Favorite College Football Players From The 1980’s

Sam Khan: Andre Ware

“As someone who was born in the early 1980s, I didn’t get to see many of those players live, but the first one I vividly remember was Andre Ware. My dad took me to the Astrodome to see the Houston Cougars play, and that was my first in-person experience with college football. To see Ware throw beautiful parabolas all over the field and the Cougars’ high-powered run ‘n’ shoot offense light up the scoreboard was quite the introduction to the sport. Ware was a wonder, and he and the Cougars were on the front end of what would turn out to be an offensive revolution in the sport. Later, when I became a teenager, the first college jersey I owned was Andre Ware’s.“

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So many favorite Coogs from the 1980"s as I was there from 1981-1985.

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I was at the school from 1966 to 1973(including grad school) But I kept on going to the games whenever I could. Got to see Elmo Wright, Gary Mullins, and a host of others. Went to the UT game that we really won but the refs called off one of our td’s on a very questionable call. The line for tickets for the UT game started at 3 pm the day before the box officeb opened . I was second only because one frat had one of their pledges there at 2:45. By 7 pm the line stretch from the ticket office near where the ramp now goes into Fertitta center to Scott and back to even with the front of the line and it kept on growing as it stretched all the way past Jeppersen Stadium to Calhoun.

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I’m with Sam K…Andre Ware was just a ton of fun to watch. My second pick would be another Coog, my friend Glenn Montgomery. He was a terrific DT here, played for the Oilers and, first and foremost, was a humble guy and such a good person. Gone at 31 and I still have a hard time believing that. RIP

My third choice might cost me my membership here. And it’s tough to give ANY credit to a SMU guy but Eric Dickerson was a jaw-dropping talent. I never liked him or anything about SMU but I have to admit he was amazing.

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my favorite defensive player from the 80s - run and shoot era was Lamar Lathon - great defensive player. Always looked bigger, stronger and faster then everyone else on the field.

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I remember that game well. I sat on the 50 yard line with a sea of orange to my left (across the aisle??) and red on my right. I can’t for the life of me remember how I got my solo ticket but I am relatively certain I bought it in Austin well in advance probably during the summer. Perhaps the seats weren’t reserved and I got there early enough to sit midfield? The Coogs were very impressive that evening. They ran wild. Unfortunately, they also turned the ball over far too often which IMHO was the difference. Without those turnovers and the questionable call you mention UH would have spanked the home team. In a matter of days Darrell Royal and his OC Emory Bellard morphed CBY’s Veer into the Wishbone.

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no one is mentioning chuck weatherspoon …i remember yelling
“spoooooon!” every time he got a handoff, and watching him barreling down the field…now those were fun moments

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Since the title of the thread is “Favorite College Football Players of the 1980’s” I am not limited to one, so here is a list of some that come to mind:
Simon Fletcher
Audray McMillian
Andre Ware
Lamar Lathon
Chuck Weatherspoon
Johnnie Jackson
Leonard Mitchell
Eugene Lockhart

There are more for sure, but those are who I can think of right now.

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Alfred Oglesby was a Beast…he needs to be in here too !!!:smiley:

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I’d throw in Manny Hazzard.

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Alfred Ogelsby

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I had a couple of classes with Andre so I will be partial but really this is the entire Run and Shoot Squad.

Spoon was way under rated. His NFL career does not reflect how good he was.

Duarte’s twitter with spooooon
https://twitter.com/joseph_duarte/status/982818688956010496?lang=en
What about Lamar?
If he had played in NY or Chicago he would have been a much bigger star.

I will add one point. This is about recruiting.
How well do you think we can really be? That’s right the sky is the limit. We just need an honest go at it.

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Robert Newhouse
Oops not 80s

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Weedy Harris. In 1982 Harris needed season-ending knee surgery but wanted to play Texas. He gutted it out in the Coogs’ 50-0 loss in Austin and had his surgery the following week.
You can never have enough players like Weedy Harris. A true Cougar all the way. He was from Waco but chose to play his college football for Houston and coach Bill Yeoman over Baylor.