So I did some stat digging tonight. Kevin Richardson is our all time leading rusher with 4,808 yards. As a true freshman Marcus Cox ran for 1,250 yards. He's currently on pace to run for 1,225.6 this year.... that puts him 2,475.6 yards after two seasons. That's over half way to breaking Richardson's record. If Cox finishes this year with over 1200 yards he'll need to run for about 1,170 yards in each of his junior and senior seasons.

I know records like this are meaningless, both are/were phenomenal players I'm just honestly shocked we're mentioning this as a possibility. I thought Richardson's record was untouchable. This could just be something fun to monitor over the next few years.

Man it's crazy to think we got Cox for two more years AFTER this year

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sta ... e/count/41

I find it amazing that he is ranked 70th nationally considering how often the team uses him. kinda tells you the caliber RBs that exist out there.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/weekly

He is ranked 3rd for the week though which is kinda nice.

look at the numbers ga southern RBs are putting up this season

http://espn.go.com/college-football/con ... conference

I hope Cox does break the record, but it will be tough because of the higher level of competition and Upshaw getting a heavy dose of the carries as well. But, regardless of where the final numbers come in, it is clear that Cox is the more talented of the two. He is stronger, quicker and faster. And let's not forget, his offensive line hasn't, to date, been half as good as what Richardson ran behind either. Richardson also had the advantage of two quarterbacks who were just as big of a threat, or bigger, than he was. Lastly, his era was the birth of the spread offense which aided the entire program, and Kevin along with it. Don't get me wrong. Kevin was an awesome player and a great Mountaineer with a heart as big as a steering wheel. But, he had a lot of stars that lined up for him also.

Richardson did all his greatness in really 3 seasons. Alan Atwater was the starter and played most of the snaps in 2004. Cox has done well so far, and I hope he keeps it rolling.

Maybe the number of games will balance out, KR had a chance to play in about 15 games each of those 3 years.

KR was used as a big weapon to catch passes too.

Black Saturday wrote:Richardson did all his greatness in really 3 seasons. Alan Atwater was the starter and played most of the snaps in 2004. Cox has done well so far, and I hope he keeps it rolling.

Maybe the number of games will balance out, KR had a chance to play in about 15 games each of those 3 years.

KR was used as a big weapon to catch passes too.

You are right BS - the extra 4 games of playoffs for 3 years really helped KRich's numbers ---

was Upshaw still dinged up Saturday?

sixtoes9134 wrote:was Upshaw still dinged up Saturday?

He was dressed and ready to play if needed. The staff was hoping to get him another week of rest and RF played just fine spelling Cox so he wasn't needed. He will be even more ready for this weekend.

Kevin really had a remarkable career, especially considering he was a walk-on. His stats were padded with the extra playoff games and what will end up being a much weaker overall level of competition. I think Cox has a chance to be really special and if he breaks KR's records it will really be something. He has the benefit of 12 games per year but will have to get his yards against some big boys. On a good pace to be half way to the TD and rushing records by the end of the season. Got to love the overally depth at RB!

Hopefully Cox gets to play 13 or even 14 games a year the next couple seasons.

bigdaddyg wrote:Kevin really had a remarkable career, especially considering he was a walk-on. His stats were padded with the extra playoff games and what will end up being a much weaker overall level of competition. I think Cox has a chance to be really special and if he breaks KR's records it will really be something. He has the benefit of 12 games per year but will have to get his yards against some big boys. On a good pace to be half way to the TD and rushing records by the end of the season. Got to love the overally depth at RB!

Sorry bigdaddy, I have to wholeheartedly disagree with your statement - And it has nothing to do with KRich being my favorite APP player of all time - so will you say that the Alabama receiver had his stats inflated because he played in (possible scenario) 12 reg season games, SEC championship game and 2 playoff games? --- while your statement is actually factual it should not be a negative --- But, the second part is my big problem - "much weaker competition" - he was playing with and against teams who had the same number of scholarships just as Cox has and will do
---

WVAPPeer wrote:But, the second part is my big problem - "much weaker competition" - he was playing with and against teams who had the same number of scholarships just as Cox has and will do
---

I think the point is that the number of scholarships was way lower thus the competition was weaker.

TheMoody1 wrote:

WVAPPeer wrote:But, the second part is my big problem - "much weaker competition" - he was playing with and against teams who had the same number of scholarships just as Cox has and will do
---

I think the point is that the number of scholarships was way lower thus the competition was weaker.

I know but our scholarship numbers were low as well - we were playing with FCS players just like the opponents ---

TheMoody1 wrote:

WVAPPeer wrote:But, the second part is my big problem - "much weaker competition" - he was playing with and against teams who had the same number of scholarships just as Cox has and will do
---

I think the point is that the number of scholarships was way lower thus the competition was weaker.

That sounds like a TarPacker looking down their noses at APP football.

That's the hell of a stigma APP has had to deal with forever. APPs 2005 2006 2007 teams finish at the bottom of no college football conference during those years, no matter the number of scholarships. The number of players from those teams that spent time in the NFL or camps says so.

Back to the KR - Cox debate

It is similar to try and figure out if Unitas or Elway or Manning is best. They played in different eras. But they all are great players. Jordan or James anyone?

I guess some on here might be born after APP great John Settle toted the pigskin for APP? He was a goodurn too.

I'm with you WVApp, KR is my favorite all time APP because of his walk on status from a small 2-A southeastern NC high school, work ethic, toughness, dual threat to get the tough yardage or catch a wheel route for a score, and was an integral part of 3 National Championships.

Black Saturday wrote:That sounds like a TarPacker looking down their noses at APP football.

That's the hell of a stigma APP has had to deal with forever. APPs 2005 2006 2007 teams finish at the bottom of no college football conference during those years, no matter the number of scholarships. The number of players from those teams that spent time in the NFL or camps says so.

You prolly know Tarpackers better than I do, but it is not a dig to any APP accomplishments to acknowlege the overall talent level in FBS > FCS.

TheMoody1 wrote:

Black Saturday wrote:That sounds like a TarPacker looking down their noses at APP football.

That's the hell of a stigma APP has had to deal with forever. APPs 2005 2006 2007 teams finish at the bottom of no college football conference during those years, no matter the number of scholarships. The number of players from those teams that spent time in the NFL or camps says so.

You prolly know Tarpackers better than I do, but it is not a dig to any APP accomplishments to acknowlege the overall talent level in FBS > FCS.

Sorry I replied to you by accident, just making a comment in general. It sounds like an "outside looking in" that we APP fans have all heard from other "more scholarship" program fans

In the last 2 years we've had "more" scholarships but we've been reamed by some "lesser" 63 scholarship programs.

If we are saying that we were playing lesser competition I guess we are also saying we are not counting this year.
Nothing against Cox as I love the guy but we are talking Liberty, Campbell, GS, and Troy this year. Better than we played back then? Not so sure about that.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt07.htm

Thats the Sagarin rankings from 2007. There are 5 SoCon teams ranked higher than we currently are this season at 125.

Furman 107
Citadel 103
Ga South 97
Elon 94
App 44
This is out of all 242 D1 teams

I will honestly say I didn't believe you guys when you were talking about competition level being higher then. 5 min of research and a basic understanding of google made a believer out of me. Dude the SoCon was Stacked back in the day. But alas but living in the past doesn't win games in the here and now. Im stoked to be going to my first game of the season this weekend and hope they pull out a win.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sa ... onference/
2007 Sagarin rankings
SoCon- 60.5

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sa ... onference/
2014 Sagarin rankings
Sunbelt-56.29

Numbers don't lie. granted the current ranking is midway through the season and doesn't include the FCS playoffs or FBS bowls

"Chance."

He absolutely has a chance. But, it is way too early for that kind of talk.

Kevin Richardson's best asset was his durability. He played through some pain in his junior and senior seasons.

Different eras. KR was a great player and really fun to watch. He also benefited from playing in the spread offense that was for the most part, in it's infancy. App also seemed to have better overall talent across the board compared to our opposition. It took defenses several years to adjust to the spread attack that has taken college football by storm. This is in no way to discount what KR did as he's one of my all-time guys too.

If Cox happens to break the record, I may end up being more impressed because of the perceived jump in opposition talent as well as defenses being more apt to defend a spread attack. Not to mention, Cox does not have AE who defenses had to account for. Again not trying to knock Lamb but he is not near the threat to take it to the house that AE was while QB'ing the Mountaineers. KR also had a more veteran line with Acitelli being his only Freshman blocker.

Cox still has 2+ years to break the record but needless to say, both players are great in their own right.