I can't name a favorite player. But I know who was my favorite player to watch.
He caught my attention as a freshman in the late 70s going down in kickoffs, displaying an urgency, flying downfield (he outran DBs), running through blockers, making aggressive tackles. He'd run through a teammate if they got between him and the ball.
He played LB & NG the way it's supposed to be played. If you were close to the field you could hear him growl and grunt. Called the Tasmanian devil. But when you met him, he was a lamb. One of the most soft-spoken & polite people I have ever met.
Jimmy Noonan soph stats: 150 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 FF, 2 FR. During his soph year he led the team in tackles. 104 of his 150 tackles were unassisted. 355 career tackles. He move to NG where he was all SEC, was at abt 5-10, 211 lbs (his SR year he told me 211 was the most he ever weighed).
Per Roland James , our great DB: “We played cards, and I remember Jimmy Noonan, this tough little middle guard, would cheat at 21. Everybody knew it, and he knew it, and it was all in fun how he would not turn his cards over and say he had 21. Nobody wanted to mess with Jimmy.”
Jimmy died in 2013.
Who was your favorite player to watch?
He caught my attention as a freshman in the late 70s going down in kickoffs, displaying an urgency, flying downfield (he outran DBs), running through blockers, making aggressive tackles. He'd run through a teammate if they got between him and the ball.
He played LB & NG the way it's supposed to be played. If you were close to the field you could hear him growl and grunt. Called the Tasmanian devil. But when you met him, he was a lamb. One of the most soft-spoken & polite people I have ever met.
Jimmy Noonan soph stats: 150 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 FF, 2 FR. During his soph year he led the team in tackles. 104 of his 150 tackles were unassisted. 355 career tackles. He move to NG where he was all SEC, was at abt 5-10, 211 lbs (his SR year he told me 211 was the most he ever weighed).
Per Roland James , our great DB: “We played cards, and I remember Jimmy Noonan, this tough little middle guard, would cheat at 21. Everybody knew it, and he knew it, and it was all in fun how he would not turn his cards over and say he had 21. Nobody wanted to mess with Jimmy.”
Jimmy died in 2013.
Who was your favorite player to watch?
