Greg Pruitt
 Pruitt with the Cleveland Browns in 1975 | |||||||||
| No. 34 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Running back | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | August 18, 1951 Houston, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||
Listed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||
Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | B.C. Elmore (TX) | ||||||||
| College | Oklahoma (1970–1972) | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1973: 2nd round, 30th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Gregory Donald Pruitt (born August 18, 1951) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 through 1984. He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners. Pruitt was selected to five Pro Bowls, four as a member of the Cleveland Browns and one as a member of the Los Angeles Raiders, three times as a kick returner/return specialist and twice as a running back. He was also part of the Raiders' Super Bowl XVIII winning team, beating the Washington Redskins. He was in the first Cleveland Browns Legends class in 2001.
Pruitt was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. He was a unanimous All-America selection two consecutive seasons at Oklahoma (1971 and 1972), and was the Big Eight's offensive player of the year in 1971. He finished in the top three in Heisman Trophy voting twice. He was on two Oklahoma teams that won the Sugar Bowl, and finished the season ranked No. 2 in the nation.
Early life
[edit]Pruitt was born on August 8, 1951, in Houston.[1] He attended B. C. Elmore High School in Houston. As a freshman at B. C. Elmore, he was 4 ft 4 in (1.32 m).[2] He weighed only 165 lb (74.8 kg) as a senior.[3] He was on the football team at B. C. Elmore, playing quarterback, running back, and wide receiver on offense; and defensive back on defense.[3] As a senior, he had 87 receptions for 26 touchdowns; and averaged 12 yards per carry when running the ball.[4][3] Pruitt was coached by Wendell Mosley in high school, who would later become Pruitt's running backs coach at the University of Oklahoma, beginning in Pruitt's senior year there (1972).[5][6]
College career
[edit]At the time Pruitt graduated high school, he was highly recruited by numerous historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), but only four or five other schools offered him scholarships: the University of Oklahoma, University of Houston, University of Colorado, Arizona State University and/or the University of Kansas.[3][4] Oklahoma Sooners offensive line coach Bill Michael liked to recruit players from B.C. Elmore High School, where he recruited Pruitt.[7] Two of Pruitt's former high school teammates were already attending Oklahoma (Albert Qualls and Lionel Day), and coach Mosley had a longstanding friendship with Michael and Oklahoma head coach Chuck Fairbanks. Moseley believed these were the principal reasons Pruitt chose to attend Oklahoma.[3]
Pruitt played varsity football for the Sooners from 1970 to 1972, in the Big Eight Conference.[8] He was a unanimous All-American selection in 1971 and 1972,[9] and was also named first-team All-Big Eight in 1971 and 1972.[9] The Associated Press (AP) selected Pruitt as the Big Eight's offensive player of the year for 1971.[10] He was academic All-Big Eight in 1972.[11] Pruitt ranks third among Sooners in career all-purpose yards.[citation needed] Pruitt gained 3,122 rushing yards, 491 receiving yards, 139 yards on punt returns and 679 yards returning kickoffs.[citation needed] In total, he scored 41 career touchdowns as a Sooner. He came in second in Heisman Trophy voting in 1972, and third in 1971.[12][13]
Sophomore (1970)
[edit]As a sophomore (1970), Pruit rushed for 241 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry, in the regular season. He also had 19 receptions for 240 yards and two receiving touchdowns.[14] He had been recruited to Oklahoma as a pass receiver, but was moved to running back in his sophomore year when head coach Chuck Fairbanks implemented the wishbone offense.[15] Pruitt did not originally like the switch from flanker to running back, but did like the fact he would be involved in more plays as a running back. After establishing himself as a running back in 1970, Sooner's backfield coach Barry Switzer observed the following season that Pruitt was not only the team's best receiving running back, but also their best blocking running back.[4]
Oklahoma and Alabama played to a 24–24 tie in the 1970 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. In the game's second quarter, Pruitt had touchdown runs of 58 and 25 yards, and totaled 101 yards in the game on only eight carries.[16] Pruitt received the game's Most Valuable Player award for a back, in a game where the Sooners ran for a total of 349 yards and Alabama's Johnny Musso rushed for 138 yards on 27 carries.[17] Alabama coach Bear Bryant said after the game that the two main problems for his team in not winning the game were Oklahoma's blocking and Pruitt's running.[18]
Junior (1971)
[edit]As a junior (1971), Pruitt led the Big Eight in rushing with 1,665 yards (on 178 carries) in the regular season, tied for the Big Eight lead with 17 rushing touchdowns (with teammate Jack Mildren),[19][20] and led all college football players with a 9.4 yards per carry rushing average.[21][9] He was fourth nationally in total rushing yards, with the three players ahead of him having considerably more rushing attempts than Pruitt in achieving their yardage (Ed Marinaro, 356; Robert Newhouse, 277; Terry Metcalf, 267).[22][23][24]
From October 2 to 23, 1971, Pruitt rushed for at least 190 yards in four consecutive games. On October 2, he gained 205 yards against the No. 17 ranked University of Southern California.[15][25] On October 9, against the No. 3 ranked Texas Longhorns, Pruitt rushed for 216 yards on 20 carries, and scored three touchdowns in leading Oklahoma to a 48–27 victory.[3][26] The next week (October 16) he rushed for 190 yards against No. 6 ranked Colorado.[15][25] His biggest rushing game came one week later (October 23) against Kansas State, when he rushed for 294 yards on 19 carries, setting a Big Eight record at the time (broken on November 14 by Charlie Davis's 342 yards for Colorado[27]); with three rushing touchdowns.[28][29] He ran for 159 yards the following week (October 30) against Iowa State.[30] Pruitt was named National Back of the Week for two consecutive weeks, against Southern California and Texas.[4][10]
On November 25, 1971, Oklahoma suffered a dramatic 35–31 loss to the University of Nebraska, in what was called "The Game of the Century". Both were Big Eight teams, and this was Oklahoma's only loss of the season; while Nebraska finished as national champions, with a 13–0 record. At the time Nebraska was ranked No. 1 nationally and Oklahoma No. 2.[31][19][32] In 2019, a 150-member panel of experts organized by ESPN rated this the greatest college football game ever played, among a list of 150 games considered candidates for the greatest college football game ever.[33]
Pruitt had only 10 carries for 53 yards in the game, though he played an important blocking role for Oklahoma quarterback Jack Mildren who had 31 carries. This was due in significant part to Nebraska's ability to limit Pruitt's outside rushing attempts. Oklahoma's assistant coach Barry Switzer said after the game that this was an oversight by Oklahoma; "He's [Pruitt] a gamebreaker and we probably should have put the ball in his hands at least 25 times . . . They kept us from getting it to him on the outside, so we should have forced it to him with belly plays or off-tackle".[34]
Oklahoma defeated the Auburn Tigers in the January 1, 1972 Sugar Bowl, 40–22. The Sooners rushed for a Sugar Bowl record 439 yards, with Pruitt contributing 95 yards on 18 carries and one rushing touchdown; without a reception.[35][36] Oklahoma was ranked No.2 nationally at the end of the season.[32]
Senior (1972)
[edit]As a senior (1972), Pruitt rushed for 938 yards on 152 carries in the regular season. He led the Big Eight with 13 rushing touchdowns. He also had seven pass receptions for 102 yards, and another touchdown.[37][38] Oklahoma defeated Penn State in the January 1, 1973 Sugar Bowl, 14–0, and was ranked No. 2 nationally at the end of the 1972 season.[37] Pruitt had 86 yards on 21 carries, and 43 yards on two pass receptions.[39]
Pruitt played in the Hula Bowl after his senior season, and was named the game's outstanding player.[40][41] He played in the July 1973 Chicago Charities College All-Star Game against the Miami Dolphins.[42]
In 33 regular season games with the Sooners (1970 to 1972), Pruit totaled 2,844 rushing yards and 450 receiving yards, with 35 rushing touchdowns and three receiving touchdowns.[8] He averaged 120.9 all-purpose yards per game.[9] His 7.6 yards per carry average is the highest in school history for anyone with more than 150 rushing attempts.[43] During his career at Oklahoma he set records for all-purpose yards in a game (374) and a season (1,940).[9] He also averaged 13.9 yards per punt return and 19.9 yards per kickoff return.[11] In three post-season college bowl games playing for Oklahoma, he rushed for another 282 yards with three more rushing touchdowns, and had 43 receiving yards.
Professional career
[edit]Cleveland Browns
[edit]Despite Pruitt's stellar college career, concerns about his lack of size (he entered the draft at just 177 pounds)[44] led to him not being drafted until the Cleveland Browns selected him with the 30th pick of the second round of the 1973 NFL draft.[45] Pruitt's college coach Chuck Fairbanks became the New England Patriots' new coach in January 1973,[46] a few days before the January 30, 1973 NFL draft.[47] The Patriots had three opportunities to draft Pruitt before he was selected by the Browns, but did not do so. Pruitt felt slighted, especially as he expected to be a first round selection. Pruitt was aware that his size was an issue, and was concerned if his own coach, whom he had brought so much success in college, doubted in him, this could affect how other teams perceived him. Browns' coach Nick Skorich did not want to select Pruitt in the second round because of his size, but Browns' owner Art Modell saw Pruitt as a potential successor to Hall of Fame running back Leroy Kelly and overruled Skorich.[48] Modell believed the 1973 draft was potentially the most important draft since he had purchased the team in 1961.[49]
As a rookie in 1973, Pruitt played in 13 games, but did not start any. He rushed for 369 yards on 69 carries, averaging six yards per carry with four rushing touchdowns. He also had nine pass receptions for 110 yards and a receiving touchdown. Pruitt returned 16 punts for 180 yards (11.3 yards per return) and 16 kickoffs for 453 yards (28.6 yards per return).[50] That season, Ron Smith led the NFL in punt return average (13 yards per return) and Wallace Francis led the league in kickoff return average (29.9 yards per return).[51] As a rookie, Pruitt was selected to play in the Pro Bowl as a kick returner.[52][53]
In 1974, Pruitt started nine games at halfback and led the Browns with 540 rushing yards and a 4.3 yards per carry average. He scored three rushing touchdowns. Pruitt also had 21 receptions for 274 yards and a receiving touchdown. He returned 27 punts for 349 yards (12.9 yards per return) and 22 kickoffs for 606 yards (27.5 yards) per return.[54] He was fourth in the NFL in yards per kickoff return and all-purpose yards, and eighth in yards per punt return.[55] In a November 10 game against the New England Patriots, he returned the opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown; and had a 25-yard punt return later in that game.[56] Earlier that season, he returned a punt 72 yards against the Denver Broncos to set up a game winning touchdown.[57] Pruitt was selected to play in the Pro Bowl for a second consecutive season.[58]
Pruitt's breakout season as a running back came in 1975. He started all 14 games and led the Browns with 1,067 rushing yards on 217 carries (4.9 yards per carry). He had eight rushing touchdowns, and also had 44 receptions for 299 yards with a receiving touchdown. He was second on the team in receptions. Pruitt returned 13 punts for 130 yards and 14 kickoffs for 302 yards.[59] This was his last season returning punts for the Browns, and he only returned three kickoffs for them over the following six years.[1]
Pruitt wanted to reach 1,000 yards rushing in the Browns' final home game of the season (December 14). He needed to rush for 184 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs to achieve that goal. Pruitt had arguably the greatest game of his professional career that day, rushing for 213 yards on 26 carries with three rushing touchdowns, and another 23 yards on three receptions.[60][61] In 1975, Pruitt was tied for third in the NFL with Terry Metcalf in rushing average, was fifth in all-purpose yards and sixth in total rushing yards.[62]
Pruitt led the Browns with 1,000 yards rushing in 1976, averaging 4.8 yards per carry with four rushing touchdowns. He also had 45 receptions (second most on the Browns) for 341 yards and a receiving touchdown. He was selected to the Pro Bowl as a running back for the first time, and United Press International (UPI) named his second-team All-