Sometimes it's a drag being older than the internet. After scouring the web for weeks looking for a photo that would do justice to the fierce combination of speed and strength that linebacker Ron George (1990-92) brought to the field each Saturday afternoon, the serene portrait at left was the only image I could find. It doesn't really matter. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but a mountain of statistics and school records says a lot more than that.
George's Stanford career was short, but he made the most of his three years. He led the team in sacks and tackles for loss each year, and stands atop the school list for career TFLs with sixty-one. His thirty-three career sacks are good for second in Cardinal history.
Even the numbers don't tell the whole story. George played for two excellent Stanford teams (Denny Green's last and Bill Walsh's first), and he was the defensive leader of both squads. He always seemed to be the fastest and most destructive player on the field, as he wrecked regular havoc in the backfield, tracking down quarterbacks and running backs with ease. He was named All-Pac-10 following the '91 and '92 seasons, and he earned first-team All-America honors in 1992. Much has been made of the corps of linebackers in the center of Stanford's recent and current defenses, people like Thomas Keiser, Chase Thomas, Shayne Skov, and James Vaughters. As great as those players are, they are merely heirs to George's throne.
Previously ranked:
#7 Glyn Milburn
#8 Ed McCaffrey
#9 Owen Marecic
#10 Tommy Vardell
#11 Tank Williams
#12 Steve Stenstrom
#13 Riall Johnson
#14 Kailee Wong
#15 Eric Heitmann
#15 Chris Marinelli
#16 John Lynch
#17 Kwame Harris
#18 Chase Beeler
#19 Willie Howard
#20 Shayne Skov
#21 DeRonnie Pitts
#22 Anthony Bookman
#23 Sione Fua
#24 Richard Sherman
#25 John Hopkins
*My first thought was to try to come up with a list of the best Stanford football players of all-time, but I quickly realized that I'm not qualified. I've only been watching Stanford football since the fall of 1987, so I can't really comment intelligently on players who suited up before then. Sure, I know that Jim Plunkett belongs, but I know nothing about Randy Vataha. Sports Illustrated once named Ernie Nevers the greatest college football player of all-time, and that's certainly good enough for me, but how can I possibly rank him against players of a more modern era? So I decided to create a list of the best Stanford players that I've actually seen in my time as a fan, and since that's roughly twenty-five years, I'm calling it the Silver Squad. (Catchy, isn't it?) Anyway, I'd love to hear your own memories of these players, and I won't be offended if you argue about who should or should not have been included on this list. Enjoy.
