Charles Eugene Webb (born November 17, 1969) is a former American football

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who played two seasons (1991–1992) for the

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of the

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. He was drafted by the Packers in the third round of the

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. He played college football for

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, where he was All- SEC in 1989, and set the school's single-game rushing record of 294 yards in a game against Ole Miss on November 18, 1989. During the second game of Tennessee's 1990 season, Webb suffered a season-ending knee injury from which he never completely recovered.

High school

Webb was raised in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. At age 10, he suffered a broken leg, and was told by doctors at the time that a future in sports was unlikely.Chuck Webb: The Best
" ''Toledo Blade'', January 7, 1990. He recovered, however, and was a three-year starter at tailback for Toledo's Macomber High School.Tennessee Signees
," ''1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide'', p. 85. During his junior year, he rushed for nearly 1,800 yards, and was named "Ohio Back of the Year." In the championship game against Waite, Webb carried 24 times for 311 yards, and twice scored on runs longer than 95 yards. He also ran

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

, and won the state championship in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.5 seconds. Webb entered his senior year at Macomber a preseason All-American. In spite of playing part of the season with a broken hand, he rushed for 1,590 yards, averaging 10.7 yards per carry. He rushed 13 times for 275 yards in a game against DeVilbiss, and carried 13 times for 268 yards and three touchdowns in just one half against Woodward. In an important game against Central Catholic, Webb rushed for 213 yards on just 12 carries, and scored touchdowns on runs of 56 yards, 76 yards, and 15 yards, the latter pulling Macomber to within a point with just a few seconds left in the fourth quarter (a subsequent two-point conversion attempt failed). He was named an All-American by ''

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'' and several other publications at the end of the season. Webb's speed (4.3 seconds in the 40-yard dash) and his phenomenal game stats made him one of the top 25 prospects in the nation. He surprisingly chose Tennessee over regional schools

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and

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. He stated in an interview that he preferred the run-oriented offense of Tennessee head coach

Johnny Majors John Terrill Majors (May 21, 1935June 3, 2020) was an American professional football player and college coach. A standout halfback at the University of Tennessee, he was an All-American in 1956 and a two-time winner of the Southeastern Confe ...

College

Webb

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during the 1988 season at Tennessee as star running back

Reggie Cobb Reginald John Cobb (July 7, 1968 – April 20, 2019) was a professional American football running back who played seven seasons in the National Football League. A second-round selection in the 1990 NFL Draft, he initially played for the Tampa Ba ...

handled the bulk of the rushing duties. Following a disastrous start to the season, Tennessee's young offensive line began to gel, and the Vols finished the year with five consecutive wins. With Cobb suspended during spring practice in 1989, Webb carried 11 times for 83 yards in the Orange and White Game.Tennessee Squad
" ''1989 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide'', p. 82. Webb entered the 1989 season as a backup to Cobb. The two talented backs formed a powerful running combination that became known as "the Cobb-Webb connection".Matt Dixon,
Cobb Still 'Fond' of UT, Hometown
," ''The Daily Beacon'', September 9, 2011. Retrieved: October 5, 2013. Playing behind Cobb, Webb rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns in a win over

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, picked up 93 yards and a touchdown in a key win over

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, and ran for 83 yards and a touchdown in a win over

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. After Cobb was kicked off the team for failing a drug test, Webb became the starter. He carried 23 times for 111 yards and a touchdown in a losing effort to

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before reeling off a string of impressive games, including a 132-yard outing against

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and a 162-yard outing against

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. In the Vols' win over Ole Miss, Webb rushed 35 times for 294 yards, breaking the single-game rushing record of 248 yards set by

Johnnie Jones Johnnie Henry Jones (born June 30, 1962) is an American former professional gridiron football, football player who was a running back for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Though drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in ...

in 1983. He finished his regular season with 27 carries for 145 yards against

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(he missed the regular season finale against Vanderbilt with an injury).Tennessee Squad
" ''1990 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide'', p. 89. In Tennessee's win over

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in the 1990 Cotton Bowl, Webb exploded for 250 yards and two touchdowns, including a 78-yard score in the third quarter, to win "Offensive Player of the Game" honors.Tennessee Football Records
," UTSports.com, 2012. Accessed: September 5, 2014. Though he started just five games, Webb finished the regular season with 1,236 yards, the second-highest total in the SEC behind

Emmitt Smith Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. Among other accolades, he is the lea ...

, and the eighth-highest in the nation. Entering the 1990 season as one of the nation's premier running backs, Webb carried 27 times for 131 yards in Tennessee's season-opening tie against

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. During the second game of the season against

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, Webb suffered a

torn ACL An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

early in the first quarter, effectively ending his season. Rather than risk further injury, Webb opted to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter the

. As of the 2012 season, Webb's 294-yard outing against Ole Miss in 1989 remains the highest single-game total in school history, and his 250-yard tally in the 1990 Cotton Bowl remains the school's second-highest single-game total. His average of 5.91 yards-per-carry in 1989 remains a school single-season record for running backs with a minimum of 200 carries. In 2013, Webb was honored as a Vol "Legend of the Game" during Tennessee's season-opener against Austin Peay.Tennessee vs. Austin Peay Postgame Notes
" UTSports.com, August 31, 2013.

NFL

Undergoing surgery to repair his right knee, Webb was selected by the

in the third round of the draft. His knee continued bothering him during training camp, however, and he again underwent surgery to repair torn

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck an ...

in the knee. He spent the first part of his rookie year on injured reserve, and wasn't activated until the Packers' game against

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in November.Tom Silverstein,
Webb Will Debut for Packers Sunday
" ''Milwaukee Sentinel'', November 16, 1991. He played only marginally, however, and retired following the 1992 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Chuck Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio Green Bay Packers players Players of American football from Ohio American football fullbacks Tennessee Volunteers football players 1969 births Living people