NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players: No. 63 - Bobby Anderson, Auburn

The No. 63 player on our list was one of Auburn's greatest all-around athletes and probably is remembered more locally for his basketball abilities.

On the football field, though, Bobby Anderson was good enough to be an NFL prospect despite rarely having any talent around him.

At Auburn, Anderson was a two-time first team all-conference point guard for the Knights basketball team. He led the Knights to a 48-12 mark over two seasons. His senior year, his friends talked him into going out for track and he finished third in the conference in the long jump and triple jump.

In football, Anderson didn't wrack up the wins although he still wracked up accomplishments. In 1978, he was named first team All-Big Nine at quarterback for an Auburn team that went 3-6. He led the conference with 1,018 yards passing and seven TDs. Most of those passes went to James Reed, who would sign a football scholarship to play for Illinois. Anderson's passing yardage would remain an Auburn record for more than 30 years.

Heavily recruited, Auburn chose Northwestern because they'd let him play both football and basketball. Once he got to Evanston, he gravitated more and more towards football simply because that's where he was getting the most playing time.

Anderson was one of the very rare athletes from the NIC-10 to start as a true freshman for a Power Five conference team. He would go on to record 275 tackles and intercept eight passes during his four years with the Wildcats.

Like Auburn's football team, although Anderson was putting up impressive numbers, wins were hard to come by. Northwestern went 1-10 his freshman year and then 0-11 the next two seasons. Finally, the Wildcats won three games during Anderson's senior year under second-year coach Dennis Green.

Anderson didn't get to enjoy much of it. He was hurt early in the season and when he recovered he was relegated to backup duty. The NFL dreams, which were very real during his sophomore year when he had 113 tackles, four fumble recoveries and four interceptions, disappeared.

Anderson earned his Northwestern degree in economics in 1983 and decided early on to put his trust in himself. Since 1988, he's run B/P Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Inc. in Mount Vernon, N.Y.

No. 63 - Bobby Anderson, Auburn
Year	Level	School	Accomplishments	Points
1977	High School	Auburn	Losing Record	0
1978	High School	Auburn	First Team All-Conference	2
			League Leader (passing yards)	1
1979	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
1980	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			All-Big 10	1
1981	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
1982	College	Northwestern	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
Total				24

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players

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