bruce smith holds the all time sack record in the nfl.
bruce smith holds the all time sack record in the nfl.
who holds the all time sack record in the nfl?
bruce smith
following this stellar collegiate career, smith was drafted by the buffalo bills with the first pick of the 1985 nfl draft. (concurrently he was also selected by the baltimore stars in the 1985 usfl territorial draft but spurned the united states football league advances and decided to play in the nfl instead, even as the stars were a championship caliber team and the bills were on the brink of collapse.) after a rookie season in which his poor training habits limited his effectiveness, inspiration from teammate darryl talley and finding love with a college counselor whom he eventually married inspired him to improve his game. he quickly became known as a sack specialist, with 15 in 1986 and a personal season-best 19, just three short of the then-nfl record of 22, in 1990. by 1989, smith, in notching his 52nd sack, had already become the bills' all-time sack leader, claiming a team record that he was to raise 119 times over the years. some conjecture that his 171 sacks in buffalo set a standard that "may be unreachable" for future bills. also in 1989, bruce smith signed an offer-sheet with the denver broncos for $7.5 million over five years, but the bills matched the offer to retain him. in 1990, his defensive performance helped bring the bills to super bowl xxv, though they eventually lost to the bill parcells-led new york giants. still, smith had an impressive performance in the game. he sacked jeff hostetler in the end zone in the second quarter, becoming only the fifth player to record a super bowl safety. later, smith forced new york to turn the ball over on downs by tackling running back ottis anderson for a two-yard loss on a fourth down conversion attempt. only a failed last-second field goal attempt kept the team from its first nfl championship (see wide right (buffalo bills)).
bruce smith
coming into his junior year phil steele ranked tull as the number 1 defensive end and number 7 overall player in the nation for fcs. during the mocs game against furman that year tull had 3.5 sacks and 2 ff and was named national defensive player of the week by the sports network. he led the utc mocs to a co-conference championship and after the season was voted a consensus first team all-american by every major publication, making tull the first consensus all american in school history. he broke the school's all-time sack record and was again voted the conference defensive player of the year by the league's coaches. he was awarded the elite defensive end award from the cpfa and also became utc's first academic all-american in football by having above a 3.5 gpa in exercise science. he finished his junior season as a finalist for the buch buchanan award, given annually to the top defensive player in fcs. he is utc's all-time sack, tackles for loss, and forced fumble leader.
davis tull