HATTIESBURG (AP) — Southern Miss tailback Damion Fletcher has reached so many career marks this season, he admits he doesn’t keep up with all of them.
Fletcher is the NCAA’s active rushing leader by more than 1,200 yards and has passed Ohio State’s Archie Griffin to crack the Football Bowl Subdivision’s career top 10 list. He needs just 3 yards to pass Georgia’s Herschel Walker and seven to pass TCU’s Ladanian Tomlinson.
Fletcher currently sits at 5,256 yards, and needs just 123 yards in two games to become the ninth player in NCAA history with four 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
The numbers may boggle the mind, but all the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Biloxi, native wants to talk about right now is East Carolina.
Fletcher’s Golden Eagles (7-4, 5-2) take on the Pirates (7-4, 6-1) on Saturday in Greenville, N.C., with a Conference USA championship game berth on the line.
“All the numbers and accolades are good,” he said. “But I want fans to look back on my senior year and remember us as a championship team, not for my individual accomplishments.”
Southern Miss coaches said they are aware of Fletcher’s situation, but that it hasn’t played into game plans down the stretch this season.
“I have to be honest,” Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora said with a sigh. “We’re all pulling for him, but we leave all that stuff at the door when we step into the room to game plan.”
Part of that plan is getting the ball to second-string running back Tory Harrison, who has matched Fletcher for touchdowns this season with eight despite Fletcher’s 102 more carries.
After struggling with a nagging hamstring injury that hindered him during the first three weeks of the season and kept him out of the game against Alabama-Birmingham, Fletcher has returned and leads the Golden Eagles in rushing with 877 yards. But Harrison’s average of 6.3 yards per carry — compared to Fletcher’s career-low 4.3 — has kept him on the field more than in the past.
Running backs coach Pat Washington inherited the duo when he came to Southern Miss with Fedora following the 2007 season. Washington said he is amazed Fletcher has held up physically as well as he has, missing just two games over four years due to injury.
“To sustain four years without a significant injury is amazing for a running back,” Washington said. “Especially to carry the load the way he has. When I got here I looked at his size and I said, ‘There’s no way.’”
Fedora and Washington may not have a choice but to give Fletcher the bulk of the carries against East Carolina, a team that has struggled to stop Fletcher. He has 291 yards and a pair of touchdowns in three previous games against the Pirates.
“Harrison is a bigger, stronger and more physical runner,” East Carolina coach Skip Holtz said. “But Fletcher is more of the flash and speed runner. It’s a combination that gives them a Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside. They really do a great job on offense.”
If the Golden Eagles win and earn a berth in the conference championship, it would give Fletcher another game and puts Texas’ Cedric Benson’s 5,540 and Miami of Ohio back Travis Prentiss’ 5,596 into sight.
“It would be great,” Fletcher said. “Just to have my name up there with guys like Archie Griffin and Herschel Walker is an honor in itself. But we have to concentrate on East Carolina right now.”
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Photo/James Pugh
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