30 Best College Running Backs of All-Time
Career Statistics
- Games: 27
- Carries: 918
- Rushing Yards: 4,715
- Rushing Yards Per Game: 174.6
- Rushing Yards Per Season: 1,571.7
- Rushing Touchdowns: 50
- Yards Per Carry: 5.1
- Receptions: 23
- Receiving Yards: 232
- Receiving Touchdowns: 2
- Notable: Maxwell Award Winner, 1971; All-American, 1971
Simply put, Ed Marinaro is the greatest college football running back that most everyday college football fans have never heard of.
In three seasons at Cornell, Marinaro set the NCAA Division I rushing record with 4,715 yards – and was actually the first player to ever run for more than 4,000 yards over the course of a career. Marino’s rushing record stood for four seasons until Archie Griffin broke it after four seasons at Ohio State. More than 40 years after he graduated, Marinaro still ranks No. 35 on the FBS all-time rushing list (he played at Cornell before the Big Red and the rest of the Ivy League moved to Division 1-AA).
Marinaro’s production was incredible for several reasons. First, freshmen were not eligible to play varsity football in 1968 when he enrolled. Also, he never played more than nine games in any one season due to a long-standing tradition of Ivy League football programs playing fewer games than the rest of the nation in the regular season, and because Ivy League teams do not participate in postseason games.
As a sophomore in 1969, Marinaro ran for 1,409 yards and 14 touchdowns and added 1,425 yards and 12 TDs on the ground the following season (plus two touchdown receptions). As a senior, Marinaro led the nation with 356 rushing attempts and 1,881 rushing yards (209 yards per game). He also scored 24 touchdowns. That performance earned Marinaro All-American honors and he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Auburn quarterback Pat Sullivan.
After playing six seasons in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks, Marinaro began an acting career.
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