Colorado football: All-time top 10 rushing leaders in Buffaloes history

With Coach Prime and Sheduer Sanders, the new era of Colorado football has been built through the air, but at its height, this program was all about the ground game. Especially under Bill McCartney in the 90s.

The Buffaloes haven’t been an NFL factory, but they have had a few running backs hit it big on Sundays. Including one who has helped orchestrate one of the greatest offenses in football. One built around the passing game.

For many people, Colorado football still conjured up visions of the triple-option and that’s produced some great all-time running backs. Here are the top 10 rushers in Colorado history.

Colorado football career rushing leader No. 10: Herchell Troutman 1994-97

• 2,487 rushing yards
• 21 rushing touchdowns
• 4.4 yards per rush

Troutman came to Boulder in Bill McCartney’s final season and was used primarily as a goalline back in his freshman year despite only being 5-foot-7. He set a career-high for rushing touchdowns with eight that season but only ran for 244 yards.

Then Troutman became the featured back with back-to-back seasons with over 800 yards rushing and 200 yards receiving. In 1995 he was fifth in the Big 8 in yards from scrimmage with 1,127. In his final season, he struggled with just 613 rushing yards at 4.0 yards per carry despite playing all 11 games.