Johnny Majors, (born May 21, 1935) an All-American player with the University of Tennessee and runner up to Paul Hornung for the 1956 Heisman Trophy , was signed by the Alouettes with great fanfare in January 1957. A two-time winner of the Southeastern Conference Most Valuable Player award, in 1955 and 1956, he was the only All-American to not be selected in the NFL draft, reputedly passed over due to his small size and lacklustre performance in a Sugar Bowl upset loss on January 1 1957.
He arrived in Montreal and performed well in the exhibition season, scoring one touchdown. However two games into the regular season he was placed on reserve before returning for two more games later in the season when Joel Wells was injured. Despite his “triple threat” reputation (he was the Volunteers quarterback) his 160 lb size worked against him, and his career was limited to those 4 games in 1957.
He did go on to a very successful coaching career in the US college ranks, winning the national championship with Pittsburgh in 1976 with Tony Dorsett in the backfield. Overall as a coach he was 185–137–10.
[Bio by Wes Cross]
Article on John Majors at the University of Tennesse
| Year | Team | GP | PA | PC | % | Yds | TD | Int | TC | Yds | Avg | Avg | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | MON | 4 | 4 | 2 | 50 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 22 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0 | 12 | 108 | 9 | 0 | 16 |
| Year | Team | KOR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | PR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | MON | 2 | 18 | 9 | 0 | 23 | 7 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
