College Football: Greatest Freshman Efforts

There's been plenty of great efforts by freshman players whether quarterback, running back, wide receiver, defensive back, kicker, or punter. 

Here's a look at some of the greatest freshman efforts from single game feats to the entire season.

Running Backs

Jerald Sowell of Tulane on Sept. 4, 1993 set an NCAA record for longest rush for the first game of career with 98 yard scamper against Alabama.

Greg Hill running back Texas A&M in his first game of his college career, which was on Sept. 14, 1991 against Louisiana State University, carried the ball 30 times and gained 212 yards. That is an NCAA record.

DeMarco Murray of Oklahoma set a record on Sept. 1, 2001 for most touchdowns in the first game as a freshman. Against North Texas, Murray found the end zone five times.

Marshall Faulk of San Diego State set a freshman record for most touchdowns in a game against Pacific with a total of seven on Sept. 14, 1991. Faulk also holds the record for most rushing touchdowns in a season by a freshman with 21.

Faulk also set a record for most yards in a game by a freshman by having 422 total yards against Pacific. 386 yards were rushing, 11 were receiving, and 25 came on kickoff returns. Another record of 23 total touchdowns as a freshman, 21 rushing and two receiving.

Michael Turner has the most attempts in a game by a freshman. On November 18th, 2000 while Turner was playing for Northern Illinois against Central Michigan, Turner carried the ball 52 times for 281 yards.

Adrian Peterson holds the record for most carries as a freshman which came in the 2004 season when he carried the ball 339 times for 1,925 yards. Peterson also holds the record for most 100 yard games with 11 as well as consecutive 100 yard games with nine.

Jamario Thomas of North Texas holds the record for most games with 200 yards or more with six in the 2004 season.

Steve Bartalo holds the record for most carries per game with 29.2 in 1983, he ended the season with 292 carries.

Emmit Smith of Florida, Marshall Faulk of San Diego State, Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma, Jamario Thomas North Texas, and P.J. Hill of Wisconsin are tied with being the fastest freshman to gain 1,000 yards each one got to that total in seven games.  

Receiving

Richard Woodley of TCU against Texas A&M on Nov. 10, 1990 Woodley caught 18 passes for 180 yards.

Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech in 2007 set the record for most receptions in a freshman season with 134 catches for 1,962 yards.

Also, in that season Crabtree set the record for most catches per game in a freshman season with 10.3, he also set a record for most yards per game as well with 150.9 yards per game, and also set another record by catching 22 touchdown passes.

Corey Alston of Western Michigan set a single game record for yards receiving by catching nine passes for 263 yards against Eastern Michigan on Nov. 1, 1997.

Quarterbacks

David Neil holds the record for most yards by a quarterback with 582 as well as total yards with 611. That happened while he was a freshman at the University of Nevada playing against New Mexico State on Oct. 10, 1998.

Brad Smith of Missouri is the only freshman to have 2,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing. In 2002, Smith had 2,333 yards passing and 1,029 yards rushing.

Michael Vick holds the highest passer efficiency rating of any freshman with a minimum of 15 attempts. For his season for Virginia Tech in the 1999 season he had a efficiency rating of 180.4

Luke McCown of Louisana Tech holds the record for most passes attempted by a freshman in a game with 72 against Miami (FL) on Oct. 28, 2000. McCown also holds the record for most completions in a game by completing 47 against Auburn on on Oct. 21, 2000.

Kellen Moore of Boise State in 2008 set a freshman record for highest completion percentage by completing 69.4 percent of his passes.

Robert Griffin of Baylor set a record for most passing attempts by a freshman without throwing an interceptions. In that span he threw 209 passes in nine games before throwing an interception.  

Bob Hoernschemeyer and Luke McCown hold the record for most touchdown passes in a game by a freshman with six. Hoernschemeyer did that in 1943 and McCown in 2000.

Punters

Tom Tupa set freshman record for yards per punt with a minimum of 40 attempts by averaging 47 yards per punt on 41 attempts during the 1984 college football season.

Kickers

Most field goals made in a game by a freshman was set by Mickey Thomas on Nov. 4, 1989 when he kicked six field goals for Virginia Tech against Vanderbilt.

Collin Mackie set the record for most field goals made during a freshman season with 23 on 30 attempts in 1987.

Kyle Bryant of Texas A&M set a record for longest field goal by a freshman by kicking a 61 yard field goal against Southern Mississippi on Sept. 24, 1994.

Cornerbacks

Mario Edwards of Florida State set the freshman record for most interceptions in a game on Nov. 14, 1998 with four against Wake Forest and he returned those four for 60 yards.

George Shaw from the University of Oregon set the record for most interceptions by a freshman in a season with 13 and he also owns the per game record with 1.3 interceptions per game and that happened in 1951.