A Train vs The Diesel

Not sure if they were the same year, but I had a buddy of mine that played middle linebacker in high school, and he played against them both in his career. He said A-Train would deliberately try to run you over, whereas Collins would run around you or through you, depending on his mood. Regardless, he got destroyed by both of them. After football season was over, he thought he was finally through with the abuse until he realized he had to guard A-Train during a basketball game, and he got stomped on again.

Anthony Thomas - Winnfield right? Before my time but I still heard about the LA legend.

Edit: Yep. Winnfied, Michigan, and then Chicago Bears.

Collins was better in almost every metric. Thomas had better hands (started his h.s. career at wide receiver as a 9th grader) and was a far better human being. Collins had higher top end speed (slightly) and better acceleration as well. Collins is the best running back I'ver ever seen play the game in person. Anthony Thomas ended up having the better career in college/pros because he was a pretty good guy. Which is the best thing to be good in.

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First of all, Anthony Thomas' high school coach at the time was anti-LSU. He had previously assisted in steering another recruit to Michigan when he coached at another high school so he had a pipeline there before coming to Winnfield. Anthony was also interested in Tennessee if I remember correctly but most everyone was trying to recruit him to play defense, if you can believe that.

My best pal and expert says they were pretty much 1-2 but he'd give the edge to Cecil Collins.

A-Train was phenomenal and could have probably played college basketball as well, at many places.

Besides all that, Anthony was and is a class act.

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I keep hearing this, but remember that Don Jones also sent Joe Domingeaux to LSU when he was coaching at Crowley. I knew someone who coached with Jones and he never mentioned anything about him being anti-LSU. This guy was an LSU alum and a huge LSU fan, and if it was an issue, he would have said something about it.

Also, LSU never showed any interest in Thomas, FWIW. Maybe they thought they didn't have a chance, but they never made an effort, nevertheless. And Thomas played things very close to the vest. Even his own HS coaches didn't know what he was thinking.

IYAM, Collins was the somewhat better football player, but Thomas was plenty good, and as others have said, the better person. He got his degree and married a girl who went on to be a doctor. He's coaching somewhere in Texas, last I heard.

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I can tell you first hand in talking to Jones he did not have any love for LSU and this was right after he'd left USL.

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Maybe so, He was a USL guy, but he did send at least one player to LSU. I never heard of him trying to steer Thomas anywhere, and I knew someone on the staff. Jones was only there for Thomas's senior season, and I don't know if he could have influenced him if he had tried. AT seemed to keep his own counsel. I kept asking where he was leaning, and the answer I kept getting was "I don't know." People were posting shite online about how he wanted to go out of state, this or that, like they knew something but the people who actually were close to the situation had no idea what he was going to do.

Jan 2013 Article on A Train

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People were posting shite online

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Aren't we talking about the mid-90s...had Al Gore invented the internet then ?

my cousin was his godmother and i got to meet him a couple of times through the years before she died. that guy was as classy as they come. came from the worst conditions you can have. everyone called where he grew up the quarters. its pathetic on one hand, but it was really clean there. imagine a ghetto where everyone kept their yard clean and didnt want to look trashy. very odd compared to most similar neighborhoods i have seen.

flat out, he left for michigan to just get out and try to make his name. the town he comes from is very small and you have john nicholls who went to lsu and won the ncaas in discus only to return to winnfield the day he graduated. he felt he had to step away and grow.

i just cant describe how nice of a guy he is. gave me a michigan jersey after meeting me the first time in 97.

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Aren't we talking about the mid-90s...had Al Gore invented the internet then ?

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Mid-late nineties. The old Geaux Online board was the rockin' place to be

Tell em, Rock.

These young pups.

Geaux Online and streaming baseball kept my sanity back in the day when my son was in the hospital for weeks/months at a time.

ETA: just noticed that dudes name is Elder?tiger...