7. OJ Simpson
We’ve avoided going too far back with the entries on this list because the standard of football began to increase drastically from the 1980s onwards. But we’ve made a high-profile exception in the case of the infamous O.J Simpson. Before he became the center of controversy in the courtroom, he starred on the playing field.

Another player who came very close to winning the Heisman Trophy the year before he actually did, Simpson was brilliant in 1968. The USC Trojans star dragged his team kicking and screaming to the Rose Bowl final where they eventually lost out to Ohio State. Yet he still rushed for 1,880 yards and 232 touchdowns in a record-breaking year.