Going Camping

Since Jim Brown did so from 1957-61, only one NFL running back has gone for at least 6,000 yards while averaging at least five yards per carry in his first five seasons.

Can you name him? 

Hint - He's a current player. Hint No. 2 - TigerBlog would never have gotten it right. 

In fact, his first two guesses were Earl Campbell and Barry Sanders. Campbell ran for 5,995 yards but only averaged 4.5 per carry. If you're too young to remember the Tyler Rose, as he was known, watch some highlights on YouTube.

As for Sanders, the same applies if you never saw him. Also, in his first five seasons, he ran for 6,789 yards. His average? It was 4.74. 

His next guess was Eric Dickerson (8,256, but again, 4.72).

The correct answer is Nick Chubb, who has 6,341 yards on 1,210 carries, for a 5.2 average, through his first five seasons. TB didn't get it right. He also didn't even realize that Chubb was on the Cleveland Browns. 

TigerBlog saw this in a story on the CBS Sports website that had 50 facts as the NFL opener is 50 days away. Among some of the other more interesting ones are:

* Green Bay has had only Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers as its opening day quarterback every year since 1992.

* Minnesota's Justin Jefferson has 24 games with at least 100 receiving yards in his first three NFL seasons. That's not just the record for three years. Even if he doesn't get another 100-yard game this year, he'll already have the record for four years, which was 23 (by Randy Moss).

* Justin Herbert has 14,089 passing yards, which is the most any QB has ever had in his first three NFL seasons.

Football, of course, is just around the corner. NFL teams are in training camps, or about to be. The first preseason game is one week from Thursday, between the Jets and Browns.

With all due respect to every other American sport, football is still the king. Whether it's college or pro, nothing generates interest, eyeballs and dollars like football.

The first game of the NFL's regular season will be on Sept. 7 between the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions, who 1) have the longest current streak in the NFL of not having not won a playoff game and 2) are the favorite team of Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack. One day the Lions will win the Super Bowl, and TB will have to tell everyone that no, John Mack has not jumped on the bandwagon.

Princeton has five players in NFL camps this summer.

TB shared the highlights of Princeton's 2018 win over Dartmouth that essentially gave the Tigers a perfect season. There are three players from that team who are hoping to be playing again come the 2023 openers.

All three have NFL experience. Two have caught regular-season TD passes. One has a Super Bowl ring. 

Those three would be Stephen Carlson, whose previous NFL experience has been with the Browns but who is in training camp with the Chicago Bears. Carlson is a tight end and a veteran special teams player.

Jesper Horsted, who was a wide receiver at Princeton with Carlson, was formerly on the Bears, and he then spent last season on the Raiders' roster. He's back in camp with Las Vegas this summer. 

John Lovett, the two-time Bushnell Cup winner as a quarterback at Princeton, scored both Tiger touchdowns in that win over Dartmouth in 2018. He went from there to the Chiefs, where he won a Super Bowl ring and then to the Packers, where he was getting regular playing time as a fullback/H-back and special teams player before his time there ended with an injury.

He was on the Dolphins' injured reserve list last year. Now healthy again, he's hoping to make the Dolphins as the do-it-all player he's always been.

In addition, two Princeton alums are now NFL rookies. One of them is Henry Byrd, the offensive lineman, who is in camp with Denver. The other is Andrei Iosivas, a sixth-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals.

There's wall-to-wall NFL coverage all year long. It is really going to ratchet up now that teams are actually practicing and a new season is on the horizon. Keeping up with the five Tigers will be a part of that now.

As for the current Tigers, the team kicks off its season on Sept. 16 at San Diego.