On a July day in Little Rock, Arkansas, Darren McFadden sat in a hospital room, wondering if not only his season but his football career was over. According to newspaper reports at the time, McFadden was involved in a fight outside a local rental car at 4:00 AM, and while trying to stop the car from being stolen, he broke his left thumb when he kicked the brake pedal in the collision. It was so badly broken that it was almost torn apart. The top surgeon inserted a nail through McFadden’s left foot to hold the toes in place.
My wife and I happened to be in Little Rock, about 2.5 hours away from our house, playing minor league baseball , when we heard two men sitting immediately behind us say something about McFadden being injured. As an avid Arkansas Razorback fan, my heart sank a little, hoping it was just a rumor. Indeed, in the next morning’s edition of the published paper, there it was: a story I hoped was not true. During the season, it was widely believed that the sophomore running backs would miss at least 5 to 6 games, almost half. The season, not good news for the program coming off a 4-7 season, was pressing on the former Pulaski Oak Grove High School star. The needle should not be removed until a month or so before the period starts. I hope I’m educated enough, I remember thinking, and I believe I have, but none of us ever dreamed that DMac, as he is affectionately known in the state, would do anything nearly as spectacular as what he did, especially when he was healthy. about the middle of the season.
In his short time at the University, DMac has already become legendary for his ability to heal quickly, recover from fevers, and play with pain. On a Saturday-night in early September, Labor Day weekend against a long line of odds against Darren McFadden. the mighty USC Trojans. He had only 42 yards tonight, the Hogs were beaten 50-14, but the comeback had begun. There were a couple of games in which Darren didn’t win many wickets in the stroke, but he was more healthy with his constant recovery speed and cutting ability. Then came a 27-10 victory over fifth-ranked Auburn in Alabama in October and the comeback was complete.
In my opinion, the Doak Walker Award was won in the stretch 3 game in which McFadden threw for 219 yards against South Carolina, 180 vs. Tennessee had the running back and 187 against the defense in game against a local team. The field was very cloudy after a week or so of rain. His golf course, Oak Grove, was generally the same, and some of the lines were not much larger. In fact, they had so much trouble getting the ball in DMac’s hands from their offensive line that for most of the 2nd half, DMac played QB. While trying to make up for the lack of 2 or more touchdowns, McFadden threw several incompletions, maybe an interception or 2. I’ll never forget when the clock was ticking and McFadden was running down the field. defeat, the local man is getting his jokes by mocking and heckling DMac for losing the Oak Grove team. “You’re not Joseph Medeiros,” he yelled at McFadden, uncomfortably comparing him to the local team’s quarterback. Darren McFadden is a first-team All-American, a Doak Walker Award winner as the top running back in college football, and a likely 2nd or 3rd place finisher in the Heisman Trophy voting, probably the forerunner in 2007. I wonder where Joseph Medeiros, a good player in High School, but hardly a waiting for a college major and how does that heckler like Darren McFadden now?
