People forget how great Ottis Anderson was or were too young to have seen him.
Exactly. And it's an ongoing theme, regardless of which Canes board I've sampled. It really shouldn't happen here. The younger posters need to take their opinion of Ottis Anderson and multiply by at least 50% to threaten how special he was as a Cane. He's the best back I've seen in a Miami uniform, after following the program since the late '60s. Fantastic combination of size, feet, instincts, power, competitiveness and speed. Anderson wasn't blazing fast but he had such a terrific early burst that it created enough separation for him to take it the distance.
Too many fans remember his plowhorse days late in his NFL career for the Giants. That's always the issue. They envision Anderson as a plodding 3 yards per carry type and can't fathom the jitterbug dominance of his prime. I remember when Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated placed Ottis on his NFL All-Pro team one year early in Anderson's career, above Walter Payton. Dr. Z quoted an NFL player who said that Anderson simply caused more problems than Payton did. Unfortunately, Anderson was overworked early with the Cardinals, like many backs of that run oriented era, and decided he needed to gain weight to counter the physical challenges. That weight gain lessened many of his special gifts. And the team declined as well.
Of all the great Canes, Anderson is the one guy who got a terrible break in terms of who drafted him. He could have been a mega legend if, for example, the 49ers had found him on the brink of the Montana era.
