30 best college football running backs of the 21st century

3. Darren McFadden – Arkansas 2005-07

Arkansas is not one of the programs most would guess would make it this high on the list. Traditional rushing powerhouses like Alabama, Oklahoma and Wisconsin make it high on these lists. But Arkansas? Darren McFadden was truly special in that way.

Before going game by game or even season by season, just look at his accolades. Again, this is all playing for the Arkansas Razorbacks. He was a two-time Heisman finalist. He won the SEC Offensive Player of the year twice. Three people have won the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the nation twice. McFadden is one of those players. He was named an All-American twice and made the All-SEC team in all three of his seasons. The Walter Camp Award is given to the country’s best overall player and he took that home in 2007.

He had 14 touchdowns in his sophomore year and 16 touchdowns in his junior year. Those two dominant years, he combined for 3,477 yards. Arkansas’ season wasn’t great in 2007 despite McFadden running all over everyone, but they got the biggest win in recent school history. They went into their final SEC game of the season against the top team in the country in LSU. They were huge underdogs, but thanks to a 206 yard, three-touchdown performance, they beat LSU in triple overtime.

McFadden still holds virtually all of Arkansas’ records and they likely won’t get touched for a while. The Arkansas native decided to go home to go to school and he dominated. It’s rare for smaller schools like Arkansas, but they have the claim to fame of having one of the best running backs in modern college football history.