re: How fast was Billy Cannon?

Great photo. Solid.

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Heard on the radio yesterday that he ran a 9.4 100m

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May have been 100 yards?

I would have to argue that players today are in way better condition than players from then. The game is much more physical today than it was in 59 due to simple physics. Players are so much bigger , stronger and faster thus making the collisions much more violent. A player from 1958 could not go both ways an entire game today.

Now I do agree that Cannon would start for LSU this year because of his speed and size but no way he goes both ways.

Def 100m

The conversion of his time is 10.28 assuming 9.4 which you would be hard pressed to find many college players run.

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So 5’10” 217 isn’t comparable to 6’ 215

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6'1"

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but you want to compare him to 240lb Fournette

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Yeh, I didnt do that


AP would be my comparison. Even the more straight up running style fits

They're similar height, speed, and strength. Fournette wasn't always as huge as he is now. Kamara is shorter, stockier, and really shifty.

I think Cannon is like 225 Fournette.

This is all silly though. Its just to point out that Cannon was a specimen regardless of era and absolutely would still be a great player in 2018.

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How many of these players in 2018 could come close to being in good enough shape to do that?

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Devin White could do it. Over the past 20 years, we've had a lot of talented linebackers and running backs that were throwback type of players and could have played in the 2-way era - Faulk, easily - he was superbly conditioned and could have played any position competently except down lineman. And he HATED to come off the field.

Bradie James, Dom Allen and Michael Clayton all could have played both ways, I think, and didn't seem to get tired. Spencer Ware was one of those guys, too. Heck, even Marcus Randall - kid played safety and linebacker in the NFL for a short period.

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to quote Bum Phillips, “ I don’t know if Cannon was in a class by himself, but whatever class he was in, it didn’t take long to call the roll.”

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That's so freakin classic Bum.

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Weight training, especially training specifically for explosiveness, has completely transformed since then.

And as also mentioned, the equipment, nutrition, etc. is all completely different. These guys had no nutrition plans and smoked. It's two different worlds of training.

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Thank you, Captain Obvious.

I was at LSU during his time there. He ran the 100 and the 220 and he also put the shot. There was another sprinter at LSU named Ralph Fabian. Fabian was a slender-built guy. If you compared them to horses, Canon was the quarter horse and Fabian the Thoroughbred. When the starting gun went off... it was Canon out of the blocks, way out front...looked like a one-man race. Every time I saw him run the 100..he finished first. He did have ham- string problems, and had to pull up a time or two. In the 220, sometimes He could be caught, but sometimes he won that also. A little side note that I find amusing is that his time in the forty seemed to be a secret. There was a list in the Football locker room with the forty yard times. Cannon was listed first, but no time was posted. Then there were several blank lines before the next name and time was posted, followed be more names and time..but no spaces between the others