Eddie George

Edward Nathan George Jr. (born September 24, 1973) is an American football coach and former player who is the current head football coach at Tennessee State University.

He played as a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily for the Houston / Tennessee Oilers / Titans franchise.

He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and won the Heisman Trophy in 1995.

As a senior in the 1995 season, George rushed for a school-record 1,927 yards and 24 touchdowns, an average of 148.23 yards per game, while also catching 47 passes for 417 yards and another score (George only caught 16 passes in his first three seasons).

One of his best performances of the year was in a 45–26 win over Notre Dame, where he rushed for 207 yards, his third 200-yard game of the season.

He also rushed for a school-record 314 yards and scored 3 touchdowns in OSU's victory over Illinois.

In the 3 years after his 2 fumbles as a freshman, George had over 600 rushing attempts and fumbled only 6 times.

Ohio State finished the season with an 11-2 record.

George was recognized as a unanimous All-American.

He won the Heisman Trophy in the closest vote in the history of the award at the time, beating Nebraska's Tommie Frazier by 264 votes.

George left Ohio State second in school history in career rushing yards (3,768) and third in rushing touchdowns (44).

Overall, he finished with 4,284 all-purpose yards, 45 touchdowns, and a 5.5 yards per carry average.

He was drafted in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the Tennessee Titans (both in Tennessee and in Houston when the franchise was known as the Houston Oilers) and Dallas Cowboys.

George was a first-round draft selection (14th overall pick) of the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) in the 1996 NFL Draft, being selected after Jerome Bettis elected to be traded to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers over the Oilers when the St. Louis Rams replaced Bettis with Lawrence Phillips.

George won the NFL Rookie of the Year award in 1996, and was the Oilers/Titans' starting tailback through 2003, never missing a start.

He made the Pro Bowl four consecutive years (1997–2000), and assisted the Titans to a championship appearance in Super Bowl XXXIV, where they lost to the St. Louis Rams 23–16.

George gained 391 combined rushing and receiving yards in the Titans' three playoff games that year and went on to rush for 95 yards, catching two passes for 35 yards, and score two touchdowns in the Super Bowl.

George is only the second NFL running back to rush for 10,000 yards while never missing a start, joining Jim Brown.

Only Walter Payton (170) started more consecutive regular-season games than George's 130.

George was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011 as a player, and the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

Post-football, George earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

In 2015, he guest starred on an IFC episode of the satirical talk-show Comedy Bang! Bang!, titled "Eddie George Wears a Navy Suit and Half-Zip Pullover."

In 2016, he appeared on Broadway in the musical Chicago as the hustling lawyer Billy Flynn.

George was born in Philadelphia.

He played Pop Warner football for the Abington Raiders.

He attended Abington Senior High School until the tenth grade, and then transferred to Fork Union Military Academy.

George made the decision to stay at Fork Union Military Academy for a fifth prep school year or postgraduate year.

Such choices are commonly made by high school football players hoping to improve their recruitment status with colleges, but for George, it meant another year of the rigorous military lifestyle.

George rushed for 1,372 yards in his postgraduate season at FUMA, attracting the attention of several major colleges.

George attended the Ohio State University, where he majored in landscape architecture and played for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team.

As a freshman running back, George scored three rushing touchdowns in a win over Syracuse.

However, he suffered a major setback in a game against Illinois.

In that game, George lost a fumble at the Illinois 4-yard line that was returned 96 yards for a touchdown.

Later in the game, with Ohio State leading by 2 points in the final quarter, George fumbled again, this time on Illinois' 1-yard line.

Illinois recovered the fumble and drove for the game-winning touchdown.

Before the Illinois game, George had carried the ball 25 times and scored 5 touchdowns, but he had only 12 more rushing attempts and no more touchdowns for the rest of the year.

In the following season, George was listed in the depth chart as the team's third-string running back, behind Raymont Harris.

He carried the ball just 42 times, mostly when Ohio State had a large lead late in games, but showed his potential by averaging 5.3 yards per carry.

As a junior, George became the team's starting running back and went on to rush for 1,442 yards and 12 touchdowns.