Charles Eugene Webb (born November 17, 1969) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

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)#Offense ...

for two seasons (1991–1992) with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

of the

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(NFL). He was selected by the Packers in the third round of the

1991 NFL draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott Ma ...

. He played college football for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

, earning

All-SEC The All-SEC football team is an annual Southeastern Conference (SEC) honor bestowed on the best players in the conference following every college football season. Seasons Following is a list of all-conference teams in the history of the SEC: * ...

honors in 1989, and setting the school's single-game rushing record of 294 yards in a game against

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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.

Early life

Webb was raised in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. 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, 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

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

. 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 career

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 an American professional football player who was a running back for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, leading t ...

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, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

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

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

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

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, and a 162-yard outing against

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

. 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 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 1985, injuries prev ...

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 running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, 13 as a member of the Dallas Cowboys and 2 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals ...

, 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

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

, 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 in ...

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 Austin Peay (; June 1, 1876 – October 2, 1927) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of Tennessee from 1923 to 1927. He was the state's first governor since the Civil War to win three consecutive terms and the first to die ...

Professional career

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

in the third round of the 1991 NFL draft with the 82nd overall pick. 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. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

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. He played only marginally, however, and retired following the 1992 season.

References

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