The Best Tight End in Troy History

September 26, 2019 Ben Whitehead

The tight end is a very overlooked position, especially in recent years. (Shout out to current TE A.J. Lewis for scoring a TD against Akron.) With this in mind, it is understandable that the tight end list is going to be much shorter than the rest.

As always, a player has to have won an All-American or All-Conference award and have their name in the Trojan record book to be included. Also, no current players will be included either.

The poll for the tight ends will be listed at the end of the article and links to the results for other positions will be included here:

QB RB

Edit: The original version of this article omitted the inclusion of Sherrill Busby. That has been corrected.

The Players

Doug Taylor (1967-70)

Doug Taylor never gained an All-Conference Selection (or at least one I can find) during Troy’s time in the Alabama Collegiate Conference. That didn’t stop him from having more records than any tight end in Troy history. His play certainly gave Sim Byrd another target after Danny Grant.

Taylor currently ranks second in single-game receptions with a 13 catch game in 1970. In the same game, he set the #5 mark for receiving yards in a game with 204 yards.

Taylor didn’t make an impact in the single-season records, but found plenty of room in the career records. He holds the #11 spot for receptions in a career with 114 and is 18th in Career receiving yards with an exact 1,500. He also ranks 20th in receiving touchdowns with 11 in his career.

Mike Culbertson (1971-74)

Mike Culbertson was a two-time All-Gulf South selection in 1972 and 1973, also known as the entire Tom Jones era. While Culbertson seemed to be a bright spot on the 4-5-1 ’72 squad, he became an all-conference cog in the machine that won Troy their second Gulf South Championship.

Culbertson’s contribution to the Trojan offenses of his day weren’t able to be seen at the game or season level. His ability to augment Jones’ teams was through his consistency.

Culbertson holds four career receiving records. He is 16th in receiving yards with 1,563 and 20th in receptions with 95. Culbertson ranks 17th in receiving touchdowns (12) and 20th in yards per reception totaling 16.45.

Billy Dixon (1975-77)

Billy Dixon seemed to pick up right where Mike Culbertson left off. He earned two All-Gulf South Selections of his own in both 1975 and 1977.

Dixon’s name doesn’t appear in the single-game records, but he is the only tight end to hold a single-season record. He is first in yards per reception with 26.17, a mark he set in 1977.

Dixon also has two marks on the career records list. He is #20 in touchdowns with 11. Dixon’s 1977 yards per reception record helped him to set the #3 best yards per reception mark with 22.22 over his 4 years in Troy.

Sherrill Busby (1937-39)

Sherrill Busby was Troy’s first All-American in school history winning the award in 1939. Busby is also notable for being Troy’s first player in the NFL. He played one year for the Brooklyn Dodgers for one year before retiring to join the military.

Statistics during Busby’s time were not as well kept as they are now, but his name still remains in the very specific category of blocked kicks. Busby has the triple crown of blocked kicks holding the single-game, single-season, and career records.

Busby blocked 4 kicks in a game versus Memphis in 1937. His All-American season in 1939 saw him blocking 11 kicks over the course of the 11 game season. His career saw him set an all-time record at Troy with 23 blocked kicks.