Eastern Kentucky-Home of I-AA Football's Top Rushing Game Tradition

The first time T i m Lester saw film of the Eastern Kentucky offense , he was a high school running back in Miami , Florida

"I just thought, oh, man!" said Lester as he recalled watching first one tailback , then another, rip off huge chunks of yardage He knew then that he'd be coming to R ichmond , Kentucky, to play college football.

Lesterfinished his Eastern careerwith the 1991 season By then, he had rushed for 3,651 yards, despite losing all but one game of his sophomore season to a knee injury Thus, he became the 10th Colonel running back to gain more than 2,300 yards since 1970 , a record no other NCAA Div ision I school can touch.

Lester, now entering his fifth season as a runn ing back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, ranks 21st all time for career rushing yards i n Division I-AA . Among those in front of him are four more EKU running backs :

• Markus Thomas, who closed a fabulous career in 1992 , is ranked as the number one Division I-Mall time rusherwith 5,552 yards Thomas spent the 1993 NFL season with the Philadelphia Eagles and played the last two Springs in the World League of Ame ri can Football in Europe, scoring a touchdown in the championship game earlier this year

• Elroy Harris , ranked 7th all timewith4,559yards in three seasons ( 1985, 1987, 1988)

• Jimmie Brooks , who ranks 15th with 3 ,842 yards (19681971 )

• James Crawford, who ranks 16th with 3 ,833 yards in three seasons (1985-1987) .

"We run the I- formation , and we feature the tai lback , so you'd expect them to get a lot of yards, " said Coach Roy Kidd. "But it's more than that. We've had some special kids playing back there. Plus, you've got to give credit to the offensive lines we've had They ' re responsible for a lot of those yards " The offense which produces all those yards seems predictable It's the tailback off tackle Or the sprint draw up the middle. Or the option either way Or the fullback on a quick hitter.

Everybody knows what's coming But few teams have shut it down

Consider :

• Over the last 112 games, covering nine seasons and 87 victories, the offense has averaged 281 yards per game on the ground

• In the 11 seasons s ince 1985 , there have been 16 individual 1,000 yard rushing seasons . Five times in 11 years, two backs have each ga ined more than 1,000 yards, another NCAA record.

• Among the top 25 rushers, all time , in Division I-AA, Thomas has the highest average yards per carry (6.57) and Harris ranks third (5.9)

• On a per-game basis, Harris ranks fifth, all t ime, in Division I-AA with 123 yards per game, while Thomas ranks sixth (122) and Crawford 11th (106)

• In 1991, Lester and Thomas broke through the 3,000yard barrierfortheircareers the same day-appropriately enough, Homecoming. Also that day, fullback Rick Burkhead went over 1,000 yards for his career, which was mostly spent opening holes for Harris , Lester and Thomas

• When Eastern faced Marshall in the Divis ion I-AA semifinals in 1991, Lester and Thomas began the game with more than 7 ,500 career yards between them . A check of the record book by NCAA researchers failed to find any school with two starting backs-ever-totalling as much as 6,000 yards.

• In 1993, seniors Leon Brown and Mike Penman shared the role of starter at tailback It was the first time as a starter at tailback for either player, yet both exceeded 1,000 yards Brown spent the 1994 NFL season with the New York Giants ; he began the 1995 season in his home town of Jacksonville , Florida, on the roster of the NFL expansion franchise there

All-Time Rushers

Following are the leading rushers, all t ime , i n Division I-AA . These totals include I-AA playoff games. Average is average yards per carry.

Player School

Markus Thomas, Eastern Ky.

Frank Hawkins, Nevada

Kenny Gamble, Colgate

Erik Marsh, Lafayette

Joe Ross , Georg ia Southern

Cedric Minter, Boise State

John Settle, Appalachian St.

Elroy Harris, Eastern Ky.

Mike Clark, Akron

Keith Elias , Princeton

Warren Marshall , James Madison

Joe Campbell , Middle Tenn.

Harvey Reed, Howard

Paul Lewis , Boston U

Lewis Tillman, Jackson St.

Daryl Brown , Delaware

Gary Pearson , Massachusetts

Jimmie Brooks , Eastern Ky.

James Crawford, Eastern Ky.

Lorenzo Bouler , Maine

Carl Sm ith , Maine

Brad Baxter , Alabama St.

Gill Fenerty , Holy Cross

Eric Gant , Grambling

Lester,

Average Yards Per Game

Following are the career leaders in yards rushed per game for a career, all ti me, in Division I-AA , with a minimum career total of 3 ,000 yards. These totals, compiled by the NCAA, do not include postseason games *Indicates an active player outside from tailback one series, and flatten linebackers and defensive ends from fullback the next series. Those multiple talents were on display last in January 1992 when Lester played in the North-South and East-West Shrine all-star games

But the most accomplished was Thomas. He was selected first-team All-American by Kodak, Associated Press, Football News-Gazette and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. He was OVC Offensive Player of the Year his junior and senior years.

Most of all, Thomas was a player who, like Lester, realized his potential. "He dedicated himself to doing the little things that are needed to be the best football player you can be," Kidd said.

- For his career, Harris averaged 9 3 points per game, second highest total in the Div ision I-AA record book (behind Dave Meggett}, and the 12 8 points he averaged per game in the 1988 season is the second highest average in one season (behind Jerry Rice)

The most talented of this very accomplished group may have been Elroy Harris With his penchant for finding the end zone-58 times-and his trademark back flip upon doing so, he is the all-time crowd favorite.

A second-round draft choice of the Seattle Seahawks in 1989, Harris played one year in the NFL before being waived, a victim , Seattle observers said, of a tendency to miss meetings and to practice half heartedly. Harris then played two years in the World League of American Football.

The most versatile was Tim Lester, who would break