The 10 Best West Virginia Running Backs of All-Time

Sit back and enjoy the ride. I will walk or run you through the 10 best running backs to ever don a West Virginia football uniform. Production and length of time played are both heavily considered.

Please comment and let me know if you agree, or what you would do differently. I feel there is a heavy lean towards modern era players, I would love to hear from some older fans about the past players.

No. 10 Robert Alexander (1977-1980)

Alexander ranks ninth on WVU's career rushing list with 2,456 yards. He is also seventh for career 100+ yard games, with 11.

No. 9 Artie Owens (1972-1975)

Owens ranks sixth on WVU's career rushing list with 2,648 yards. Owens also owns an impressive 6.4 yard per carry average for his career.

All of this occurred in basically two seasons, as only 19 percent of his carries came in his first two years.

No. 8 Robert Walker (1992-1995)

Walker is seventh on the career rushing list with 2,620 yards, and seventh for career 100+ yard rushing games, with 11.

He is fifth all-time with 529 attempts.

1993 was a great year for Walker and WVU. Walker rushed for 1,250 yards and 11 touchdowns, making him 10th and 14th for a season, respectfully.

No. 7 Quincy Wilson (1999-2003)

Wilson had the misfortune of playing behind Avon Cobourne (more later). This Kennedy award winner (Most Outstanding High School Player in West Virginia) only received a handful of carries his first two seasons.

He split time with Cobourne in 2002, but still managed 901 yards and six touchdowns on only 140 carries.

Wilson shined his Senior season in 2003 running for 1,380 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also had a memorable catch-and-run against Miami seen below. Here he beat Vince Wilfork and Sean Taylor, then ran over Brandon Meriweather.

No. 6 Noel Devine (2007-Present)

Noel Devine was already a legend before he set foot in Morgantown.

Through three seasons he has complied some impressive stats:

3,213 rushing yards (fifth All-time)
22 rushing touchdowns (sixth All-time)
14 100+ yard rushing games (fifth All-time)

No. 5 Pat White (2005-2008)

Yes...Pat White was a quarterback but...

He is:

First for single season rushing touchdown with 18 (2006).
Second for career rushing yards with 4,480.
Second for career rushing touchdowns with 47.
Fourth for single game rushing with 247 yards.
Fourth for career 100 yard rushing games with 18.

He holds the NCAA record for rushing yards by a QB.

Oh and he threw 56 career touchdowns for over 6,000 yards...Need I say more?

No. 4 Amos Zeroue (1996-1998)

Famous Amos ran for 4,086 yards in his three year career, good for third all-time.

He made 40 touchdowns in that span, which is fourth all-time.

Seven hundred and eighty-six rushing attempts is good for second all-time.

He also had 21 100+ yard games, tied for second all-time.

Amos also has both the third and fourth best rushing seasons, 1,589 and 1,462 yards.

No. 3 Ira Rodgers (1916-1919)

One of only two (Sam Huff is the other) Mountaineers to have their numbers retired.

No. 21 was a consensus All-American in 1919. That season he scored 19 touchdowns, which is still a WVU record.

Rodgers was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1953.

No. 2 Avon Cobourne (1998-2002)

Cobourne compiled some silly stats over his career. He was also blessed to be the work horse for four seasons.

Cobourne sits at the top of WVU career rushing lists for yards (5,164), attempts (1,050) and 100+ yard games (28). He is third in career rushing touchdowns with 40, 17 of which came in his senior season.

Cobourne was incredibly consistent, with over 1,000 yards rushing in each of his four years.

No. 1 Steve Slaton (2005-2007)

Super Steve gets the nod for No. 1. Slaton only played three years and didn't benefit from the amazing amount of carries that Cobourne did.

Slaton in three years carried out:

3,923 rushing yards (fourth all-time)
50 touchdowns (first all-time)
21 100+ yard rushing games (second all-time)

Slaton has three of the top six seasons, in terms of rushing touchdowns, as well as the single season rushing record with 1,744 yards in 2006.

Additionally, Slaton didn't even start the first few games of his true freshman season.