The countdown of the top 10 list of players of the decade started out with the honorable mention list and now we are moving to the eighth the best player of the past decade.
# 8 Luke Staley RB BYU (1999-2001)
- 1999 MWC Freshman of the year
- 1999 Sporting News Third Team Freshman All-American
- 2000 All MWC Second Team
- 2001 Doak Walker Award Winner
- 2001 Jim Brown Award Winner
- 2001 First-team All-American honors from the American Football Coaches Association, the Associated Press, CNN/SI, Football News, Football Writers Association, the NFL Draft Report, and the Walter Camp Foundation
- 2001 All MWC First Team
- 2001 MWC Offensive Player of the year
- 2001 Lead NCAA in yards per carry 8.1
- 2001 Lead NCAA in touchdowns with 28
Luke Staley was an amazing back at BYU and had multiple games of five touchdowns in his Senior year. His biggest game was against Utah with BYU trailing Staley made huge runs at the end of the game to pull away. Staley was a machine running the ball and was a beast to be tackled. He only played in 11 games since he injured his ankle in the Mississippi State game and subsequently went forgo his senior year to enter the draft and was a seventh round draft pick by the Detroit Lions.