Ranking the Best Oregon Running Backs of All Time

As always, pro stats don't count. Jonathan Stewart and LeGarrette Blount have had the best NFL careers at running back, but here everyone is being ranked based on their performances at Oregon. Even so, when Blount, Barner and Stewart show up at Autzen for a game, they're wearing Super Bowl rings, Blount and Barner three each. Derek Loville won three also, albeit in a reserve role with the 49ers and Broncos.

1. LaMichael James

James redshirted in 2008 and racked up 5,082 yards and 53 rushing touchdowns from 2009-2011. Despite splitting time and carries with Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas, three of the top six seasons in Oregon history belong to the 5-8, 200-pound speedster from Texarkana, Texas. 

The best game of his Oregon career came in 2010 in a 52-31 win over no. 9 Stanford. James rushed for 257 yards on 31 carries with three touchdowns, including a 76-yard run in the fourth quarter that put the game away. 

James was fast and explosive, but he also got tough yards over the middle and at the goal line. A Unanimous All-American in 2010, he was strong and determined and hard to bring down. For his career as a Duck he averaged 6.6 yards a carry and compiled 26 100-yard games.

2. Royce Freeman

Freeman played four full seasons in Eugene, the all-time Oregon career rushing leader with 5,621 yards and a school-record 60 rushing TDs. He also caught 79 passes for 814 yards, four TDs. He also has three of UO's top ten rushing seasons. At 6-0, 238, he was more powerful than LMJ but not quite as top-end explosive. 

His best career game as a Duck came in 2015 in a 45-38 home loss to unranked Washington State. With Jeff Lockie and Taylor Alie splitting time at quarterback Freeman churned out 246 yards on 27 carries with a pair of touchdowns.

He made third-team All-American in 2015 and averaged 5.9 yards a carry for his career.

3. Kenjon Barner

The smooth-running and swift Barner averaged over six yards a carry in all four seasons as a Duck, topping out at 1,767 yards in 2012, the same year he ran for 312 yards and five touchdowns in a wild 62-51 win over USC in the Coliseum. 

Barner was a Consensus All-American in 2012, an integral part of squads in the Chip Kelly era that amassed a 46-7 record over four seasons. He was versatile, too, catching 54 passes out of the backfield for 591 yards and 7 touchdowns, scoring on a 100-yard kickoff return as a freshman against UCLA, and bolting 80 yards on a punt return against Tennessee in 2010. Barner's 21 rushing touchdowns in 2012 tied James for the best mark in school history in that category.

Barner was a slasher and a playmaker on four of the most productive offenses in school history, not quite as explosive as James, not quite as productive as Freeman over a career. But he was a darned good football player and a class act, an all-time fan favorite.

4. Bucky Irving

Here the list veers from the career rushing totals. Mar'Keise "Bucky" Irving played only two seasons as a Duck in 2022 and 2023. He ran for 2,238 in those seasons, 6.5 yards a carry with 20 TDs. 

Irving gets bumped up here because of his toughness and creativity. He shared carries in a running back rotation but still ran for a thousand yards in both years, and it was the way he did it: jump cuts, breaking tackles, second effort. Irving got the most out of every run. The way he ran, there were plays where he could be his own blocker or make yards without one:

5. Jonathan Stewart

J-Stew was a frightening combination of power and speed, among the first big-time national recruits to choose Oregon, a two-time, first team All-American who rushed for 2,891 yards and 27 touchdowns in three seasons. At 5-11, 230 he ran the 60-yard dash in 6.88 seconds, the 40 in 4.48. 

When healthy, the 2007 team that featured Stewart and Dennis Dixon in the backfield will stand as one of the most exciting and fun to watch in Oregon history, a squad that was steamrolling toward the national championship before injuries to both.

6. Derek Loville

Oregon football didn't start with Chip Kelly, or even Mike Bellotti. Derek Loville was one of the best Oregon running backs of the bad old days, before sold out crowds at Autzen and being a fixture in the Top 25. He toiled for Rich Brooks from 1986-1989.

He started all four seasons with the Ducks, and made the Oregon Hall of Fame, setting school records with 3,296 yards rushing, 45 touchdowns and 272. In addition, no Oregon player rushed for more 100-yard games (11) and Loville's 5,223 career all-purpose yards was also unmatched.

All those marks were later surpassed by Freeman and James, but Loville did it in an era where the coaches' offices were in the bowels of Mac Court. Oregon didn't have an indoor practice facility, a $70 million locker room or four-star linemen from Florida, Nevada, Illinois and Arizona.

7. Ahmad Rashad

Known as Bobby Moore in his years at Oregon (he converted to Islam and changed his name in 1972) Rashad paired with Dan Fouts in one of the most entertaining offenses of the pre-Nike era in Eugene. Moore made first team All-American in 1971, three times all-Pac-8. He doubled as a wide receiver and running back. In his final season with the Ducks (1971), he rushed for 1,211 yards, caught 32 passes for 324 yards, and scored 10 touchdowns. He finished his three seasons of college football with 2,036 rushing yards, 131 receptions for 1,565 yards, and 36 touchdowns, all school records at the time.

8. The best of the rest

Rueben Droughns toughest runner, one finished a game against UCLA with a broken leg...Saladin McCullough JC transfer and two-year starter, set UO record with 15 rushing TDs in 1996, 1343 yards in 1997...Mo Morris 1106 and 990 yards rushing in 2000 and 2001. Fans remember him for a 49-yard TD run in the Fiesta Bowl against Colorado, where he rolled over the back of a defender...Mel Renfro Consensus All-American in 1962. Renfro led the Ducks in rushing three straight seasons (1961–63), finishing with a career total 1,540 yards and 23 touchdowns. Renfro also had 41 catches for 644 yards and five TDs. Travis Dye 3,111 rushing yards 2018-2021... CJ Verdell 2,929 yards rushing from 2018-2021...Terrance Whitehead Tough and dependable, 2,832 career rushing yards...Sean Burwell 1990-93, 2,758 rushing yards Dino Philyaw Best barbecue chef in Oregon history. Had 702 yards rushing in the Rose Bowl year of 1994, 24 receptions for 224 yards and four TDs, including a 12-yard screen pass to beat Oregon State...Donnie Reynolds three-starter and all-conference performer in baseball, from Corvallis, Oregon. Averaged 8.1 yards a carry as a sophomore and rushed for 1,002 yards as a junior...Tony Cherry 1006 yards in 1985, averaged a conference-best 6.5 yards a carry in 1984 . Jordan James Flipped to Oregon from Georgia in class of 2022. From Nashville, Tennessee, 2,215 rushing yards as a Duck, 31 TDs... John McKay Legendary college and pro coach played halfback on the 1948 Cotton Bowl team that went 9-1 in the regular season. As a senior Len Casanova had him call the audibles from his halfback position... De'Anthony Thomas Electric open-field runner who accumulated 1,890 rushing yards from 2011-13, averaged 7.8 yards a carry. Five-star prospect from Los Angeles, California. Also had 1,296 yards and 15 touchdowns as a receiver, both a slot and out of the backfield. Four touchdowns as kick returner, including a 94-yard kickoff return at the start of the Fiesta Bowl in 2013.