that you have seen in person? I played against a hand full of really good ones in the late 90's but I think the best one I saw was a kid that played with my younger brother davin palmer son of David palmer. That kid was insanely talented.

Emmitt Smith...hands down.

Bo Jackson.

He better be quick. I heard them showers in prison can be tough on the slow afoot. He was arrested for 2 armed robberies.

Emmitt Smith.

yeah he is trouble for sure. After his football career fell apart he stole a bunch of stuff from his friends. He stole a t top out of my brother's car ! That kid was such a waste of talent.

I played against Mac Campbell my sophomore year in the second round of the playoffs. He played for Alexandria. He was and may still be the all-time leading rusher in Alabama high school history with over 10,000 yards. I played outside linebacker that year so I got to see him up close all night. They beat us 40-37 but we pretty well contained Campbell all night. He was averaging something like 200-250 yards per game and I think we held him to less than 100 or there abouts. Their other players beat us that night.....

Cadillac Williams and the scary thing was he was actually more impressive playing DB.

I watched him several times and worked with him for a year or 2. He was a beast.

I ran in the state finals (track) of the 200M against a RB from Montevallo named Shontua Ray that ended up playing for Bama. We were lined up side by side in lanes 4 &5. He broke the state record that race and beat the whole field by a good bit for a race that short. That dude could flat out fly!

He wasn’t a RB but I played against a guy for North Jackson that was rated the #1 player in the state that year. His name was Kenny (???) forgot his last name…..but he played DE and TE…..He was 6’7” 265 lbs and ran either a 4.6 or a 4.8….He was about like running into the side a brick wall. I remember the B’ham paper or one the big ones had him on the cover of the sports section that year with the title “Man Mountain”. I don’t know if he ever actually went anywhere. Seems like his grades may have been too bad or something. I could be wrong about that.

The best I ever played against was Tim Simon from Cordova. Finished runner up for Mr. Football in 2009 and was so explosive in the open field. He signed with ole miss and tore his ACL on punt coverage game 1. Never made it back on to the field. It was a shame, honestly. He was a really good guy with a high ceiling. Very Darren McFadden like IMO.
Best Ive witnessed playing may have been the young man from Wetumpka this past season, Kovasiey Smoke. His numbers this past season were actually lower than they probably could have been because they had a second threat to run out of the QB. Kid has SEC size and speed. Probably end up seeing him play on Sundays if he stays out of trouble.

Kenny Smith. He was part of the deal that got Bama on NCAA probation around the turn of the century.

He ended up at Tennessee (and eventually UT Chattanooga), I think, but never played much...if at all.

Trent Richardson

I think he had some serious medical issues, and wasn't able to make it to college. Unless I'm mistaken?

The best RB I've seen in person probably would be Bo Jackson or Emmitt Smith. Just their overall ability to read the field, shake or take tackles, determination, and bursts of speed on the corner or in the hole were all just incredible. I never saw Herschel in person, though, but would put him right in that group.

As for an RB who did other stuff, thus being in the "athlete" category, I'd say the best I saw in person might be Pierre Goode. Fast, tenacious, what I call "play smarts" - being able to essentially know what was about to happen and react - determined, relaxed-smooth, almost graceful. He was remarkable to watch.

Was talking with Antonio Langham once at Bryant Hall years ago about the great run of Colbert County-Courtland-Hazlewood athletes and mentioned his cousin, "Snake" Langham. He played in the early 1970s, I think, or late 1960s over there. Antonio said of all the players who came out of the area, Snake was the best.

shontaua was a beast. He played for montavallo which was in our area. I was a fullback so lucky for me i didn't have to chase him. He stayed in dubose's dog house all the time never played much. we had a bunch of good backs in our areas during that time. gelenkisi Smith from sylacaga , deonta tantehill from Thomson as well as Tim Castile from briarwood. Tim was just a freshman when I graduated but by far the best player on the field . briarwood still had grant and ogeltree that had won a pair of championships for them so Tim didn't start.

I think he was just small...smaller than advertised by a bit, IIRC. He signed with UAB out of high school.

Mac had some sort of infection that ended his football career. Maybe it was some meningitis type but I remember him being very sick and they were worried that he may not survive.
Alexandria has had several good RB's. Had one in the mid 80's by the name of Tony Young that was a beast. I think he went to UNA.

David Palmer and Robert Davis from Homewood. Davis went to LSU and never amounted to much.

Palmer was also a fantastic shortstop and had a lot of power for his size. I watched him hit it out of Rickwood field over my head when I was playing right field. I played baseball with him in a summer league. Every throw he made to me at first, no matter where he fielded the ball, was chest high and going about 90 MPH. I really think he could have played MLB if he had a mind to do it instead of football.

Chuckie Fields in 1980. Played for Marengo Academy and ran all over us that night. I have no idea what if any kind of college career he had but that night there were several scouts in the stands including one from LSU.