On a sweltering July night in Little Rock, Arkansas, Darren McFadden sat in a hospital waiting room, wondering if not only his season, but his football career was over. According to newspaper reports at the time, McFadden had been involved in a fight outside a local bar at 4:00 AM, and in preventing his car from being stolen, broke his left big toe when he kicked a curb in the melee. It was broken so badly it reportedly was nearly severed. The top surgeon was summoned, inserted a pin across McFadden’s left foot to hold the digits in place.
My wife and I happened to be in Little Rock, about a 2.5 hour drive by I-40 from our home, at a minor league baseball game, when we overheard the two men sitting directly behind us say something about McFadden being injured. As an avid Arkansas Razorback fan, my heart sank a bit, hoping it was just a rumor. Sure enough, in the next morning’s edition of the statewide paper, there it was: the story I hoped was not true. At the time, it was widely assumed that the sophomore running back would miss at least 5 to 6 games, virtually half the season, not good news for a program coming off a 4-7 season, relying heavily on the former Pulaski Oak Grove High School star. The pin wouldn’t even be removed until right before the season started, a month or so away. I hope he learned a lesson, I remember thinking, and I believe he has, but none of us ever dreamed DMac as he is affectionately known in the state, would do anything nearly as spectacular as what he’s done, particularly since he was only healthy about half the season.
In his short time at the University, DMac has already become legendary for his ability to heal quickly, rehab feverishly, and play with pain. On a Saturday night in early September, Labor Day weekend, against long odds, Darren McFadden took the field against the mighty USC Trojans. He only had 42 yards that night, the Hogs were soundly beaten 50-14, but the comeback had begun. There were a couple of games in which Darren didn’t have a lot of carries in blowout wins, but he was steadily getting healthier and regaining his speed and cutting ability. Then came a 27-10 victory over 5th ranked Auburn in Alabama in October and the comeback was complete.
In my opinion, the Doak Walker Award was won in a 3 game stretch in which McFadden had 219 yards rushing against South Carolina, 180 vs. Tennessee, and 187 against the #1 rush defense in college football in LSU, with a so-so game at Mississippi St. in between. The other 3 games were all nationally televised affairs in which McFadden lined up in what is called the “Wildcat” package, taking shotgun snaps as a Quarterback and either running, handing off to back-up Felix Jones, who had over 1,000 yards rushing of his own, or passing. It brought back memories of the old Single Wing to some observers older than I.
I saw McFadden play once in High School, in a playoff game against a local team. the field was extremely muddy, after a week or more of heavy rains. His team, Oak Grove, was outmatched for the most part, some of the linemen were not much bigger than he was. In fact, they had so much trouble getting the ball into DMac’s hands from their wishbone offense, that for most of the 2nd half, DMac played QB. In trying to make up a deficit of 2 or more Touchdowns, McFadden threw a number of incompletions, and maybe an Interception or 2. I’ll never forget, as the final seconds were ticking off the clock and McFadden was trudging off the field in defeat, a local man was getting his jollies by taunting and heckling DMac’s losing Oak Grove team. “You’re no Joseph Medeiros” the man yelled to McFadden, unfavorably comparing him to the local team’s Quarterback. Darren McFadden is a first team All-American, Doak Walker Award winner as the top running back in college football, and a probable 2nd or 3rd place finisher in the Heisman Trophy balloting, probably the frontrunner in 2007. I wonder where Joseph Medeiros, a good High School player, but hardly a major college prospect, is and how that heckler likes Darren McFadden now?
