How Barry Sanders Changed the NFL for College Athletes

With the NFL Combine in the books, it might be a fun time to look back at one of the greatest individual combines in NFL history. One that changed the face of two football organizations forever.

Mike O’Hara recently wrote on DetriotLions.com about the time he watched Barry Sanders work out in Stillwater, Oklahoma. But first, he talked about how Sanders, who entered the draft after his junior year, even had that opportunity to begin with.

He had made it known that he was going to challenge the NFL’s eligibility rule and apply for the draft after only three seasons in college. Until 1989, the NFL rule stipulated that a player was not eligible until four years after his senior year in high school. The NFL yielded to Sanders’ demand without a court fight in early April and changed the rule to three years.

Take that, Maurice Clarett!

The highlights from the actual workout are numerous (and you should read them), but this was the one that stunned me the most.

With scores of personnel people waiting, Barry emerged from the locker room beyond one end zone and began to walk to the field to begin the workout. He stopped under one goal post. Suddenly – and effortlessly – he leaped, grabbed the cross bar and did a one-handed chin-up.

Barry Sanders is 5’8”.

[Hat tip to William Joyce]