Grantland article: The Legend of Leonard Fournette

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The first thing to remember about the play that cemented Leonard Fournette’s reputation as a legend-in-the-making — you know, that play, the Thanksgiving-night, Herschel Walker–channeling run at Texas A&M that set off a minor tremor throughout college football — is that his victim wasn’t some random, unwitting scrub who happened to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like Bill Bates before him, A&M’s Howard Matthews was an established veteran — a senior who would finish his college career with 30 consecutive starts and 258 total tackles to his credit, and was known to inflict a little pain of his own. Before he wound up flat on his back that night, Matthews was exactly where he was supposed to be. And because what happened stands as Exhibit A of Fournette’s impending conquest of the SEC, it appears Matthews is going to be there in perpetuity.

“Knowing that’s going to be around forever,” says Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, “is probably going to be harder on Howard Matthews than anybody.”

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