Tennessee Titans: 15 best running backs in franchise history

• Best season: 1992
• 1,226 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns
• 641 receiving yards, one touchdown reception

I have no idea why it took Lorenzo White so long to take what he did in college at Michigan State and translate it to the NFL, but that 1992 NFL season hit like a freight train.

Easily one of the best seasons from a Titans/Oilers running back in franchise history, White somehow finished fourth in the NFL in yards from scrimmage that year.

Ahead of him were:

• Future Pro Football Hall of Fame running backs Thurman Thomas, who was hitting his stride at 26 years old with the Buffalo Bills.
• Future Pro Football Hall of Famer running backs Emmitt Smith, who also had plenty left in the tank as a spry 23-year-old with the Dallas Cowboys.
• All-Pro running backs Barry Foster, who was surrounded by one of the many great Pittsburgh Steelers teams with two Pro Bowl offensive linemen (including Pro Football Hall of Fame center Dermontti Dawson) and fullback Merril Hoge in front of him.

There is no shame in coming behind that group of players. It wasn’t the first time that White was held back because of elite talent ahead of him. Twice he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in college and twice he lost to future hall of fame level talent.

White lost to Auburn Tigers legend Bo Jackson in 1985 and Notre Dame Fighting Irish phenom Tim Brown in 1987. All three men are College Football Hall of Fame players and Brown also has a gold jacket from his Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders.