Michigan State Football: Top 50 players of all time
5. Bubba Smith
There is still a defensive player left in the top five of this monstrous list that played alongside Bubba Smith on the 1965 and 1966 national champion teams. Imagine two of the school’s top five all-time players on the same defense. No wonder those two seasons saw the best run-stopping squads in school history, giving up under 55 yards per game through those campaigns.
Smith, a two-time All-American defensive end, was one of Duffy Daugherty’s prized players from the national title teams and he went on to be a solid pro, earning a Pro Bowl bid twice in the early 1970s and even winning Super Bowl V. He was the No. 1 overall selection in the 1967 NFL Draft.
Michigan State’s defense was flat-out scary back in the 1960s and Smith was a big reason for that.
Standing 6-foot-7 and weighing about 280 pounds, Smith was a physical freak during his time when college football players were sometimes small, even at the offensive and defensive line positions.
Bubba was just a formidable force for opposing offenses and not many could figure out how to elude the big defender. He was the subject of the phrase “Kill, Bubba, Kill” which fans chanted during games because he was playing like he was hunting for prey.
The former Spartan defensive end won a couple of national titles, was drafted first overall and was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988 before becoming a movie star.
Next: 4. Charles Rogers