The Original Vince Young
Now that Vince Young has declared for the NFL draft, the inevitable Mel Kiper Jr. superlatives and player comparisons will commence. Is Young a bigger Michael Vick? Is he a stronger and faster Steve Young? In the words of Ronnie Lott, is he simply the greatest college quarterback we have ever seen? Or, is he like nothing we have ever seen before (as Keith Jackson and Dan Fouts opined repeatedly at the Rose Bowl). After all, Young has been anointed the quarterback of the 21st century, representing a new, sui generis breed of stronger, faster, and more versatile signal-caller.
But if we’ve never witnessed anything like Vince Young before, why does he remind me so much of a quarterback old enough to be his father? This star was tall and athletic, could shed NFL linebackers with strength or hurdle them with unparalleled athletic brilliance. He was a dual-threat, who could launch an 80 yard touchdown pass, or run 50 yards to the house. Just who am I referring to?
Randall Cunningham.
That’s right, Randall Cunningham, that antediluvian star who has been overlooked in seemingly every discussion about successful running quarterbacks, even though he’s the NFL’s all-time leading rusher at the position.
Cunningham, like Vince Young, was a multidimensional QB, capable of devastating a defense with deep passes or with his scrambling ability. Young is 6-5, 233 pounds – exceptionally large for his position. But Cunningham was big for his era, standing 6-4 and weighing 215 pounds, which in those days was more like, well, 6-5 and 233. (Everyone in the NFL was significantly smaller then: the Eagles didn’t even have an offensive lineman over 290 pounds on their entire roster - the Longhorn’s smallest starting lineman this year was 305. Linebackers weighed 230 instead of 260. Running backs were “well built” at 210 instead of “undersized.”) Relatively speaking, Vince Young is built in a Randall Cunningham mold.
Then there are the legs. Vince now owns two of the top three rushing performances in bowl history by a quarterback (his last two Rose Bowls), but Cunningham was just as prolific at the next level. From 1986-1989 Randall racked up 2,290 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground. Six times in his career he ran for over 500 yards in a season (in only eight healthy seasons). By comparison, one of the great scramblers in NFL history, Steve Young, only accomplished the feat once. Then came 1990, when Cunningham ran for an amazing 942 yards – more than Michael Vick has ever produced in a season – the second highest total in NFL history for a quarterback.
Through the air, Cunningham was just as good. In that 1990 season he threw almost 3,500 yards and finished second in the league with 30 touchdown passes. Between a brief retirement and injuries, Cunningham was limited to only eight years where he played ten or more games. But in the final seven of those seasons he averaged over 3,300 yards and almost 24 touchdowns per season, culminating in a magical 1997 in Minnesota, when Cunningham led the league with a passer rating of 106.0 while throwing for 34 TDs and 3,704 yards. No wonder his rushing accomplishments have been disregarded.
We all saw what Vince Young could do with his arm in the Rose Bowl, throwing for 267, becoming the first player in NCAA history with 1,000 yards rushing and 3,000 yards passing in a season. Sounds like a Randall Cunningham stat-line.
What about Vince’s strength? He routinely discards would-be tacklers with nonchalance. Cunningham used to perform the same feat – often spinning away from a blitzer – with the exact same graceful pirouette that Young uses. The most memorable example was in a 1990 game against Buffalo when Cunningham effortlessly shed hall of famer Bruce Smith and threw a career long 95 yard touchdown pass.
Author Chuck Klosterman has also observed the glaring similarities between Young and Cunningham, and noted the following in an ESPN.com contribution this week:
But if we’ve never witnessed anything like Vince Young before, why does he remind me so much of a quarterback old enough to be his father? This star was tall and athletic, could shed NFL linebackers with strength or hurdle them with unparalleled athletic brilliance. He was a dual-threat, who could launch an 80 yard touchdown pass, or run 50 yards to the house. Just who am I referring to?
Randall Cunningham.
That’s right, Randall Cunningham, that antediluvian star who has been overlooked in seemingly every discussion about successful running quarterbacks, even though he’s the NFL’s all-time leading rusher at the position.
Cunningham, like Vince Young, was a multidimensional QB, capable of devastating a defense with deep passes or with his scrambling ability. Young is 6-5, 233 pounds – exceptionally large for his position. But Cunningham was big for his era, standing 6-4 and weighing 215 pounds, which in those days was more like, well, 6-5 and 233. (Everyone in the NFL was significantly smaller then: the Eagles didn’t even have an offensive lineman over 290 pounds on their entire roster - the Longhorn’s smallest starting lineman this year was 305. Linebackers weighed 230 instead of 260. Running backs were “well built” at 210 instead of “undersized.”) Relatively speaking, Vince Young is built in a Randall Cunningham mold.
Then there are the legs. Vince now owns two of the top three rushing performances in bowl history by a quarterback (his last two Rose Bowls), but Cunningham was just as prolific at the next level. From 1986-1989 Randall racked up 2,290 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground. Six times in his career he ran for over 500 yards in a season (in only eight healthy seasons). By comparison, one of the great scramblers in NFL history, Steve Young, only accomplished the feat once. Then came 1990, when Cunningham ran for an amazing 942 yards – more than Michael Vick has ever produced in a season – the second highest total in NFL history for a quarterback.
Through the air, Cunningham was just as good. In that 1990 season he threw almost 3,500 yards and finished second in the league with 30 touchdown passes. Between a brief retirement and injuries, Cunningham was limited to only eight years where he played ten or more games. But in the final seven of those seasons he averaged over 3,300 yards and almost 24 touchdowns per season, culminating in a magical 1997 in Minnesota, when Cunningham led the league with a passer rating of 106.0 while throwing for 34 TDs and 3,704 yards. No wonder his rushing accomplishments have been disregarded.
We all saw what Vince Young could do with his arm in the Rose Bowl, throwing for 267, becoming the first player in NCAA history with 1,000 yards rushing and 3,000 yards passing in a season. Sounds like a Randall Cunningham stat-line.
What about Vince’s strength? He routinely discards would-be tacklers with nonchalance. Cunningham used to perform the same feat – often spinning away from a blitzer – with the exact same graceful pirouette that Young uses. The most memorable example was in a 1990 game against Buffalo when Cunningham effortlessly shed hall of famer Bruce Smith and threw a career long 95 yard touchdown pass.
Author Chuck Klosterman has also observed the glaring similarities between Young and Cunningham, and noted the following in an ESPN.com contribution this week:
“It seems intellectually insane to compare Vince Young to Steve Young instead of to Randall Cunningham. When I recall Cunningham at his absolute best (i.e., that Monday night game against the Giants in '88, when Carl Banks couldn't knock him down with a ball peen hammer), it immediately makes me think about Vince Young in the Rose Bowl. Steve Young was a more effective quarterback than Cunningham, but Cunningham was more dangerous and harder to contain; this is what makes Randall and Vince alike. And this comparison is specific: Young does not seem like Michael Vick or Steve McNair. He only resembles Cunningham.”
The resemblance is uncanny. Yet Vince Young is a tall, strong, athletic right-handed quarterback who can beat teams with his passing and his rushing…but no one has ever seen anything like him? Either everyone has forgotten how good Cunningham could be – and thus is afraid to make the comparison with Young – or they have simply forgotten Randall altogether.
If Cunningham’s accomplishments are any indication, Young should have a successful NFL tenor as both a passer and runner.
Hopefully, history won’t forget Vince.
posted by Ben Taylor | 2:22 PM
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