leeland. There was a legitimate, well-founded fear from opposing teams that he could take it to the house every time his hands touched the ball, regardless of where they were on the field.

JDC and this isn't even close

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Without looking at stats, my all-time favorite to watch was Leeland. There was a legitimate, well-founded fear from opposing teams that he could take it to the house every time his hands touched the ball, regardless of where they were on the field.

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I will agree with this. For a specialist there were very few as good as Leeland. Just looked at his stats.

1993- Rushing 72 carries 613 yds 8.5 yds/carry 7 TDS
Receiving 19 Rec. 224 yds 4 TDS
KOR 15 ret 590 yds 39.3 avg. 3 TDs

After that year teams refused to kick it to him and those that did paid dearly. In 1994 he only returned 6 kicks but one of them was a TD and his avg. was 50.1

His junior year was the only year he started full-time and he gained over 1100 yds in 10 games. Definitely one of the most exciting players to wear maroon and white.

Dad, a tu grad, says Bob Smith is the best rb he ever saw.

Curtis Dickey was the top back in the country coming out of hs.

Randy Simmons and Darren Lewis were ranked 1, 2....

Don't know if any were truly "great" though. Dickey is the greatest athlete to ever wear the maroon and white IMO. Since he won the heisman, I'd have to go with Crow.

Oh, what Kenneth Hall could have been...

Here is a list of leading Aggie NFL rushing stats. A little surprised to see that Crow is still at the top of the list and Earnest Jackson has the best season avg. As amazing as Leland was at A&M, his game just didn't translate in the NFL - only stuck around 2 seasons.

Player/1st yr-last yr/yrsplayed/career/avg per season
John David Crow / 1958-1968 / 11 / 4963 / 451
Johnny Hector / 1983-1992 / 10 / 4280 / 428
Earnest Jackson / 1983-1988 / 6 / 4167/ 695
Curtis Dickey / 1980-1986 / 7 / 4019 / 574
Greg Hill / 1994-1999/ 6 / 3218 / 536
Rod Bernstine / 1987-199 5/ 9 / 2990 / 332
Anthony Toney / 1986-1990 / 5 / 2294 / 459
Rodney Thomas / 1995-2001 / 7 / 1973 / 282
Jim Parmer /1948-1956 / 9 / 1636 / 182
Bubba Bean /1976-1979 / 3 / 1528 / 509
Roger Vick /1987-1990 / 4 / 1289 / 322
Thomas Sanders / 1985-1991 / 7 / 1239 / 177
John Kimbrough / 1946-1948 / 3 / 1224 / 408
Joe Scott /1948-1953 / 6 / 1218 / 203
Keith Woodside / 1988-1991 / 4 / 976 / 244
Mike Goodson/ 2009-2013 / 5 / 783 / 157
Leeland McElroy / 1996-1997 / 2 / 729 / 365
Bobby Joe Conrad / 1958-1969 / 12 / 441 / 37
Darren Lewis/ 1991-1993 / 3 / 431 / 144
Clif Groce /1995-2000 / 5 / 276 / 55
Christine Michael / 2013-2014 / 2 / 254 / 127
Adger Armstrong / 1980-1985 / 6 / 231 / 39
Ken Hall / 1959-1961/ 3 / 212 / 71
Robert Wilson / 1991-1996 / 4 / 183 / 46
Cotton Price/ 1940-1946 / 4 / 174 / 44
Cyrus Gray /2012-2014 / 3 / 99 / 33
Jorvorskie Lane / 2012-2014 / 2 / 71 / 36
Mule Wilson/ 1926-1933 / 8 / 19 / 2

There was a brief period where Curtis Dickey was quite possibly the world's fastest man. Let that sink in. He faster than RGIII, and took the abuse of a running back. Although we'll never agree on the answer, there has been a fair amount of agreement on Dickey and Lewis. Leland, Rodney, and GHT seem to be getting the love too. GHT was the most complete back of those 3. Rodney was limited cutting, but had great speed to the hole. Leland just wasn't tough enough to be an every down back in RC's cloud of dust system.

Joel Hunt - you need to look up his history. Please.

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Hunt played for Texas A&M from 1925 to 1927. While in college, Hunt was a running back, punter, place kicker and defensive player. Playing in 27 games during his career, he scored 30 touchdowns, 5 field goals and 29 extra points. Coach John Heisman, who was the head coach at Rice University during Hunt's years at Texas A&M and saw Hunt play, asserted that Hunt was "the greatest all-around player I ever saw."[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Hunt#cite_note-1][1][/url]

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Wiki.

Blue star for MidTnAg. Great stuff.

Gig 'Em & BTHO Everybody

Consider this, since 1956, Darren Lewis ranks #20 all time running backs in Div 1 football rushing yards. Curtis Dickey, ranks #169. No other A&M running back is in the top 250. The top ten yardage RBs at A&M were all after 1970. So if the question is best RB at A&M and your deciding on what a RB does - run the ball to gain yards on the field, then Darren Lewis stands alone and it's not even a question.

Now if it's a question of favorites, pick who you like.

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Consider this, since 1956, Darren Lewis ranks #20 all time running backs in Div 1 football rushing yards. Curtis Dickey, ranks #169. No other A&M running back is in the top 250. The top ten yardage RBs at A&M were all after 1970. So if the question is best RB at A&M and your deciding on what a RB does - run the ball to gain yards on the field, then Darren Lewis stands alone and it's not even a question.

Now if it's a question of favorites, pick who you like.

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Agreed. If we are talking about elite backs in college only then Lewis has to be your guy. I would even put him in the category of the backs he mentions although he was vastly underrated in college. However, if you consider both college and pros then you have to put John David in the equation. He won the Heisman in an and had the best pro stats of any Aggie RB. He is actually in the top 100 all time in TDs scored.

Darren was the first running back in the history of the NCAA to go over 5000 career yards and NOT win the Heisman. Of course it didn't hurt to have Robert Wilson. Devastating lead blocker.

Best Blocker....Robert Wilson
Best 4th Down.... George Woodard
Most elusive.....Johnny Hector
Green and Gone....Curtis Dickey
Best Slasher....Darren Lewis
Best after contact...Javorskie Lane
Best out of the Backfield....Keith Woodside
Best Tandem....Bubba Bean & Skip Walker
Most explosive.......Leland McElroy
Best that didn't work out.....Kenneth Hall
Best All Around/Money.......Rodney Thomas

Blaze Away!

Can I get some live for Bucky Sams?

McElroy, Greg Hill, Darren lewis, Rodney Thomas

Rodney Thomas. EOT

My favorite was D. Lewis....except for the time at Kyle against u of h when he broke a long run, started celebrating too early, and got caught. Tight 17 to 14 victory that could have been less worrisome. Second would be Woodside.

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Curtis Dickey

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The correct answer is Curtis Dickey. Srsly

total rushing yards isn't the only measure. 3500 yards of dominance over 2 years is likely better than 5000 yards over 4 years.

Greg Hill, Rodney Thomas, and Leeland McElroy were one hell of a group. Defenses never got a rest. Bubba Bean was a great back as well. Saw him go for 96 yards against Tech, which stood as the record until Tiki Hardeman tied it against Baylor I believe in 1997.

Darren Lewis was the best I've seen, Leeland averaged almost 8 yards one season also.

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Darren Lewis and Greg Hill in my era.

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For a back up Wilbert's Biggins is an honorable mention

for the "all-time" threads, I stick to players from 1975-to-present for 2 reasons: (1) full integration and (2) scholarship limitations.

taking in all factors...this would be my top 5:

1. Curtis Dickey
2. Leeland McElroy
3. Keith Woodside
4. Rodney Thomas
5. Darren Lewis

just missing the cut: Cyrus Gray and Ja'Mar Toombs.

let me start from the bottom and work my way to #1...

Toombs...he usually had his best games in the big games: 1998 Nebraska, 1999 t.u., 2000 KSU, and 2000 OU. Two all-time famous runs vs. NU and OU. Scored a TD on his final carry for the maroon-n-white (overtime in the Snow Bowl)

Cyrus Gray...his 6-game stretch to close the 2010 season was the best I've ever seen for an A&M RB. Was phenomenal vs. KU, Tech, OU, BU, NU, and t.u.

5. Darren Lewis...as others have mentioned great all-time yardage and TD stats. A shame that one of his 1,700-yard seasons came in the probation year of 1988 (7-5). Was a disappointment his junior year in 1989. Bounced back with a great senior season.

4. Rodney Thomas...great on the field and off the field. Longhorn-killer in his career. Scored 5 career TD's at DKR. LSU-killer too. So many memorable/highlight TD runs. Loved seeing Rodney jump the stack at the goal line. Key contributor on multiple championship teams. Would have had greater yardage stats but split time with other skilled RB's.

3. Keith Woodside...one of the most underrated players of all-time. Excelled in running and receiving. Played great in the big games. Superb in the clutch. Especially vs. t.u. (87) and SMU (85 & 86). Fantastic in the Cotton Bowl vs. Auburn. One of the few holdovers from the 85-86 championship teams that helped win the title again in 87.

2. Leeland McElroy...incredibly talented in all phases. Great speed, cutting ability, vision, and hands. Another longhorn-killer and LSU-killer. Magical KO return TD vs. the horns in 1993. Transcendent performance vs. LSU at Kyle in 95. Won the 94 game in Baton Rouge with 2 breakaway TD runs.

1. Curtis Dickey...still the most talented to date. Legendary performances vs. Penn State in 79 and the Hall of Fame bowl vs. Iowa State in 78. Plus the previously mentioned iconic TD scramble vs. the horns in 79.

"Rodney would do anything for anyone, He just preferred running over people"
Unnamed teammate