Greatest Kansas Football Players of All-Time Bracket: Bobby Douglass vs Dylen Smith

(4) Bobby Douglass

Raised in El Dorado, KS, Bobby Douglass played the quarterback position at KU from 1966-68. He was named first team All-Big 8 in 1967 and 1968, and was also first team All-American in 1968, when he led KU to the Orange Bowl.

Douglass was never a great passer, finishing his Kansas career with 20 TD passes vs 20 INTs. However, his 3,832 yards of total offense puts him at 9th in the KU record books, and his overall 39 TDs puts him 5th.

Douglass was taken 41st overall by the Chicago Bears in the 1969 NFL Draft. He sat out most of his rookie year, but started the last game of the season and threw four TD passes - with a broken wrist on his throwing hand. The Bears tried to make him a dropback passer, but eventually gave up and let him run, and run he did. In 1972, he set an NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback, a record that stood until Michael Vick broke it in 2006 (by 71 yards, in 16-game vs 14-game seasons).

In 1975, Douglass was traded to the Chargers, and would bounce around in the league for a few years (Saints, Packers) before retiring following the 1978 season.

Here’s some Bobby Douglass as a Chicago Bear highlights!

Douglass is enshrined in the Ring of Honor in KU’s Memorial Stadium.

(13) Dylen Smith

Smith quarterbacked the Jayhawks from 1999-2000. He came to KU from Santa Monica JUCO in California looking for playing time, and he got it. After only 23 games, Smith currently sits at 8th all-time in both passing yards and TDs at KU. He was able to scramble around as well, adding in 522 rushing yards and 11 TDs on the ground.

Smith gave Terry Allen a playmaker at the QB position, but never was able to get the Jayhawks to a bowl game.

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