Herschel Walker is staging a comeback!

Jstas

No, not to the MMA ring...to football.

Seriously.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20110125_Former_Eagle_Walker_thinks_he_can_still_play_in_NFL_at_age_49.html

AT THE IMPROBABLE age of 48, Herschel Walker believes he can become "the George Foreman of football."

Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner as a Georgia junior running back, played 15 seasons of professional football, including 1992 through '94 with the Eagles, and retired at the end of the 1997 NFL season.

He remains the only NFL player to score three ways on plays of 90 or more yards in the same season, achieving that spectacular hat trick for the Eagles in 1994 by taking it to the house on a rush, a pass reception and a kickoff return.

To hear him tell it, Walker can still give a boost to any NFL team willing to ignore the date on his birth certificate. He turns 49 on March 3.

"If I continue to stay in the shape I'm in now, I know I can play when I'm 50," Walker insisted yesterday during a teleconference to promote his Saturday bout with 27-year-old Scott Carson in a Strikeforce event in San Jose, Calif.

"Right now, if you asked me if I can play today, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind I can play football, that I can help a team out," said Walker, whose spent his final three NFL seasons primarily as a receiver and kick returner for the Giants and Cowboys. "I can 100 percent guarantee you I can help a football team out . . .

"I think I'm a better conditioned athlete right now than I was when I was playing. I'm 48 now, and I'm in better shape now than I was in my early 20s playing football."

A remarkably versatile athlete who flashed Olympic-level sprinter's speed for the Georgia track team and made it to the 1992 Winter Olympics as a bobsledder, Walker's latest - or, more accurately, most enduring - competitive passion is mixed martial arts. A student of MMA since he was 15, he holds a fifth-degree black belt in tae kwon do and also has trained in such varied fighting disciplines as Muay Thai and Kenpo.

The matchup with Carson (4-1), originally scheduled for Dec. 4 but postponed when Walker (1-0) was cut above his eye in training, is the second with Strikeforce for the 1999 College Football Hall of Fame inductee. He made his debut by scoring a third-round technical knockout over another opponent more than 20 years his junior, Greg Nagy, on Jan. 30, 2010.

Walker and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker were on the teleconference to promote a Showtime-televised card headlined by the matchup of welterweight champion Nick Diaz and Evangelista Cyborg. But Walker is the major attraction, at least with casual viewers unfamiliar with more established MMA stars, as Coker noted in calling him "arguably one of the greatest athletes of the century." He didn't say whether that was the 20th century, or the 21st.

Some of the questions Walker fielded were about his relative neophyte status in MMA, and he answered them with appropriate humility.

"I want to step into that cage on Saturday and have people say, 'Hey, this guy can really fight,' " said Walker, who added that "I can never say I'm a great MMA fighter, but I can still say I have a lot of athleticism."

But when the talk got around to football, as might be expected the day after the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers advanced to Super Bowl XLV, Walker was in more comfortable territory.

"I picked Green Bay and Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl, and I got it right," said Walker, who likes the Steelers to win their seventh Lombardi Trophy.

Walker is a two-time Pro Bowler who ranks eighth on the NFL career list, with 18,168 all-purpose yards, and led the USFL in rushing twice in his first three seasons as a pro.

He clearly longs to play in the Super Bowl, something he never accomplished. He said he was clocked in 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash last February, and "I think if I can get back to my track work, I can run it pretty fast. I know I can run it better than a 4.5."

Walker did, however, contribute in his own way to three Super Bowl victories for the Dallas Cowboys. The retooling Cowboys traded him to the Minnesota Vikings five games into the 1989 season, acquiring five players and six draft choices (including one that became Emmitt Smith, now the NFL's all-time leading rusher), which laid the foundation for the Dallas dynasty of the mid-1990s.

Walker never thought he was used properly in Minnesota, which is a part of the reason he so welcomed his time with his next team, the Eagles.

"I had a great time in Philly," he said. "I didn't know what to expect when I first went to Philadelphia. I knew they had some real tough fans, but I fell in love with the fans there. They got on your case when you didn't play well, but they cheered you on when you did.

"To be honest with you, I think Philly rejuvenated my football career. Philadelphia gave me an opportunity to play with somebody like Reggie White, who I consider to be one of the finest defensive linemen ever. I got to play with Randall Cunningham, Seth Joyner, all those guys. I love Philly. I tell everyone Philly is a tough city, but they know their sports and they love their sports."

Asked what team he would like to play for if he returned, Walker said: "I'd say either Minnesota or Atlanta. Probably Atlanta the most, since it's home for me. Being a Georgia boy, and all. It's just home for me."

Although it's highly unlikely a pushing-50 Walker would ever be offered an NFL contract, consider this: The cover of the Dec. 12, 1983, issue of Sports Illustrated had a then-47-year-old Jim Brown in a Raiders uniform. Alongside Brown's photo was a headline that read: "You serious? A comeback at 47? HEY! You're just what the borrr-ing NFL needs!" *

Knucklehead

Players are bigger, faster and stronger than when he played, for his sake, he may wish to reconsider.:biggrin:

Jstas

Knucklehead wrote: »

Players are bigger, faster and stronger than when he played, for his sake, he may wish to reconsider.:biggrin:

Have you seen him lately? He's bigger and stronger...dunno about faster though, than when he played. Check the link, there's a picture of him issuing a beatdown in an MMA fight.

Knucklehead

Jstas wrote: »

Have you seen him lately? He's bigger and stronger...dunno about faster though, than when he played. Check the link, there's a picture of him issuing a beatdown in an MMA fight.

Your right John...maybe this is an exception, that dude is a beast at 49.

jflail2

I read a pretty interesting article a while back about his workout and associated diet, and it was flat out crazy.

I swear it was something along the lines of him not eating ALL DAY and working out like a mad man. I'll dig for the article, but it was pretty mind boggling.

I dunno, if the guy can go into an MMA fight with someone 20 years his younger and beat the p1ss out of him, I don't see why he couldn't contribute for a season or 2 in the NFL.

He is most definitely an aberration...

Edit: Found it:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/11/herschel.fitness.martial.arts/index.html

He eats once a day, skipping breakfast and lunch. After a long, intense day of training, he eats salad and bread for dinner. He doesn't care for meat or fuss about getting enough protein. Walker's a vegetarian.

"It's a mindset -- something I've been doing for a long time," he said. "I don't worry about protein. I don't worry about all that. I'm from old school. I grew up in south Georgia. They didn't worry about cholesterol or protein. They went out and worked and lived a long time, so I don't put a lot of worries in my mind. I just get it done."

Sometimes, Walker doesn't have an appetite and will go through seven hours of wrestling, kickboxing, sparring and practicing jujitsu without having eaten for three or four days.

"It's just unbelievable," said Mendez, who trains Walker at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. "He shouldn't be able to do what he's doing. I don't think it's possible to eat as little as possible and work out the way he does. There's no way. He's an unbelievable athlete."

nooshinjohn

That is one tough as nails SOB right there. I wish him the best in his quest to becoem the new Old Man of the NFL. God knows there are a few teams out there that could use a guy with his attitude to say the least. Ain't that right Jay Cutler?:eek:

Mike Reeter

I'd hate to face the man in the ring,or on the field...he certainly doesn't look his age.

His work ethic is something to be admired.

sucks2beme

I don't care how in shape you are, healing ability/resilience drops
as you get older. Football or MMA both are very hard on the body.
Old injuries tend to pile on to new ones. Some non-contact sports
are much easier to do when older, but a season on the grid iron
eats up guys in their 20's. There's only so many times they can patch
your knees back together.

Demiurge

Good story and all, but not gonna happen. Sorry, Herschel. He'll never match NFL caliber athletes in their 20s at his age ever, and he wasn't a good enough RB to hang his hat on superior talent either.

Jstas

sucks2beme wrote: »

I don't care how in shape you are, healing ability/resilience drops
as you get older. Football or MMA both are very hard on the body.
Old injuries tend to pile on to new ones. Some non-contact sports
are much easier to do when older, but a season on the grid iron
eats up guys in their 20's. There's only so many times they can patch
your knees back together.

I'm tryin' to think and nearest I can remember, I don't ever recall Herschel Walker being injured playing football. At least nothing serious enough to put him on an injury list for prolonged periods of inactivity.

Jstas

Demiurge wrote: »

Good story and all, but not gonna happen. Sorry, Herschel. He'll never match NFL caliber athletes in their 20s at his age ever, and he wasn't a good enough RB to hang his hat on superior talent either.

I dunno, he was fairly impressive in his first stint withe the Cowboys. I mean, Minnesota did trade half the team for him. I mean, like literally. they traded like 5 players and 6 or 7 draft picks 'cause that's how the Cowboys ended up with Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson.

He was pretty impressive for the Eagles as well. The Vikings and the Giants both wasted him because they never used him to his full potential. The Vikings because the coaching "braintrust" hated the owners for trading half the defense and offense for him so they were opposed to him from the outset. The Giants because, well, he only played one season with them and went back to the Cowboys where he played WR, RB, FB, TE and was also used on special teams as a kickoff and punt returner.

Combine his USFL and NFL rushing yards and he has 13,787 for his career. That's Top 5 all time territory. His 12 year NFL career stats are fairly impressive as well with 8,225 rushing yards, 4,859 receiving yards, and 5,084 kickoff-return yards. His total yardage is 18,168 yards and I checked, he's still like number 8 on the all-time list and he retired in 1997.

The names above him in the list are:
Jerry Rice
Brian Mitchell
Walter Payton
Emmitt Smith
Tim Brown
Marshall Faulk
Barry Sanders

That's some impressive company for not being a "superior talent".

I honestly don't think he could make a comeback either. But I'm not ready to discount his entire career either. Imagine how impressive his NFL numbers would have been if he didn't waste all that time in the USFL?

Demiurge

I realize I wasn't clear with my comments, so let me clarify them.

I wasn't discounting his career or even attempting to insult him. I am suggesting that with whatever God given talents he still possesses today as a 49 year old man, he cannot compete with the twenty somethings in the NFL right now. The NFL is more than physique, as you know.

I was trying to suggest that he wasn't so much better than the other competition in his prime to even think he could be a credible back in the league today.

Congrats to him for the incredible shape he's in, though.

Polkersince85

I get the impression that some of you weren't around when Walker was playing. The man is a legend in Georgia. You won't find a more humble guy on any team out there. First class, all the way. I would like to see him go to Atlanta for one season.

schwarcw

I think James Harrison wants to meet him in the backfield!

Demiurge

Polkersince85 wrote: »

I get the impression that some of you weren't around when Walker was playing. The man is a legend in Georgia. You won't find a more humble guy on any team out there. First class, all the way. I would like to see him go to Atlanta for one season.

College isn't the NFL. While he had a good NFL career, he's not in Canton, nor is he going.

It doesn't take any kind of genius to state a 49 year old RB isn't going to do jack in the NFL and would be a liability to his team. I don't care how good he was his collegiate career or previous NFL career.

Fans of all opposing teams hopes he could play for a year in ATL, too. They'd be a laughing stock if he even lasted a game.

sucks2beme

Jstas wrote: »

I'm tryin' to think and nearest I can remember, I don't ever recall Herschel Walker being injured playing football. At least nothing serious enough to put him on an injury list for prolonged periods of inactivity.

He played football. He got hurt. End of story. Those guys play week to week
hurt all season. Maybe he didn't go out half a season or anything, but show
me a running back that ended his career NOT having his knees talk to him every
time he gets up from his chair. High school, college, NFL, every where you see
these guys, you see them in the hot whirlpool trying to loosen up from a hard
hits and bruises. The only guys that take more of a weekly beating are
on the rodeo circuit. And it catches up to everyone.

Jstas

sucks2beme wrote: »

He played football. He got hurt. End of story. Those guys play week to week
hurt all season. Maybe he didn't go out half a season or anything, but show
me a running back that ended his career NOT having his knees talk to him every
time he gets up from his chair. High school, college, NFL, every where you see
these guys, you see them in the hot whirlpool trying to loosen up from a hard
hits and bruises. The only guys that take more of a weekly beating are
on the rodeo circuit. And it catches up to everyone.

:rolleyes: