IOWA CITY, Iowa – We will never see another Bob Sanders for lots of reasons, not the least of which was his greatness.

In less than a decade, Sanders went from being a mostly unknown and undersized high school defensive back to a player worthy of NFL Hall of Fame consideration.

His improbable rise to stardom took a significant step when Sanders picked a scholarship offer from Iowa over his only other scholarship offer, which came from Ohio University.

His decision didn’t get much attention at the time because Sanders was considered a marginal recruit and because Iowa was coming off a 1-10 season in Kirk Ferentz’s first season as head coach.

That would soon change, though.

From the moment he stepped on campus in the summer of 2000, Sanders showed signs that he was special.

And that was even before he put pads on.

Once in uniform and told what to do, Sanders became an unstoppable force at strong safety.

The Erie, Pa., native earned All-America accolades at Iowa and was named the Associated Press 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year with the Indianapolis Colts.

His career was derailed by injuries and his body ultimately succumbed to the game’s violence and physicality as Sanders retired after the 2011 season.

He was sort of like a meteor zipping through the sky in that you watched in amazement until he was gone, but not forgotten.

We were reminded of Sanders’ greatness on Wednesday when it was announced that he had been nominated for the NFL Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Sanders already was a legend before he ever played in an NFL game.

It is no coincidence that his rise to stardom coincided with Iowa’s rise to national prominence as a team.

Sanders played the game at a tempo and with a level of ferocity that few could match.

He sacrificed his body over and over by making bone-jarring tackles in which you often wondered if the person carrying the football would get up.

Sanders didn’t just help rebuild the Iowa program under Ferentz, he led the massive project by setting the tone in practice and in games.

The timing was right when Sanders joined the Iowa program. The Hawkeyes desperately needed an infusion of talent and toughness, and it got both in large quantities with Sanders, who barely stood 5-foot-9 and weighed about 200 pounds.

He also arrived before the concern over head injuries became a national story. The new rules have changed the way the game is played compared to a decade ago.

Sanders’ ferocious playing style probably wouldn’t be as popular in this time of heightened awareness about head injuries because many of his teeth-rattling tackles might qualify as targeting under today’s strict rules.

Sanders wasn’t a dirty player by any means. He just had a gift for delivering hits that made you cringe.

He was feared by receivers as much as they respected him.

Even his own teammates feared Sanders because there was nothing fun about crossing paths with him in practice.
He only knew how to play football at one speed, and that was full-steam ahead.

Ferentz often refers to players like Sanders as stories. A story to Ferentz is somebody who comes from relative obscurity and then achieves stardom.

Sanders came on a recommendation from Ferentz’s close friend and mentor, the late Joe Moore, who saw something special in the pint-sized bone crusher.

You could make a strong case that Sanders is the greatest story to unfold under Ferentz at Iowa, slightly ahead of Dallas Clark and Brad Banks.

The NFL Hall of Fame putting Sanders on its 2017 ballot is further testimony to that.