of the position groups that the associa-
tion studies, the others being kickers and
punters,
quarterbacks, cornerbacks and
wide receivers.
It was a severe injury in his :rst game in
1995 that wrecked Carter's career, com-
pounded by a question about his durabil-
ity because that game was only a
preseason exhibition contest.
Carter is the only Penn State running
back ever selected No. 1 overall. A>er an
All-America career capped by being the
runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting
in 1994, Carter was chosen by the
Cincinnati Bengals, who traded up :ve
slots to take him. He signed a seven-year,
$19.2 million contract with a $7.125 mil-
lion signing bonus that was the highest
NFL rookie contract at the time.
A strained Achilles tendon in his right
leg kept Carter out of the Bengals' first
two preseason games. He made his
debut at Detroit's Silverdome on Aug. 17,
and I was there to see it, simply a fan in
town on a business trip. When Carter
went down on his third carry, one in-
stinctively felt it was bad. To me, the
bang-bang tackle resembled the infa-
mous and dangerous "clothesline" –
defined usually as a sudden stiff
straight-arm across the runner's neck or
head. It's not banned in the rule book
but the tackle is heavily penalized and
now is rarely seen.
Carter took the hando< running to his
le> between the center and guard. Detroit
defensive tackle Robert Porcher had
brushed aside the guard and loomed in
front of Carter like a monster. Carter
planted his le> foot in the arti:cial turf
and cut right just as Porcher grabbed him
with his le> arm at his right shoulder near
his neck and threw him to the ground.
Carter's shoe stuck in the turf, his le>
knee buckled and he went down with
Porcher on top of him.
Carter got up on his own and walked to
the sideline, and from the stands it looked
like my initial instinct was wrong. He
didn't appear seriously hurt. Carter
didn't think so either but told the sideline
sta< "it just doesn't feel right." For pre-
cautionary reasons, the Bengals held
Carter out of the rest of the meaningless
game. An MRI back in Cincinnati was
devastating. He had torn his ACL.
Carter was never the same. He stayed
with the Bengals through the 1999 season
and even started several games but was
used mostly as a backup and was dogged
by more injuries, including a fractured
wrist in 1998 that sidelined him for a year.
A>er a season with Washington and two
years with New Orleans, Carter's NFL ca-
reer came to a quiet and disappointing
end.
Carter was not a "bust" as some NFL
followers wrongly maintain. Dozier and
Thomas are o>en cited in that denigrat-
ing category, too, despite injuries and the
extenuating circumstances each encoun-
tered with the oed them.
However, before elaborating on their ill-
fated NFL experiences, a little historical
perspective on Penn State's NFL running
backs is needed.
Since the beginning of the NFL Dra> in
1936, 38 Nittany Lion running
backs/halfbacks and :ve fullbacks have
been selected, according to the 2018 Penn
State record book. Another 15 players are
designated simply as "backs," with their
actual positions ranging from blocking
backs to quarterbacks. It wasn't until the
late 1940s, a>er the end World War II,
that four of those early dra>ees played in
the NFL, two for just a year. The heaviest
in;ux of Penn State running backs into
the NFL did not occur until the 1970s.
Ten of those NFL running backs were
:rst-team All-Americans at Penn State,
and three – John Cappelletti, Lydell
Mitchell and Curt Warner – have been in-
ducted into the College Football Hall of
Fame. Then there's Moore and Harris. Al-
though they were not :rst-team All-
Americans, they went on to become the
only Nittany Lion running backs en-
shrined in the Pro Football of Fame. Three
other Penn Staters played 10 years or
more in the NFL, another 17 beat the odds
with three to nine years in the league, and
eight were on NFL rosters for one to two
years.
The :rst player to last more than four
years in the league was fullback Fran
Rogel, who played his entire career (1950-
57) with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Before
Rogel, two of the :rst four dra>ees played
just one year until the :>h one, Wally
Triplett, Penn State's :rst black letter-
man who was famous for integrating the
Cotton Bowl in 1948, made it through
four years. Between the selection of
Triplett in 1949 and All-American Char-
lie Pittman in 1970, 11 Nittany Lions were
dra>ed. Seven never played, but Dick
Hoak, picked in the seventh round by the
Steelers in 1961, had 10 productive years
before becoming Pittsburgh's venerable
running backs coach for 20 years.
If Moore had not been dra>ed by the
Baltimore Colts in 1956, Penn State's rep-
utation for producing running backs may
have remained dormant for decades. His
emergence as an outstanding runner and
receiver helped Baltimore win champi-
onships and 1958 and '59, and the Colts'
overtime victory over the New York Gi-
ants in the :rst of those two seasons cat-
apulted the NFL into the country's most
popular sports league. Moore's success
reaped bene:ts long a>er his retirement
in 1967.
Pittman, Joe Paterno's :rst All-America
running back in 1969, grew up in Balti-
more idolizing the Colts. Mitchell, a
southern New Jersey native, and Harris of
northern New Jersey followed Pittman as
sophomores in '69 and became familiar
with Moore's exploits. By the time that
New Jersey duo had graduated, Mitchell
was regarded as one of Moore's peers,
while Harris, playing fullback in the tan-
dem, was o>en in Paterno's doghouse for
various reasons. In their senior season of
1971, Mitchell was a :rst-team All-Amer-
ican who led the nation in scoring, :nish-
ing :>h in the Heisman voting and
setting several NCAA and school records,
while Harris, though accumulating high
rushing statistics, was rarely an honor-
able mention on All-America teams.
That's why it was startling to many fans
when Harris was taken ahead of Mitchell
in the 1972 dra>. The Steelers tabbed
Harris as the 13th overall selection, while
Mitchell didn't go until 35 picks later
when Baltimore grabbed him. Mitchell
didn't disappoint in his nine-year career,
rushing for more than 1,000 yards in each
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