NCAA Division I FBS rushing leaders

The NCAA Division I FBS rushing leaders are career, single-season, and single-game leaders in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.^[1] These lists are dominated by more recent players for several reasons:

• Since 1955, seasons have increased from 10 games to 11 and then 12 games in length.
• The NCAA didn't allow freshmen to play varsity football until 1972 (with the exception of the World War II years), allowing players to have four-year careers.
• Bowl games only began counting toward single-season and career statistics in 2002.^[2] This affects many players from before that time period, most notably Ron Dayne.
• In recent decades, starting with the Southeastern Conference in 1992, FBS conferences have introduced their own championship games, which have always counted fully toward single-season and career statistics.
• The NCAA ruled that the 2020 season, heavily disrupted by COVID-19, would not count against the athletic eligibility of any football player. This gave every player active in that season the opportunity for five years of eligibility instead of the normal four.

Donnel Pumphrey is recognized as the career record holder in rushing yards.

Only seasons in which a team was considered to be a part of the Football Bowl Subdivision are included in these lists. All records are current as of the end of the 2023 season.

Rushing Yards

The NCAA recognizes San Diego State's Donnel Pumphrey as the career leading in rushing yards.^[1] Pumphrey set the record in the fourth quarter of his final game, the 2016 Las Vegas Bowl, ending with 6,405 total yards.^[3] However, this is controversial as Wisconsin's Ron Dayne actually rushed for 7,125 in his career, but all four of Dayne's seasons came before the NCAA recognized bowl statistics (doing so only in 2002) as part of season and career totals. Dayne officially is listed as having eight yards less than of Pumphrey despite only one player having their bowl statistics included. This has been seen as controversial by many fans and writers, who feel that the NCAA should count all pre-2002 bowl statistics as official if post-2002 ones are.^[4][5] Dayne himself congratulated Pumphrey but agreed that counting Pumphrey's bowl stats but not his own was unfair.^[6]

Additionally, Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett would be ahead of Pumphrey if his bowl statistics were counted.

The single-season record holder is Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders, whose record of 2,628 does not include his bowl statistics. If they were included, it would bring his total to 2,850.

The single-game rushing record belongs to Oklahoma's Samaje Perine, whose 427 yards in a 2014 game against Kansas broke a record set just the week before by Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon. Prior to Perine and Gordon, the only player to rush for 400 yards in a game was LaDainian Tomlinson.

The only player on any of the three lists who is not a running back is Navy's Malcolm Perry, who rushed for 2,017 yards in the 2019 season. The career leader in rushing yards by a quarterback is Navy's Keenan Reynolds, who rushed for 4,559 yards in his career. The single-game leader is Arizona's Khalil Tate, who rushed for 327 yards in a 2017 game against Colorado.

Career # Player Y Years School 1 Donnel Pumphrey 6,405 2013 2014 2015 2016 San Diego State 2 Ron Dayne 6,397 1996 1997 1998 1999 Wisconsin 3 Ricky Williams 6,279 1995 1996 1997 1998 Texas 4 Jonathan Taylor 6,174 2017 2018 2019 Wisconsin 5 Tony Dorsett 6,082 1973 1974 1975 1976 Pittsburgh 6 DeAngelo Williams 6,026 2002 2003 2004 2005 Memphis 7 Royce Freeman 5,621 2014 2015 2016 2017 Oregon 8 Charles White 5,598 1976 1977 1978 1979 USC 9 Travis Prentice 5,596 1996 1997 1998 1999 Miami (OH) 10 Cedric Benson 5,540 2001 2002 2003 2004 Texas 11 Justin Jackson 5,440 2014 2015 2016 2017 Northwestern 12 Myles Gaskin 5,323 2015 2016 2017 2018 Washington 13 Damion Fletcher 5,302 2006 2007 2008 2009 Southern Miss 14 LaDainian Tomlinson 5,263 1997 1998 1999 2000 TCU 15 Herschel Walker 5,259 1980 1981 1982 Georgia 16 Archie Griffin 5,177 1972 1973 1974 1975 Ohio State 17 Avon Cobourne 5,164 1999 2000 2001 2002 West Virginia Garrett Wolfe 5,164 2004 2005 2006 Northern Illinois 19 Montee Ball 5,140 2009 2010 2011 2012 Wisconsin 20 LaMichael James 5,082 2009 2010 2011 Oregon 21 Mike Hart 5,040 2004 2005 2006 2007 Michigan 22 Darren Lewis 5,012 1987 1988 1989 1990 Texas A&M 23 Darren Sproles 4,979 2001 2002 2003 2004 Kansas State 24 DonTrell Moore 4,973 2002 2003 2004 2005 New Mexico 25 Anthony Thompson 4,965 1986 1987 1988 1989 Indiana 26 George Rogers 4,958 1977 1978 1979 1980 South Carolina 27 Travis Etienne 4,952 2017 2018 2019 2020 Clemson 28 Trevor Cobb 4,948 1989 1990 1991 1992 Rice 29 Kareem Hunt 4,945 2013 2014 2015 2016 Toledo 30 Michael Turner 4,941 2000 2001 2002 2003 Northern Illinois

Single Season # Player Y Year School 1 Barry Sanders 2,628 1988 Oklahoma State 2 Melvin Gordon 2,587 2014 Wisconsin 3 Kevin Smith 2,567 2007 UCF 4 Marcus Allen 2,342 1981 USC 5 Rashaad Penny 2,248 2017 San Diego State 6 Derrick Henry 2,219 2015 Alabama 7 Jonathan Taylor 2,194 2018 Wisconsin 8 Troy Davis 2,185 1996 Iowa State 9 Andre Williams 2,177 2013 Boston College 10 LaDainian Tomlinson 2,158 2000 TCU 11 Mike Rozier 2,148 1983 Nebraska 12 Donnel Pumphrey 2,133 2016 San Diego State 13 Matt Forte 2,127 2007 Tulane 14 Ricky Williams 2,124 1998 Texas 15 Bryce Love 2,118 2017 Stanford 16 Chuba Hubbard 2,094 2019 Oklahoma State 17 Larry Johnson 2,087 2002 Penn State 18 Byron Hanspard 2,084 1996 Texas Tech 19 Donald Brown 2,083 2008 UConn 20 Rashaan Salaam 2,055 1994 Colorado 21 Tevin Coleman 2,036 2014 Indiana 22 D'Onta Foreman 2,028 2016 Texas 23 Christian McCaffrey 2,019 2015 Stanford 24 J. J. Arrington 2,018 2004 California 25 Malcolm Perry 2,017 2019 Navy 26 Ray Rice 2,012 2007 Rutgers 27 Troy Davis 2,010 1995 Iowa State 28 J. K. Dobbins 2,003 2019 Ohio State 29 Jonathan Taylor 2,003 2019 Wisconsin 30 Darren Sproles 1,986 2003 Kansas State

Single Game # Player Y Date School 1 Samaje Perine 427 Nov. 22, 2014 Oklahoma 2 Jaret Patterson 409 Nov. 28, 2020 Buffalo 3 Melvin Gordon 408 Nov. 15, 2014 Wisconsin 4 LaDainian Tomlinson 406 Nov. 20, 1999 TCU 5 Tony Sands 396 Nov. 23, 1991 Kansas 6 Marshall Faulk 386 Sep. 14, 1991 San Diego State 7 Troy Davis 378 Sep. 28, 1996 Iowa State 8 Anthony Thompson 377 Nov. 11, 1989 Indiana Robbie Mixon 377 Nov. 2, 2002 Central Michigan 10 Travis Prentice 376 Nov. 6, 1999 Miami (OH) 11 Eugene Baker 373 Sep. 20, 1997 Kent State 12 Ka'Deem Carey 366 Nov. 10, 2012 Arizona 13 Rueben Mayes 357 Oct. 27, 1984 Washington State Mike Pringle 357 Nov. 4, 1989 Cal State Fullerton 15 Eddie Lee Ivery 356 Nov. 11, 1978 Georgia Tech Brian Pruitt 356 Nov. 5, 1994 Central Michigan 17 Montel Harris 355 Nov. 17, 2012 Temple 18 Garrett Wolfe 353 Sep. 30, 2006 Northern Illinois 19 Scott Harley 351 Nov. 30, 1996 East Carolina 20 Eric Allen 350 Oct. 30, 1971 Michigan State Ricky Williams 350 Oct. 3, 1998 Texas 22 Paul Palmer 349 Oct. 11, 1986 Temple Matt Forte 349 Oct. 20, 2007 Tulane 24 Shun White 348 Aug. 30, 2008 Navy 25 Ron Johnson 347 Nov. 16, 1968 Michigan Ricky Bell 347 Oct. 9, 1976 USC 27 Tavon Austin 345 Nov. 11, 2012 West Virginia Leon Allen 345 Nov. 15, 2014 Western Kentucky 29 Tony Jeffery 343 Sep. 13, 1986 TCU 30 D'Onta Foreman 341 Nov. 5, 2016 Texas

Rushing touchdowns

The career leader in rushing touchdowns is Navy's Keenan Reynolds, whose 88 career touchdowns passed a record previous held by Montee Ball. The single-season record was set by Barry Sanders in 1988, and Howard Griffith and Jaret Patterson share the single-game record with 8.

There are several quarterbacks on the lists, which are shown shaded in light blue.

Career # Player TDs Years School 1 Keenan Reynolds 88 2012 2013 2014 2015 Navy 2 Montee Ball 77 2009 2010 2011 2012 Wisconsin 3 Travis Prentice 73 1996 1997 1998 1999 Miami (OH) 4 Ricky Williams 72 1995 1996 1997 1998 Texas Kenneth Dixon 72 2012 2013 2014 2015 Louisiana Tech 6 Travis Etienne 70 2017 2018 2019 2020 Clemson 7 Devin Singletary 66 2016 2017 2018 Florida Atlantic 8 Anthony Thompson 64 1986 1987 1988 1989 Indiana Cedric Benson 62 2001 2002 2003 2004 Texas 10 Ron Dayne 63 1996 1997 1998 1999 Wisconsin 11 Donnel Pumphrey 62 2013 2014 2015 2016 San Diego State 12 Royce Freeman 60 2014 2015 2016 2017 Oregon 13 Eric Crouch 59 1998 1999 2000 2001 Nebraska Colin Kaepernick 59 2007 2008 2009 2010 Nevada 15 Ian Johnson 58 2005 2006 2007 2008 Boise State Blake Corum 58 2020 2021 2022 2023 Michigan 17 Marshall Faulk 57 1991 1992 1993 San Diego State Tim Tebow 57 2006 2007 2008 2009 Florida Myles Gaskin 57 2015 2016 2017 2018 Washington 20 Steve Owens 56 1967 1968 1969 Oklahoma Ken Simonton 56 1998 1999 2000 2001 Oregon State Collin Klein 56 2009 2010 2011 2012 Kansas State 23 Tony Dorsett 55 1973 1974 1975 1976 Pittsburgh Chester Taylor 55 1998 1999 2000 2001 Toledo DeAngelo Williams 55 2002 2003 2004 2005 Memphis 26 LaDainian Tomlinson 54 1997 1998 1999 2000 TCU 27 Dwone Hicks 53 1999 2000 2001 2002 Middle Tennessee LaMichael James 53 2009 2010 2011 Oregon Bernard Pierce 53 2009 2010 2011 Temple Mohamed Ibrahim 53 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Minnesota

Single Season # Player TDs Year School 1 Barry Sanders 37 1988 Oklahoma State 2 Montee Ball 33 2011 Wisconsin 3 Devin Singletary 32 2017 Florida Atlantic 4 Kapri Bibbs 31 2013 Colorado State Keenan Reynolds 31 2013 Navy 6 Mike Rozier 29 1983 Nebraska Kevin Smith 29 2007 UCF Melvin Gordon 29 2014 Wisconsin 9 Terry Metcalf 28 1971 Long Beach State Willis McGahee 28 2002 Miami (FL) Toby Gerhart 28 2009 Stanford Jay Ajayi 28 2014 Boise State Derrick Henry 28 2015 Alabama 14 Ricky Williams 27 1998 Texas Lee Suggs 27 2000 Virginia Tech Ricky Dobbs 27 2009 Navy Collin Klein 27 2011 Kansas State Bernard Pierce 27 2011 Temple Kenneth Dixon 27 2012 Louisiana Tech Anthony Wales 27 2016 Western Kentucky Blake Corum 27 2023 Michigan 22 Leon Burns 26 1969 Long Beach State Lydell Mitchell 26 1971 Penn State Brock Forsey 26 2002 Boise State James Conner 26 2014 Pittsburgh Najee Harris 26 2020 Alabama 27 Ricky Williams 25 1997 Texas Travis Prentice 25 1997 Miami (OH) Ian Johnson 25 2006 Boise State Will Worth 25 2016 Navy

Single Game # Player TDs Date School 1 Howard Griffith 8 Sep. 22, 1990 Illinois Jaret Patterson 8 Nov. 28, 2020 Buffalo 3 Showboat Boykin 7 Dec. 1, 1951 Ole Miss Marshall Faulk 7 Sep. 14, 1991 San Diego State Montel Harris 7 Nov. 17, 2012 Temple Keenan Reynolds 7 Nov. 22, 2013 Navy Kalen Ballage 7 Sep. 10, 2016 Arizona State 8 6 – many times

References

1. "Career Leaders and Records" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
2. "NCAA changes policy on football stats". ESPN.com. AP. 2002-08-28. Retrieved 2014-09-11.
3. "Pumphrey breaks NCAA record, SDSU wins Las Vegas Bowl". ESPN.com. 2016-12-17. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
4. Kirshner, Alex (2016-12-18). "Blame the NCAA for Donnel Pumphrey breaking Ron Dayne's record with fewer yards". SB Nation. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
5. Kurtenbach, Dieter (2016-12-17). "Sorry, but Donnell Pumphrey didn't really break Ron Dayne's FBS rushing record". FOX Sports. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
6. Cunningham, Kevin (2016-12-17). "Ron Dayne says Donnel Pumphrey should have an asterisk by his name regarding rushing record". Saturday Tradition. Retrieved 2022-10-02.