Arizona Football Top Five All-Time Running Backs

Arizona has been known mainly as a defensive program throughout its history with the ‘Desert Swarm’ defense leaving not only a lasting legacy at UA but in college football history as arguably the greatest run stopping unit of all-time allowing 30.1 yards per game on the ground, which is a mark that hasn’t been reached since the Wildcats achieved it during the 1993 season.

However when you have a great defense a solid ground game is needed to help wear down opponents and keep your star-studded unit off the field. Throughout time, Arizona has had monsters at the running back position making it one of the deepest units in the program’s history.

In Tuesday’s article we broke down the top quarterbacks to ever wear an Arizona jersey. Now, we will be doing the same with the running backs, which has more depth in the group making it a hard decision.

5. Mike Bell (2002-05)

In the early 2000’s there wasn’t a lot to celebrate for Arizona football and you could argue that it was the darkest era in the history of the program was the firing of Dick Tomey, the John Mackovic disaster and Mike Stoops trying to build a program from the ground up. 

However, one of the bright spots of that era was running back Mike Bell, who became a steady force in the backfield for an offense that seemed lost in the desert at times. Bell never eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark but put up 900-plus yards 3-straight seasons.

By the end of his Arizona career, Bell rushed for 3,154 yards, which puts him fifth all-time. And did this averaging 4.6 yards per carry while finding the end zone 18 times in his four-year career.

4. Nick Wilson (2014-17)

Perhaps the most successful freshman season for a running back goes to Nick Wilson, who totaled 1,375 rushing yards while scoring 17 touchdowns as the featured back for a Rich Rodriguez offensive unit.

That season, Wilson was a critical piece in UA’s 10-4 season where the team won the Pac-12 South and finished the year in the Fiesta Bowl.

Unfortunately, Wilson’s career was plagued with injuries and he would never reach the 1,000-plus yard mark again.

Still, Wilson finished with 3,038 rushing yards, which is best for seventh in program history. The impressive part of his career is that he found the end zone 34 times best for second-most among running backs in UA history. 

3. Ontiwaun Carter (1991-94)

When people talk about Arizona running backs the name Ontiwaun Carter just doesn’t come up as much as other names. However, when you look at Carter’s career, he is up there with anyone in the history of the program.

Every single season, Carter improved his rushing yard totals and by the time his senior season rolled around he rushed for a career-high 1,163 yards that year while being the No. 1 option on the roster.

Carter is third all-time in rushing yards with 3,345 yards on754 carries and found the end zone 23 times in his career. Plus, the man stayed on the field playing in 42 games for the Wildcats.

2. Trung Canidate (1996-99)

Originally listed as a receiver, running back Trung Canidate didn’t see the backfield during his freshman season and only played in eight games his sophomore year where he made the switch to the RB spot. In those years, he rushed for 804 yards and scored four touchdowns.

After that, everything opened up for Canidate and he never looked back as he went on to become the program’s all-time leading rusher with 3,626 yards while averaging 6.5 yards per carry.

At the time, Arizona wasn’t known for being an offensive school and Tomey’s system left a lot to be desired. But, when you have a running back like Canidate, who needs to be creative?

Arizona kept things simple and gave it to its workhorse back, who was a rising star in college football during the 1998 season where he helped the Wildcats have their best season in program history going 12-1 with a 23-20 win over powerhouse Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.

To this day, Canidate is the highest drafted running back in program history going to the St. Louis Rams with the No. 31 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

1. Ka’Deem Carey (2011-13)

Every fanbase loves the story of a local kid, who became a legend in the Cities’ university and that’s exactly the story of running back Ka’Deem Carey, who went to CDO High School and picked the Wildcats over ASU on the recruiting trail.

After a solid freshman season where he posted 425 yards, Carey had the two greatest seasons a running back has put together at Arizona. During his sophomore and junior year he totaled 1,929 yards and followed it up with a 1,885 yards season.

Carey wasn’t just a local or UA legend, he was making national headlines and even got close to receiving an invitation to the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Although he never won the Heisman, he was named an All-American twice and won the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year during the 2013 season.

Overall, Carey destroyed the program rushing record with his 4,239 yards and is the all-time rushing touchdown leader as well with 48 TDs on the ground and 52 total in his career.

In the world of college sports we live in today, it wouldn’t be the least shocking if Carey’s program records were broken one day with the way the game has become offensive minded. However right now, I don’t see anyone on the current roster that will come close to those numbers.

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