Next In Line at Running Back U
CORAL GABLES, Fla.- No fan base in the country has been spoiled with great running backs like Canes fans have been over the last 15 years, and it’s not even close. It started with Edgerrin James in late 1990’s and since there’s been Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore – all NFL Pro Bowlers at some point in their careers.
There have been others – guys like James Jackson, Jarrett Payton – that didn’t see much success in the pro’s but were standouts in their own right at the college level. It’s a ridiculous amount of talent in such a short period of time. Now, they’ve got to make room for one more.
Lamar Miller’s performance Saturday night in Miami’s win over Ohio State will go down as one of the more memorable individual performances in recent UM memory. The Miami native carried the ball 26 times for a career-high 184 yards against a defense that prides itself on not letting people reach 100. Saturday night, they couldn’t even do that through the first quarter.
It started with his 54-yard run on Miami’s first play from scrimmage against the Buckeyes and it didn’t stop all night. When it was over, Miller had rushed for more yards than any Miami back since Tyrone Moss ran for 195 yards on North Carolina in 2005.
The 100-yard outing was the fourth of Miller’s young career and the second in as many games. He still has a long way to go to catch up with guys like James (who holds the UM record with 15 career 100-plus yard rushing games), Portis and McGahee, but it is hard to overlook how impressive he has been this early in his career.
Through the first three weeks of the college football season, he ranks fourth nationally in rushing yards per game (151.1) trailing only Marcus Lattimore of South Carolina (178.0), Ronnie Hillman of San Diego State (165.67) and Denard Robinson of Michigan (153.0). He ranks second nationally in all-purpose yardage in the country, as his 213.50 total yards per game trails only North Texas’ Brelan Chancellor (226.67).
He is averaging six yards per carry through the first 13 games of his career. In his first season as UM’s feature back, that average has jumped up to seven yards a rush.
The last Hurricane to rush for 1,000 yards in a season was McGahee in 2002, when the current Denver Bronco ran for a school record 1,753 yards. Expecting Miller to match McGahee’s mark may be too much to ask, or maybe it’s not. While it’s only a two-game sample size, if Miller keeps up his pace he’ll rush for 1,963 yards in a 13-game season or 2,114 if the Canes reach the ACC Championship game.
It may be difficult for him to keep up with his current pace. Or it may not. Miami has played two good teams and Miller has picked up yards with ease. Look ahead to the rest of Miami’s schedule and it’s not farfetched to think he can’t keep up the current pace, at the very least.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Miller is a special back. He has a move-to-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of effect on people. He clearly belongs on this level, on this stage. And while it’s too early to call him the next Edge or Clinton or Willis, it’s certainly time to include him in the discussion.
