The countdown to the start of the 2013 season is under way, as Pitt is 87 days away from its Labor Day opener against Florida State at Heinz Field. Panther-Lair.com is counting down the days until the biggest season opener in recent memory.
Today's number is 87, so we're looking at the final year of a former Panther who was given two names at birth but only needed one at Pitt.
Ironhead.
Craig "Ironhead" Heyward was one of the most physically intimidating and flat-out punishing running backs in the history of college football, let alone Pitt history. And while he led the Panthers in rushing in 1984 and 1986 - he was suspended for the 1985 season due to legal issues stemming from an assault charge - his final year, 1987, was his finest and one of the best in Pitt history.
In fact, that's not hyperbole; Heyward's performance as a redshirt junior stands as one of the most productive ever by a Pitt running back. The Passaic (NJ) Native carried the ball 387 times for 1,791 yards and 12 touchdowns. The carries (387) rank as the most in a single season by any player in Pitt history, and the yards (1,791) rank No. 3 on the list of most rushing yards in a season.
Heyward's name is all over the Pitt record books, and most of those mentions come from the 1987 season. His 259 yards against Kent State rank No. 8 on the single-game rushing list (he also set the No. 9 record on that list when he rushed for 254 a year earlier), and he tied Tony Dorsett's record with 12 100-yard rushing games in a single season.
A consensus All-American in 1987, Heyward finished fifth in voting for the Heisman Trophy that year.
Ironhead even made one of the longest receiving plays in Pitt history; his 75-yard reception from John Congemi in 1986 is among the top-20 longest passing plays in school history.
Heyward finished his Pitt career with 3,086 rushing yards, the third-most in school history. He went on to be a first-round pick of the New Orleans Saints in the 1988 NFL Draft, and he played with four other teams throughout the course of his 11-year pro career.
A 260-pound brute, Heyward was built more like a defensive tackle than a running back, but he became one of the most productive backs in Pitt history.
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