Jimbo Fisher has been away from coaching for nearly two years, but one name still jumps out when he talks about college football greats: Darren McFadden.
During a recent ACC Network appearance, the former Texas A&M coach lit up while remembering the former Arkansas running back, calling him a player who belonged in the conversation with anyone Fisher ever faced.
“A guy that never gets talked about, I think in college, who was as good as anybody I [coached against] was Darren McFadden,” Fisher told the ACC Network. “I'm gonna tell you one thing, I'm going back to when I was an offensive coordinator at LSU. Let me tell you something now, in college football, if you ever go back and watch him in Arkansas, he took Arkansas to limits.”
Fisher’s memories go back to his LSU days, when McFadden was terrorizing the SEC and turning Arkansas into must-watch football. By his sophomore season, McFadden had helped the Razorbacks put together their only 10-game winning streak since joining the SEC in 1992, while pushing the program into the mix for the SEC Championship and a spot in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game.
His college résumé is the kind that still stops people in their tracks. McFadden is one of only two players in Heisman Trophy history to finish runner-up for the award. In three seasons, he piled up 4,590 rushing yards to become Arkansas’ all-time leading rusher, set the school’s single-game rushing record with 321 yards and helped establish the NCAA record for combined rushing yards by teammates alongside Felix Jones.
What made McFadden so hard to pin down was the full package. He could hammer defenses between the tackles, bounce runs outside and outrun pursuit, or make people miss in space. Arkansas used him everywhere, and he delivered everywhere.
No. 5 in red wasn’t just a runner, either. He lined up at quarterback in Gus Malzahn’s “The Wildcat,” a package designed to get the ball in the hands of the team’s best player as often as possible. McFadden completed 14-of-22 passes for 205 yards, seven touchdowns and only one interception.
He also impacted games on special teams, averaging nearly 25 yards per kickoff return for 926 yards and one touchdown. And when Arkansas wanted him as a receiver, he answered there too, finishing with 45 catches for 365 yards and two more scores.
“He was 225 or 230 pounds. He could run by you.
He could run over you. He could make you miss.
He could flank out of receiver, and he could run and make play. But then they put him at quarterback,” Fisher said.
“If you remember, they were doing "The Wildcat." He was throwing it.
He could throw it 60 dadgum yards.
“People don't ever talk. I don't hear people mention him as much, but I know on the other side, as an offensive guy, every time he did something, I just I wanted to watch.”
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