Alstott was screwed coming out of high school. There is a quote from him
about how no school wanted to recruit him at tailback, just at fullback.
technically Purdue recruited him to play fullback..... but they did use him as both a rusher and
blocker, but he was still labeled a "fullback" his entire college career
even though he left as the all time rushing leader, its kind of like the
same way white guys at Navy who line up a few yards closer to the los
in the triple option are called fullbacks yet blacks at Georgia Tech in
the same offense lined up in the same spot are called runningbacks, like
Jonathan Dwyer the other year who was drafted as a tailback, much
different from Kyle Eckel who was only used as a fullback his entire NFL
career, which would explain why he never was able to stick with a team. Also, the same way Peyton Hillis was considered a fullback out of high school because he technically had a few plays where he blocked, but so did Matt Forte, a big back who occasionally lined up at fullback out of the i formation in high school.
First his college coach was trying to find out every passing play for a
fullback, but he wound up lining Alstott both in the fullback spot and
halfback spot, in the i formation and split back set with another back
as well as halfback in single back formations. The guy he blocked for
on occasion was Corey Rogers, who had close to 150 carries two years in
row. Sometimes Rogers blocked for him as well, but wasn't much of a
blocker, so the offense was kind of at a disadvantage when he did, like
playing with 10 men on the field. So Alsott was not only bulked up in
college, he blocked for Rogers over a dozen plays a game as well getting
20 to 25 carries himself. Not to mention pass blocking and receiving
out of the backfield. True definition of a workhorse. Still able to set the rushing record in that situation.
Its how he should of been used in Tampa, with Dunn getting less so the
carries were at least more even. Dunn was really good but the smaller
back is supposed to be the change of pace with the bigger guy getting
more carries. The only years Alstott had slightly more carries was when
Dunn was doing poor, like 2.8 ypc in 01 and 3.2 in 99. If they had more of a balance, its possible that Dunn wouldn't have been worn down those seasons.
DWFs always
use Dunn as the excuse as why Alstott was never a feature back, but
Dunn was gone after 2001, and Alstott was coming off of a season where
he averaged 4.1 ypc. You have to remember, like Hillis, Alstott wasn't
in an ideal situation. The qb play was horrible for the most part, in
99 they had Trent Dilfer and Shaun King playing, not to mention some guy
named Eric Zeier starting 1 game. TJR it was actually Dilfer that played for most of Alstott's
career, with Shaun King coming in for 1 year, and Dilfer was the definition of a game managing qb at best (dwfs always say well Dilfer won a Superbowl to justify that you don't need a good qb to win).
The only year they had
good quarterback play was 2001 (before Chucky) with Brad Johnson, the first time a qb
completed 60 percent or more of his passes (Dilfer was always in the
50% range) and threw for 3,000+ yards (the team usually averaged
somewhere around 2500 yards a year before that, and thats with the
backs getting 600 to 700 yards receiving). Coincidentally the same year they had good qb play, Alstott had his highest ypc or his career, 4.1, and he was still pretty much used primarily as a short yardage/goal line back, but with Dunn avging 2.8 he was put in slightly better situations running for a short period. This kind of shows just how elite Hillis is, because Alstott was a great back and wouldve averaged a higher ypc used differently/ on a better team, but Hillis has been able to average at least in the 4 ypc no matter what the situation. I agree Hillis would definetly avg at least a 5 ypc in an ideal situation. I think Alstott wouldve been mid 4.
Speaking of Brad Johnson, quite the "odd" career. Did pretty well as a starter for the Vikings, throwing 44 tds to 27 interceptions, then replaced by an old Cunningham who threw more interceptions than tds the next year, then went to Washington and had some good years, threw for 4,000 yards one year there, then replaced by black quarterback Tony Banks, who I believe holds the record for most fumbles in a seasonn, not sure, then he went to Tampa where he had some decent seasons. 72-53 record as a starter completing at least 60 percent of his passes 13 years in a row, only other qb to do that is Peyton Manning. Yet this Superbowl winning qb never gets any respect, nor was he really allowed one bad season before getting kicked off a team (his record the last year in Washington was 8-8).
If you watch the film on Alstott, pretty much the only carries he gets
that weren't obvious running situations, were 20 yards away from the
endzone, so if you look at his highlights he has a ton of runs that
couldve been longer if it were further away from the endzone. His top end speed wasn't great but he had elite burst and was very shifty, even for a guy that was carrying extra weight. But we all know what Chucky did to him. Used him even less in situations that weren't goal line/ short yardage the first year and then barely used him at all after that.
So yeah, pretty much his entire career he was labeled a fullback, but never was. Even went to pro bowls as one, even though he insisted he wasn't a fullback. Luckily for Hillis there is this site and information spreading on the web, so more people are waking up, and more people defending the fact that he is a halfback and the fact that there have been guys with similar size, most were less talented who have been feature backs. Maybe it will help with his situation next year, if it doesn't there will definitely be more people speaking out.
Edited by: snow