It’s one of the best debates in college sports.
Who’s the greatest player to ever wear a specific number?
ESPN’s college football staff spent months digging through the history books to settle that argument for every jersey from 0 to 99, and contributor David Hale handled the No. 5 slot.
It’s a number that belongs to some of the best running backs in the history of the sport.
The options included LaDainian Tomlinson, Christian McCaffrey and two of the most debated backs of the modern era.
When Hale and the ESPN panel made their call, they went with Arkansas’ Darren McFadden over USC’s Reggie Bush and the reasoning is worth unpacking.
Bush is one of the most recognizable names in college football history. He’s got two national championships, pop-culture fame and a long television career to his name.
He also happened to play on one of the most talent-stacked rosters in the sport’s history, surrounded by more than 30 future NFL draft picks including seven first-rounders.
McFadden, on the other hand, arrived at Arkansas during a transition period.
He had less than half as many future draft picks among his teammates and inherited a program that finished 4-7 his freshman year.
Despite that, he still topped 1,000 rushing yards as a true freshman and averaged more than 120 scrimmage yards against ranked opponents throughout his career, including 190 rushing yards against a top-five team in his first season.
McFadden’s SEC résumé speaks for itself
Hale compared the panel’s choice to what the Houston Texans did in the 2006 NFL draft, passing on Bush in favor of a player they valued more. The ESPN panel did the same thing and for many of the same reasons.
The Razorbacks star’s 4,590 career rushing yards rank third all time in SEC history, behind only Herschel Walker and Nick Chubb and Chubb played an extra season.
McFadden’s 5,881 career all-purpose yards rank second in conference history.
He’s one of just three players ever to win back-to-back Doak Walker Awards, and his 22 career 100-yard games account for nearly 60% of every game the Hogs played with him in the backfield.
The panel’s argument isn’t that Bush is overrated. It’s that McFadden has never gotten enough credit for what he did with far less around him.
Both backs were stylistically different, but when you set aside the name recognition and dig into the numbers and the context, it’s tough to argue McFadden wasn’t every bit as dominant.
Hale’s full breakdown makes that case well.
Key takeaways:
- McFadden’s 4,590 career rushing yards rank third all time in SEC history, behind only Herschel Walker and Nick Chubb, who played one additional season
- McFadden is one of just three players ever to win consecutive Doak Walker Awards, and his 22 career 100-yard games made up nearly 60% of all games he played for the Razorbacks
- ESPN’s panel chose McFadden over Bush largely because of context — elite production with far less support, on a team that went 4-7 his freshman year and had fewer than half the future NFL draft picks Bush played alongside at USC
