Sports Illustrated offers special recognition of USC's Marcus Allen

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Marcus Allen is one of the most decorated football players ever. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1981. He won the Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders. He won the Rose Bowl and the national championship at USC. He is one of football's consummate winners and champions. Sports Illustrated rightly included him among the 50 greatest college football players of all time:

"USC’s history of elite running backs is difficult for any other program to match and Allen is right near the top of any list of greatest Trojans, but he almost didn’t line up in the backfield. Allen was recruited as a defensive back and when he was initially moved to offense, it was as a fullback, with fellow Heisman winner Charles White entrenched ahead of him on the halfback depth chart. When he finally got his shot as RB1, he ran for 1,563 yards and 14 touchdowns in 1980, following it up with a sensational 2,342 yards—the first 2,000-yard season in college football—and 22 touchdowns in ‘81, earning him the Heisman. That mark stands as the USC single-season record and only four players have topped it in FBS history, with Barry Sanders’s legendary 1988 being the only better season in terms of yards per game," SI wrote.

Marcus Allen made a very difficult game look easy. His fluid and graceful running style did not prevent him from being productive or durable. It's notable that Allen was behind Charles White on the USC depth chart at one point, if only because the two men ran the ball in very different ways. White sought contact and was as physically tough a running back as USC and college football have ever seen. Marcus Allen was the running back who managed to glide past defenders and lean forward for crucial yards in traffic. Allen and White showed there isn't one way to be a hugely successful and memorable running back.

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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Sports Illustrated offers special recognition of USC's Marcus Allen

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