Archie Griffin led Ohio State Buckeyes and won 1974 Heisman Trophy
Archie Griffin led Ohio State Buckeyes and won 1974 Heisman Trophy
Archie Griffin was born on the 21st of August in 1954 in Columbus, Ohio. Griffin grew up in the Columbus, Ohio. In his high school years he was a dominating football player and had a particularly amazing senior year at Eastmoor High School.
In Griffin's senior year at Eastmoor High School he finished with 1787 yards rushing in 11 games. This was his second consecutive season in which he rushed for more than 1000 yards. During those 11 games he frequented the end zone. Griffin managed to find the end zone 29 times that season as a fullback. His team managed to win the city championship as he rushed for 267 yards in the championship game.
His accomplishments in high school helped him to reach immortal status as he was inducted into the high school hall of fame in 1996. His high school has named the field after Griffin and it is now known as "Archie Griffin Field."
While Griffin was good in high school, his real accomplishments came while he was playing in college. After having such an illustrious high school career he was granted a spot on the team for the Ohio State Buckeyes. He began playing for the Buckeyes in 1972 and continued playing through 1975.
Griffin was an integral part of the Ohio State offense from his first year at Ohio State. In 1972 he was given the ball 159 times and rushed for 867 yards. This was an average of 5.5 yards per carry. In his freshman season he was the starting running back in the Rose Bowl. In his time at Ohio State he would start in the Rose Bowl 4 different times.
While his freshman year was a successful one, it was not anything compared to the next three seasons he would have at BYU. Hi sophomore season at Ohio State is when the magic really started to happen. His number of carries increased dramatically as he carried the ball 247 times that season. He rushed for 1577 yards that season at an average of 6.4 yards per carry. He also managed to score 7 touchdowns that season. His dominant performance was good for a 5th place finish in the Heisman Trophy race. While 5th place was pretty good, Griffin was still not at his best.
Griffin's best season probably came while he was a junior at Ohio State. Most people in the nation knew about Griffin and he now had high expectations to live up to. He certainly lived up to what everyone thought he could do as he rushed for 1695 yards that season with 6.6 yards per carry. He also managed to rush for 12 touchdowns. His dominant running that year earned him the Heisman Trophy in his junior year.
After winning the Heisman Trophy as a junior, Griffin had even higher expectations as a senior. While his statistics weren't quite as good as the previous two seasons, he was still a dominant runner. He rushed for 1450 yards on the year and won his second consecutive Heisman Trophy at Ohio State.