But couldn't the same be said about Tyrann? I still consider him the greatest LSU defensive player of all time, even though he was gone after 2 seasons.
Hard to say. Alexander broke tackles with legwork rather than lowering his shoulder. Right now I'd say that Fournette is better inside and Alexander better outside. Alexander ran higher and had shifter moves. Fournette runs lower and has better acceleration straight ahead. I'd love to see Fournette try some of those Student-Body-Right toss-sweeps or the sprint-draws that were Alexander's bread and butter plays. Alexander didn't tear off lots of 70-yard runs. He just killed you with a half-dozen 20-yard runs a game.
The reason the Student Body Right type plays aren't used as much is because of the speed of the D Backs in the Power 5 conferences. When OJ Simpson and Marcus Allen were running it over and over for USC they didn't have to contend with lighting fast cornerbacks and speedy outside linebackers.
They are fast on both sides of the ball these days. And if the defense is too quick to the outside, they are vulnerable to the cutback, at which Alexander was very good.
Red I hardly ever disagree with you, especially on old timer stuff, but I do on Alexander being shiftier than LF. He was pretty much a straight line runner most of the time who had good vision and power. He was also pretty fast and tough as nails. I remember a UGA LBer talking admiringly of him after a game in which he had about 30 carries for around a 100 yards. He said they couldn't believe he kept coming back out their each series to take more punishment. Anyway, Leonard is much more shiftier than Charles was and also much better at avoiding tacklers near the LOS. They made Alexander a FB in the NFL because he didn't have the moves to be a tail back.
No, I don't think so. Two full seasons (one of them undefeated in the regular season) is a much larger sample size than less than four games. And...we didn't even win all four of those games.
I saw him play about 40 games during his career and almost all of them again on replays, so I don't have to. I loved him and still do but he isn't near LF's level as an all around RB. That's why he became a FB in the NFL.
Well, Alexander has actually been to the Heisman award show and is in the College Football Hall of Fame. Let Leonard earn it before anointing him the best.
Not anointing him as the best just yet, just analyzing their running styles and abilities. Like I said I love Alexander the great and cherish the memories I have of him while at LSU. However based on what I've seen from LF so far he might end up being one of the top 3 or 4 RB's in CFB history.
