Top dozen running backs in Nevada Wolf Pack history

Otto Kelly (No. 31, pictured far right) was one half of one of the great running back tandems in history with Anthony Corley. That's Corley, pictured far left, No. 30. Kelly is still 12th in Wolf Pack history with 2,284 yards. He was third behind Frank Hawkins and Corley when he left the Pack and was seventh until the pistol offense started churning out 1,000-yard backs in 2005. Kelly, who was from Basic High in Las Vegas, had just one 1,000-yard season when he gained 1,090 in 1983. Corley also had 1,006 yards that very same season, giving the Packs its first pair of 1,000-yard backs in the same season. Kelly's best day took place in 1983 when he gouged Idaho for 252 yards on the road in a key Big Sky Conference game. Kelly would finish his Pack career with 11 100-yard games with seven of them coming his senior year in 1983.   Lucius Floyd (pictured right, No. 31), who played the bulk of his Pack career with Charvez Foger, didn't get a lot of opportunities in a Wolf Pack uniform. But when he did get the ball, he put his stamp on Wolf Pack history. Floyd, who was from Valley High in Las Vegas, turned in the greatest single performance by a Wolf Pack running back at the time when he ran for a school-record 305 yards and four touchdowns at Montana State in a 61-10 Pack win in 1986. It was the first time Floyd went over 100 yards in a game, let alone 200 or 300. He would go on to have three more 100-plus yard games in his Pack career, playing with Foger, who was a workhorse. Floyd's 305-yard day was the Pack record until Chance Kretschmer went for 327 in 2001 against UIEP. Floyd's best year was 1986 when he ran for 1,066 yards. He went for 134 yards against Idaho and 131 against Eastern Washington in back-to-back weeks in October that season. He also had 99 yards and a touchdown in a Division I-AA playoff win over Idaho later in 1986. After leaving Nevada and getting out of Foger's shadow, Floyd had one of the best professional careers by any Pack back, playing for six years in the Canadian Football League and winning the Grey Cup with Edmonton in 1993.B.J. Mitchell was the first great pistol back. It was Mitchell (with help from running back Robert Hubbard and quarterback Jeff Rowe) that made sure the pistol offense succeeded in its first season in 2005 and lived to terrorize opposing defenses another year. Mitchell bided his time his first three seasons (2002-04) at Nevada, playing behind starters Chance Kretschmer and Matt Milton before becoming one of the greatest backs in school history as a senior. Mitchell, operating out of the new pistol offense, ran for 1,399 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2005. Mitchell, who went from 232 yards as a freshman, 314 as a sophomore, 450 as a junior to 1,399 as a senior, is the 11th all-time leading rusher in Pack history with 2,395 yards. His 25 rushing touchdowns are ninth and his 26 total scores are 11th. His career ended on a high note with 178 yards and two touchdowns in the Pack's 49-48 Hawaii Bowl win over Central Florida in 2005. Mitchell had seven 100-yard games in 2005 (and in his career) with a high of 193 against New Mexico State.View the list »
It is a testament to John Vicari's toughness, determination and grit that he is even on this list. Vicari (pictured far left, No. 21) had to fight for every carry he got at Nevada, playing behind Frank Hawkins most of his Wolf Pack career. That's Hawkins, by the way, pictured at the far right (No. 27) in the photo. Vicari played 1978-81 with the Pack and is the ninth leading rusher in Wolf Pack history with 2,539 yards. And he did it the hard way, never gaining as many as 1,000 yards in a season. Vicari, though, had his shining moments and was the perfect complement to Hawkins. His ran for 130 yards on just 10 carries his freshman year against South Dakota. His sophomore year he had 100 yards three times. His junior year he had 127 against Northern Arizona and his senior year he topped the century mark four times. His best game was 166 yards against Weber State his senior year in 1981. Vicari, who averaged 4.7 yards a carry for his career, had nine 100-yard games playing with great Pack backs such as Hawkins, Stanley Wilson, Anthony Corley and Otto Kelly.

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The Nevada Wolf Pack football program has been blessed with many outstanding running backs.

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One is in the College Football Hall of Fame, two of them led the nation in rushing and another finished second, one played in a Super Bowl, two were part of the greatest rushing backfield in NCAA history and another owns the NCAA record for touchdowns scored in a game.

A total of 15 different Wolf Pack running backs have turned in 26 seasons of 1,000 yards or more with all of them taking place since 1977.

There's been a Stefph, a Kretch, a Hawk, a Lip, a Vic, a B.J., a Lem, a Corley, an Otto and a Minor, not to mention a Floyd, Foger and Ferguson.

The list is so exclusive that two guys who each scored five touchdowns in a game (Johnny Gordon in 1984 and Mike Ball in 2009) and one (Ray Whalen) who carried the ball 44 times in one of the most important victories in school history (the I-AA semifinals against Boise State in 1990) can't even crack the Top 12.

A look at the Top Dozen running backs in Nevada Wolf Pack history . . .

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  • It is a testament to John Vicari's toughness, determination and grit that he is even on this list. Vicari (pictured far left, No. 21) had to fight for every carry he got at Nevada, playing behind Frank Hawkins most of his Wolf Pack career. That's Hawkins, by the way, pictured at the far right (No. 27) in the photo. Vicari played 1978-81 with the Pack and is the ninth leading rusher in Wolf Pack history with 2,539 yards. And he did it the hard way, never gaining as many as 1,000 yards in a season. Vicari, though, had his shining moments and was the perfect complement to Hawkins. His ran for 130 yards on just 10 carries his freshman year against South Dakota. His sophomore year he had 100 yards three times. His junior year he had 127 against Northern Arizona and his senior year he topped the century mark four times. His best game was 166 yards against Weber State his senior year in 1981. Vicari, who averaged 4.7 yards a carry for his career, had nine 100-yard games playing with great Pack backs such as Hawkins, Stanley Wilson, Anthony Corley and Otto Kelly.
  • B.J. Mitchell was the first great pistol back. It was Mitchell (with help from running back Robert Hubbard and quarterback Jeff Rowe) that made sure the pistol offense succeeded in its first season in 2005 and lived to terrorize opposing defenses another year. Mitchell bided his time his first three seasons (2002-04) at Nevada, playing behind starters Chance Kretschmer and Matt Milton before becoming one of the greatest backs in school history as a senior. Mitchell, operating out of the new pistol offense, ran for 1,399 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2005. Mitchell, who went from 232 yards as a freshman, 314 as a sophomore, 450 as a junior to 1,399 as a senior, is the 11th all-time leading rusher in Pack history with 2,395 yards. His 25 rushing touchdowns are ninth and his 26 total scores are 11th. His career ended on a high note with 178 yards and two touchdowns in the Pack's 49-48 Hawaii Bowl win over Central Florida in 2005. Mitchell had seven 100-yard games in 2005 (and in his career) with a high of 193 against New Mexico State.
  • Lucius Floyd (pictured right, No. 31), who played the bulk of his Pack career with Charvez Foger, didn't get a lot of opportunities in a Wolf Pack uniform. But when he did get the ball, he put his stamp on Wolf Pack history. Floyd, who was from Valley High in Las Vegas, turned in the greatest single performance by a Wolf Pack running back at the time when he ran for a school-record 305 yards and four touchdowns at Montana State in a 61-10 Pack win in 1986. It was the first time Floyd went over 100 yards in a game, let alone 200 or 300. He would go on to have three more 100-plus yard games in his Pack career, playing with Foger, who was a workhorse. Floyd's 305-yard day was the Pack record until Chance Kretschmer went for 327 in 2001 against UIEP. Floyd's best year was 1986 when he ran for 1,066 yards. He went for 134 yards against Idaho and 131 against Eastern Washington in back-to-back weeks in October that season. He also had 99 yards and a touchdown in a Division I-AA playoff win over Idaho later in 1986. After leaving Nevada and getting out of Foger's shadow, Floyd had one of the best professional careers by any Pack back, playing for six years in the Canadian Football League and winning the Grey Cup with Edmonton in 1993.
  • Otto Kelly (No. 31, pictured far right) was one half of one of the great running back tandems in history with Anthony Corley. That's Corley, pictured far left, No. 30. Kelly is still 12th in Wolf Pack history with 2,284 yards. He was third behind Frank Hawkins and Corley when he left the Pack and was seventh until the pistol offense started churning out 1,000-yard backs in 2005. Kelly, who was from Basic High in Las Vegas, had just one 1,000-yard season when he gained 1,090 in 1983. Corley also had 1,006 yards that very same season, giving the Packs its first pair of 1,000-yard backs in the same season. Kelly's best day took place in 1983 when he gouged Idaho for 252 yards on the road in a key Big Sky Conference game. Kelly would finish his Pack career with 11 100-yard games with seven of them coming his senior year in 1983.   
  • Anthony Corley's (pictured second from left, No. 30) only mistake was playing at Nevada in the golden age of running backs. He had to share the spotlight with great backs such as John Vicari, Otto Kelly and Frank Hawkins during his Pack career. Corley, though, still made the most of the carries he got and finished as one of the greatest backs in school history. Corley, who played at Nevada from 1980-83, was half of one of the Pack's greatest running back duos in history along with Kelly. He is still eighth in school history with 2,677 rushing yards and was second behind Hawkins when his Pack career ended. Corley, who averaged 4.8 yards per carry in his career, had a dozen 100-yard games, with 11 of them coming in his junior and senior years. His greatest moment was when he rushed for 274 yards at Weber State in 1982 in a frustrating 46-43 loss in triple overtime. He also had 189 yards on 40 grueling carries against Pacific in 1983, just one day short of the one-year anniversary of his 274-yard game.
  • Luke Lippincott battled through numerous injuries to become one of the greatest Wolf Pack running backs in school history. Lippincott spent six seasons at Nevada but really only played in three. He red-shirted in 2004, missed the entire 2005 season because of an injury and missed all but two games in 2008 with an injury. The 6-foot-2 Lippincott came to the Pack as a safety and by the end of his career he was even playing a little tight end. Along the way, though, he found enough carries to finish as one of just six running backs in school history with 3,000 or more yards (3,014). And he had to average 5.9 yards a carry in his career to do it. Lippincott, part of the only backfield (with Colin Kaepernick and Vai Taua) in NCAA history to have three 1,000-yard rushers (2009), was as tough a running back as the Pack ever had. He had 1,420 yards in 2007 and added 1,034 in 2009, averaging 7.7 yards a carry. Lippincott had 16 100-yard games including one brilliant performance when he ran for 241 yards on 36 carries against Utah State in 2007. His 34 rushing touchdowns are the seventh most in school history.
  • Stefphon Jefferson would be higher on this list but he was the Pack's featured back in just one season (2012). But that one season just happens to be the greatest season ever for a Wolf Pack back. Jefferson ran for a school record 1,883 yards and 24 rushing touchdowns. He also added a touchdown on a pass reception to give him a school-record 25 touchdowns. He also turned in one of the greatest games in college football history when he tied the NCAA record by scoring seven touchdowns against Hawaii. Jefferson had 247 yards against Northwestern State and turned in 100 100-yard games in 2012 to finish with 12 for his career. Jefferson also had 327 yards and five touchdowns against two Pac-12 schools (Cal , Arizona) in 2012. He finished his career as the Pack's 10th all-time leading rusher with 2,338 yards.
  • Few players in NCAA history burst into college football with a bigger splash than Chance Kretschmer. Coming from tiny Tonopah, Nev., Kretschmer led the nation in rushing as a freshman with 1,732 yards in 2001. He saved his best for last that season, running for a school-record 327 yards against UTEP on a school-record 45 carries in the final game of the year. Kretschmer had eight games of 100 or more yards in 2001. But, unlike Jefferson, his career was far more than just one brilliant season. After suffering a season-ending injury in the second game of the 2002 season, Kretschmer returned for two more productive seasons in 2003 and 2004 and was the Pack's last great back before the invention of the pistol offense. Kretschmer, who ran for 1,162 yards in 2003, finished his career as the sixth all-time leading rusher in school history with 3,782 career yards. His 35 rushing touchdowns are also sixth. He is also just one of two running backs in Pack history with more than one 200-yard game. Frank Hawkins had five and Kretschmer had two (327 against UTEP and 242 against Louisiana Tech, both in 2001).
  • Chris Lemon was truly one of the best running backs in all of college football in the decade of the 1990s. The 5-foot-10 Lemon finished his Wolf Pack career (1996-99) with 4,246 yards, which are the fourth most in school history. His 53 rushing touchdowns were a Wolf Pack record until Colin Kaepernick broke it a decade later and his 56 total touchdowns were the second most in school history. Lemon also holds the Big West Conference records for rushing touchdowns and career touchdowns and is second in the conference's all-time rushing list with 4,246 yards. Lemon also had 26 games of 100 or more yards, which is second in Pack history (Frank Hawkins had 28). Lemon was a model of consistency, running for at least 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns his final three seasons. He also ran for 867 yards and eight scores as a freshman despite starting just three games. He is one of just four players in school history with three 1,000-yard rushing seasons along with Hawkins, Kaepernick and Vai Taua. Lemon's best day was a 190-yard effort against UNLV on a grueling 44 carries in 1998.
  • Charvez Foger (pictured No. 32, second from left) ran hard, ran often and ran straight into the Wolf Pack record book from 1985-88. Foger had two 1,000-yard seasons, three years apart, with 1,241 yards in 1985 and 1,287 yards in 1988. When he left the Pack he was second in career yards with 4,484, second in carries with 866 and first in rushing touchdowns with 52 and first in total touchdowns with 60. He is now third in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns but is still first with 60 touchdowns with Colin Kaepernick. Foger also had 26 games of 100 or more yards and is the only player in school history along with Chris Lemon with at least four 100-yard games in four different years. Foger finished his Wolf Pack career with a bang, rushing for 206 yards on 43 carries against Idaho State in the final game of his career. Foger had 14 rushing touchdowns in both 1985 and 1986. His 18 total touchdowns in 1985 was a school record until it was surpassed by Chris Lemon in 1997 (19).   
  • Only one player in Nevada Wolf Pack history has rushed for more yards than Vai Taua. Taua ran for 4,588 yards from 2007-10 and is second in Pack history behind Frank Hawkins (5,333). Taua did it all for the Pack, scoring 53 career touchdowns (45 rushing) and turning in three 1,000-yard seasons. He had 1,521 yards in 2008, 1,345 in 2009 and 1,610 in 2010. Hawkins and Taua are the only players in Pack history with three seasons of at least 1,300 yards. Taua's most productive game was his 263-yard effort against Fresno state in 2008. But he also had 196 yards against San Jose State in 2010 and 188 twice, against New Mexico State in 2008 and against UNLV in 2010. Taua finished with 25 100-yard games. He was also part of the first backfield in NCAA history in 2009 with three players with at least 1,000 yards rushing. Taua is second in rushing yards in school history but he's just fifth in attempts. He averaged an eye-opening 6.5 yards a carry during his career, which is better than any running back in Nevada history with 2,000 or more career yards.
  • Frank Hawkins remains the best running back in Nevada Wolf Pack history. The Hawk ran for a school-record 5,333 yards and led the nation (Division I-AA) in rushing his final three seasons (1978-80). Hawkins is still the only Pack player in history with three seasons of 1,400 or more rushing yards. Hawkins, who went on to play in the NFL for seven seasons and played in a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders, also ran for a school-record 28 100-yard rushing games. Just 5-foot-9 out of Western High in Las Vegas, Hawkins also ran for a NCAA-record (Division I-AA) 100 or more yards in 11 consecutive games. Hawkins is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and was a three-time All American at Nevada. Hawkins' 1,719 yards in 1980 was the Pack single-season school record until it was broken by Chance Kretschmer in 2001 (1,732 yards) and Stefphon Jefferson in 2012 (1,883). Hawkins' 39 rushing touchdowns and 44 total touchdowns were also Pack records when his career ended in 1980.
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, Nevada Wolf Pack Examiner

Joe Santoro is an award-winning sportswriter with over three decades of experience. Joe is the dean of Northern Nevada sports reporters and has covered University of Nevada Wolf Pack sports as a beat reporter and columnist for more than two decades. His "Friday Fodder" column is the longest...

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