/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60097203/6238860552_575f235c2b_o.0.jpg)
In 1968, the median 190-pound NFL player was six feet tall.
Ron Sellers - 6’4, 189 pounds - wouldn’t enter the NFL until 1969.
But he did some things in 1968.
Fresh off All-American honors in 1967, Sellers put his lanky frame - which had earned him the nickname “Jingle Joints” - to work in Bill Peterson’s pass-heavy offense in 1968. At one point, Maryland in an effort simply to contain the superstar triple-teamed him, limiting him to only five catches. But those five catches went for 173 yards - a whopping 34.6 yards per catch - with another pass drawing an interference call.
And that was just the season-opener. Enter the second to last regular season game on the road at Wake Forest.
A 7-catch, 101-yard, 2 touchdown performance is a whale of a game from any receiver.
That was just Seller’s halftime line.
Sellers careened his way against Wake Forest to 260 yards receiving on fourteen receptions and five touchdowns, the latter which remains a single-game school record. The only FSU scores of the game, the touchdown passes came on passes of 26, 5, 48, 28, and 30 yards. The 28-yarder at the time made Sellers the NCAA’s all-time reception yardage record-holder (since eclipsed).
Sellers would finish his career at FSU with 212 receptions for 3,598 yards (an NCAA record at the time) as well as 23 touchdowns. His number 34 is retired, with only Ernie Sims having since worn it and having asked Sellers’ blessing.
He still holds 17 receiving and scoring records at Florida State, including:
- single-season receptions (86)
- single-season receiving yardage (1,496)
- single-game receptions (16)
- single-game receiving yards (270),
- single-game receiving touchdowns (5).