20. Buccaneers RB Warrick Dunn – 1997-2001, 2008

By Mark Cook

They said he was too small. Too short. Couldn’t withstand the punishment dished out by NFL linebackers. Many assumed Warrick Dunn’s career would be known for his time as a college star at FSU, and perhaps just a third down back in the NFL if anything.

Fortunately for Bucs fans, that wasn’t the case, and the small-in-stature, but huge-in-heart Dunn, proved the skeptics and critics wrong, and went onto be the third leading rusher in team history, amassing 4,986 yards. Dunn added 19 touchdowns on the gorund as well, along with 306 receptions for another 2,704 yards and nine scores through the air.

Dunn, who’s police officer mother was tragically killed while a senior in high school became both mother and father to his younger siblings and grew up very quickly. Dunn’s tragedy helped him develop into a mature young man at an early age, and in memory of his late mother, began a program where he provided the down payment and furnishings to single mothers for new homes, something that he continues to this day.

Cook’s Take: “Despite the sometimes heated, but mostly friendly Florida-Florida State rivalry, and even the most passionate Gators fans respected and still to this day, respect the person Dunn became. As great as he was on the football field, Dunn is an even better person. I remember the critics who said there was no way the less than 180-pound running back from Louisiana would succeed in the NFL, and admittedly, I had some doubts as well. But as they say, ‘it is hard to hit, what you can’t see.’ That was Dunn. He rarely took a clean shot as he would hide behind his massive offensive lineman and squirt through the hole. He also had a unique knack for going down at the perfect time to minimize the damage from defenders.”