NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ralph Webb isn’t the only name in the Vanderbilt football record book, but let’s just say the story it tells wouldn’t be the same without one of its favorite recurring characters.
The school’s all-time leading rusher, Webb smashed the previous mark by more than 1,000 yards—a wider margin than separated second from eighth. He rushed for more yards than any freshman, sophomore or junior. He also holds the single-season record with 1,283 rushing yards in 2016 and ranks fourth on the same list with 1,152 yards in 2015.
You know you did something right on the field when you keep company with Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker in the SEC record book, and the former Georgia standout is the only player in conference history who amassed more rushing attempts than Webb.
The postal service wishes its ground delivery was as efficient.
He went on to spend time with the NFL’s New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And in 2024, the SEC Network recognized Webb as one of the preeminent football conference’s top 10 running backs of the previous decade.
Not a bad return for someone who was under-recruited out of high school—despite earning all-state honors in the prep football hotbed of Florida and excelling in track and field.
“I’ve been underrated my whole life,” Webb said during his time at Vanderbilt, “So I use it as motivation to rise up, prove everyone wrong, and be the best I can be.”
Being the best he could possibly be is perhaps his greatest Vanderbilt legacy. Webb didn’t just run his way into the record book. He didn’t just torment the team from Knoxville, although Commodore Nation enjoyed his tendency to run through and around the Vols.
More than four yards at a time (his yards per carry another entry in the record book), he turned his SEC opportunity into the opportunity of a lifetime. Where will 4,137 yards take you? In Webb’s case, to lifelong connections, a Vanderbilt degree and more. Those yards even took him across the Pacific Ocean. While an undergraduate, he was one of 12 Vanderbilt students who traveled to Australia to study the diverse ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest.
“It’s different between learning it in a book and actually being there,” Webb said of his first overseas trip. “It’s a great hand-on experience, and I’ll carry that with me for the rest of my life.”
When Webb talks about carrying something, it’s best to pay attention.
And where was he when he learned of his impending Hall of Fame enshrinement? Celebrating his 30th birthday in Cape Town, South Africa.
When you run like Webb, the whole world opens up in front of you.
