Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I'm guessing Colts pick Elway but do Rams take Herschel over Dickerson for the next pick? All those other greats who went to USFL instead, how would they have fared had they had only the NFL to commit to?

Herschel Walker wouldn't have gone anywhere in the 1983 NFL draft. He would have played his senior year at Georgia in the fall of '83 if the USFL hadn't signed him. The NFL still had a rule back then of waiting for the college class to graduate.

Mark L. Ford wrote:Herschel Walker wouldn't have gone anywhere in the 1983 NFL draft. He would have played his senior year at Georgia in the fall of '83 if the USFL hadn't signed him. The NFL still had a rule back then of waiting for the college class to graduate.

Had he not joined the USFL, I think Herschel would have been in all likelyhood the 1983 Heisman winner, barring injury or the Bulldogs going 1-10. (Being that Georgia went 10-1-1 without him in 1983, I seriously doubt that would have happened.) New England held the top pick in the 1984 draft, and while they took Irving Fryar, who was a very good player, Herschel Walker coming into the NFL as a rookie in 1984 would have been in my opinion the biggest rookie ever to hit the NFL insomuch as the impact upon the league. I think Earl Campbell would have been a good parallel, but Herschel was even more electrifying than Campbell, and every bit as punishing a runner. The Patriots with Herschel Walker just might have been able to give the Bears a game in Super Bowl XX provided Ron Meyer could play ball control.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

Mark L. Ford wrote:Herschel Walker wouldn't have gone anywhere in the 1983 NFL draft. He would have played his senior year at Georgia in the fall of '83 if the USFL hadn't signed him. The NFL still had a rule back then of waiting for the college class to graduate.

Had he not joined the USFL, I think Herschel would have been in all likelyhood the 1983 Heisman winner, barring injury or the Bulldogs going 1-10. (Being that Georgia went 10-1-1 without him in 1983, I seriously doubt that would have happened.) New England held the top pick in the 1984 draft, and while they took Irving Fryar, who was a very good player, Herschel Walker coming into the NFL as a rookie in 1984 would have been in my opinion the biggest rookie ever to hit the NFL insomuch as the impact upon the league. I think Earl Campbell would have been a good parallel, but Herschel was even more electrifying than Campbell, and every bit as punishing a runner. The Patriots with Earl Campbell just might have been able to give the Bears a game in Super Bowl XX provided Ron Meyer could play ball control.

I agree that Herschel would have won another Heisman, and the Bulldogs probably end up 12-0, winning their second national title in four years.

If there was no USFL, I wonder how high players like Bobby Hebert, Tim Spencer, Trumaine Johnson, and Reggie Collier would have been drafted in 83. I heard that Joel Buschbaum had Collier rated as his second or third highest QB.

7DnBrnc53 wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:

Mark L. Ford wrote:Herschel Walker wouldn't have gone anywhere in the 1983 NFL draft. He would have played his senior year at Georgia in the fall of '83 if the USFL hadn't signed him. The NFL still had a rule back then of waiting for the college class to graduate.

Had he not joined the USFL, I think Herschel would have been in all likelyhood the 1983 Heisman winner, barring injury or the Bulldogs going 1-10. (Being that Georgia went 10-1-1 without him in 1983, I seriously doubt that would have happened.) New England held the top pick in the 1984 draft, and while they took Irving Fryar, who was a very good player, Herschel Walker coming into the NFL as a rookie in 1984 would have been in my opinion the biggest rookie ever to hit the NFL insomuch as the impact upon the league. I think Earl Campbell would have been a good parallel, but Herschel was even more electrifying than Campbell, and every bit as punishing a runner. The Patriots with Herschel Walker just might have been able to give the Bears a game in Super Bowl XX provided Ron Meyer could play ball control.

I agree that Herschel would have won another Heisman, and the Bulldogs probably end up 12-0, winning their second national title in four years.

If there was no USFL, I wonder how high players like Bobby Hebert, Tim Spencer, Trumaine Johnson, and Reggie Collier would have been drafted in 83. I heard that Joel Buschbaum had Collier rated as his second or third highest QB.

I think Georgia would have wound up 12-0, but they would have been locked into the Sugar Bowl as SEC Champ, and even with Walker it is doubtful they would go into the bowl games number one as Nebraska was also undefeated and many were calling them the greatest college football team ever assembled. Georgia would have most likely gone into the bowl season as the number two ranked team, and undefeated Texas would have likely been ranked number three, locked into the Cotton Bowl. My best guess is that Miami would have been ranked number four.

Of course, Miami faced Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and upset them 31-30, and even with a Georgia win in the Sugar Bowl and a Texas loss in the Cotton Bowl (In reality, Georgia knocked off undefeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl), I think a lot of voters would have voted for 11-1 Miami over 12-0 Georgia for the National Title, based on Miami pulling the biggest college upset of the past 50 years.