If you want to set the bar high for a running back at any level of football to have a historic season, you throw out the number 2,000.
2,000 yards rushing in a year is the high-water mark, set by a handful of players over the decades. Tennessee Titans RB Derrick Henry did it just last season, and Adrian Peterson accomplished the feat back in 2012.
While there have been only eight players to cross that barrier in the NFL, the feat is a bit more achievable at the college ranks, with 26 players doing it, five of whom came in the past 10 years, most recently Christian McCaffrey in 2015.
So is there a chance that we could see this stat reached by a certain player in Eugene this season? Well, if you ask junior RB CJ Verdell, it is definitely the goal.
“A goal I set for myself is definitely 2,000 rushing yards. I feel like I can get it. My coaches feel like I can get it. It’s up to me,” Verdell said, via Duck Territory’s Erik Skopil.
Verdell is currently 9th on Oregon’s all-time rushing list, with two seasons where he’s totaled more than 1,000 yards. He would need to break a school record to accomplish the feat, which is currently held by Royce Freeman, who ran for 1,836 yards in 2015.
Not only may Oregon have one of the best running back tandems in the nation this year, but they could be home to another history maker if all breaks the right way. For Verdell, who is likely to be playing his last season with the Ducks, there is maybe no better way to go out.
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