Darren McFadden

Darren McFadden (born August 27, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL).

McFadden was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on August 27, 1987, to Gralon McFadden and Mini Muhammad.

The tenth of twelve children, he encountered hardships in his early life with some members of his family, including his mother, having addictions to drugs.

He attended Oak Grove High School in North Little Rock, where he was a three-sport star in football, baseball, and track.

He played a variety of positions for his football team, but was primarily used as a running back on offense, and a safety on defense.

In track & field, he competed as a sprinter and was timed at 10.8 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

During his senior season, McFadden was a Parade magazine high school All-American in 2004, as well as the Arkansas High School player of the year for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Following his senior year, he was awarded the prestigious Landers Award, given every year to the top player in the state of Arkansas.

McFadden was ranked the number 23 player in the nation by Rivals.com and the number three athlete, and was given a five star rating, the highest star rating.

He was a highly recruited prospect, and while he garnered interest from many schools around the Deep South including Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn, he chose to end the recruiting process early and attend the University of Arkansas.

McFadden received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas, where he was a standout running back for coach Houston Nutt's Arkansas Razorbacks football team from 2005 to 2007.

McFadden made his Arkansas debut with nine carries for 70 yards and a touchdown in a win over Missouri State in the team's first game.

On October 8, he had 11 carries for 125 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in a win over Louisiana-Monroe.

In the following week, against Auburn, he had 13 carries for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

He had 31 carries for 190 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on the road against Georgia.

McFadden followed the Georgia game with a 32-carry, 187-yard effort against South Carolina.

Two weeks later, against Mississippi State, he had 21 carries for 165 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the victory.

McFadden completed his first pass in a Razorback uniform in the game against LSU, when he completed a pass to Marcus Monk for thirteen yards.

He was an integral part of an Arkansas offense that ended up going 4–7 with close losses to Georgia and LSU.

In 2005, his true freshman season, McFadden rushed for 1,113 yards and 11 touchdowns on 176 attempts.

McFadden ended the season with the most yards a freshman running back had ever gained in an Arkansas uniform, and became only the seventh Southeastern Conference player to rush over 1,000 yards as a freshman.

He was recognized at the end of the season as Southeastern Conference (SEC) Freshman of the Year honors by both the SEC Media as well as SEC coaches.

McFadden also garnered Freshman All-American nods, and was named as Newcomer of the Year for the Southeastern Conference by ESPN.

He continued through spring practice early the next year as the number one running back on the Razorback depth chart, a spot he never relinquished while on campus.

In 2006, despite a slow start to the season due to a dislocated toe from an off the field incident at a night club in Little Rock, McFadden rushed for a school-record 1,647 yards, the fifth best all-time in the SEC for single season yards, scored 14 touchdowns, and threw for three more touchdowns on just nine passing attempts, becoming a first-team All-American.

He had four games on the season going over 180 rushing yards and four games with multiple rushing touchdowns.

McFadden attained a new career high for yards in a single game in his 219-yard performance in a 26–20 win against South Carolina.

On December 6, 2006, McFadden was named one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, along with Troy Smith from Ohio State and Brady Quinn from Notre Dame.

In the final 2006 Heisman vote, McFadden placed second with 878 points, 1,662 points behind Smith (2,540 points) and ahead of Quinn (782 points), in what is considered by many pundits to be one of the biggest Heisman snubs in history.

On December 7, 2006, McFadden became the first sophomore to win the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation's top running back.

He was also the winner of Jim Brown Trophy in 2006.

He was a consensus All-America choice, making the vast majority of teams selected.

He won SEC Offensive Player of the Year.

Thanks to his efforts, Arkansas streaked to ten wins and the SEC Western Division Championship, but lost to Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl on January 1, 2007, and finished with a record of 10 wins and 4 losses.

He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the fourth overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.

He also played three seasons for the Dallas Cowboys.

At Arkansas, McFadden had a decorated career, twice finishing as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy and as a consensus member of the All-American team.

He was highly touted coming out of school, and was picked fourth overall by the Raiders.

McFadden struggled with consistency through his career, only rushing for over 1,000 yards twice and never started all 16 games of a season.

He retired mid-way through the 2017 NFL season, and was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019.