The Daily Nole

14 Days Until FSU Football: Lee Corso Snags 14 Career Interceptions

Ross Obley/FSU athletics

There are 14 days left until Florida State football starts the 2018 season. As part of the offseason, we’re highlighting players, games, and specific moments from FSU football history.

On Sunday, it was Ronald Lewis’ 15-yard touchdown reception from Danny McManus on 4th-and-goal to lift FSU to a 31-28 Fiesta Bowl victory over Nebraska to conclude the 1987 season and begin a streak of 14 straight top-5 finishes.

Today, it’s college football legend Lee Corso and his 14 career interceptions at Florida State.

Known during his playing days as the “Sunshine Scooter” for his blazing speed, Lee Corso was one of FSU’s best athletes during the decade of the 1950s. At 5-foot-10 and just 165 pounds, Corso would letter in football and baseball at FSU. Corso even tried his hand at basketball one season. On the 1955-56 FSU basketball roster, Corso is conveniently listed at 6-0 and 175 pounds.

In an era where football players played both offense and defense, Corso was a star for the Seminoles on both. Corso finished with over 2,000 yards of total offense during his career, rushing for nine touchdowns, catching three, throwing six and returning one.

Where Corso made the biggest lasting mark on FSU football during his career that spanned 1953-56, was in the defensive backfield. Corso had at least two interceptions in each of his four seasons, which included a career-high five in 1954.

Lee Corso carries the ball for Florida State in a 1955 loss to Georgia Tech. (Newspaper Archive Photo)

Corso earned All-American honorable mention honors in 1956 and left Florida State with a then school-record 14 interceptions. That record would last for nearly a quarter century until safety Monk Bonasorte ultimately surpassed it in 1980. That mark remains third in school-history behind only Terrell Buckley and the aforementioned Bonasorte.

A 1978 inductee into the FSU Hall of Fame, Corso spent 25 years in coaching, which began as a graduate assistant at FSU in 1958. Corso would spend 14 years as a head coach at the college level with Louisville, Indiana and Northern Illinois before a 1-year stint in the USFL.

For more than 25 years, Corso has been a college football analyst for ESPN, made famous for his headgear predictions at the end of College Gameday on Saturday mornings in the fall. Corso has appeared in movies, video games and commercials. But make no mistake about it — back in his day, he was some football player.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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