Fame Ijeboi has turned missing tacklers into a weekly habit, and the numbers now back up what Purdue has been seeing on the field.
After his latest eruption Saturday night - 195 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries in Purdue’s 41-13 win over Minnesota - Pro Football Focus released a stat that puts the Boilermakers running back in a class of his own. Through six games, Ijeboi leads college football with 45 forced missed tackles.
That total sits ahead of West Virginia’s Cam Cook, who has 42, and a cluster of other names near the top of the list. Pro Football Focus’ rundown also included Florida State’s Ousmane Kromah and Duke’s Nate Sheppard with 38, Florida’s Jadan Baugh with 36, USC’s King Miller with 34, Indiana’s Turbo Richard with 31, and Iowa State’s Aiden Flora with 30. Among Big Ten players, only Miller and Richard landed in the top eight.
Ijeboi has been just as productive in the box score as he has been slippery after contact. He has piled up 549 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 117 carries this season, with two 100-yard games already on the ledger.
One came against Wake Forest, when he finished with 114 yards and three scores. The other was the statement performance against Minnesota.
That outing earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors, the first time in his career he has taken home that recognition.
Purdue head coach Barry Odom has been vocal about wanting a stronger ground game, and this season Ijeboi has given the Boilermakers exactly that. The Minnesota game also carried an extra layer because he was facing his former team, though Ijeboi brushed past that angle. Once he got rolling, offensive coordinator Josh Henson had no interest in taking the ball out of his hands.
"Fame got going, and when a guy gets going the way he was ... my gut, everybody's gut in the stadium, was saying keep giving it to No. 2," Henson said on Monday. "So, that's what we did."
The only real question from Saturday was workload. Thirty-one carries marked the highest total of Ijeboi’s career, and Purdue is obviously not looking to run him into the ground. Still, Henson said the back is built for it.
"You probably don't want to be [at 31 carries] every week, but I think Fame is certainly physically capable of carrying a load of 25 to 30 carries per game," Henson said. "He's built that way. He's a strong kid, and he's got a strong mentality."
Ijeboi gets his next chance to keep defenses off balance on Friday night, when Purdue hosts Washington at Ross-Ade Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET, and FOX will carry the game.
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