re: When was the last CFB player who was truly like TM7?

Eric Berry was prolly every bit as good as TM7 in college tbh and not at all a knock on honeybadger

Joe Burrow is the best Ive seen at LSU

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That's not the same as coming down covering a kickoff, or coming in on a blitz... and moments later walking into the endzone with a TD. That's not what you ask of your player, you ask for a big hit and a tackle. MAYBE the ball comes loose. MAYBE you can recover it (likely a team mate falling on the ball).
You DON'T send in a play call on defense (or kickoff) asking your guy to get the ball and score. But he did that, enough times that it was just obscene. Never seen anything like it, doubt we ever will again.

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This is almost perfectly articulated. It's like no matter the situation (O, D or special teams), the instructions were "just make it where we somehow get a touchdown" - and he would do it.

The closest play in spirit/ferocity that made me immediately think of him was in the SEC Title game this year: Stingley's 2nd interception where he dragged the WR with him that was trying to strip it back.

The guy from Kentucky last year Lynn Bowden Jr. Their QB got hurt, so last year he played QB, WR, RB, PR, and KR. So these stats are from one year.

35/74 403 pass yards 3 TD 3 int
185 car 1468 yards 13 TD
30 rec 348 yards 1 TD
9 KR 220 yards
4 PR 52 yards

Adoree' Jackson in his 3 year career

Offense
39 rec 628 yards 6 TDs
15 car 92 yards

Defense
139 tackles 6 TFL, 6 ints, 2 FF 3 FR, 1 TD

S/T
79 KR 2141 yards 4 TD
46 PR 578 yards 4 TD

I also remember Byron Marshall at Oregon. He was a 1000 yard rusher in his first year starting, then they switched him to WR and he became a 1000 yard WR in his second year starting, while adding another 400 rush yards.

All these guys did this after Mathieu.



ETA: Strictly dominance and always having crazy plays, Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson had ZERO NFL talent on that squad with him, and it was him, not Petrino, that had that offense rolling. Literally one year after Jackson went to the NFL, Petrino was fired. Jackson helped keep that man making millions for 3 more years. Jackson finished 16th in passing per game and 9th in rushing per game in 2017. In 2016 he finished 20th in passing and 12th in rushing. When you can finish top 20 in both categories in back to back years, you are a monster.

Leonard Fournette probably had the most highlight reel college career of any RB since Reggie Bush.