There is little LaMichael James did not accomplish on and off the field this year.
Following an offseason that cast a shadow over James’ character, the redshirt sophomore brought a renewed sense of perseverance to Oregon football. In his second season as the featured tailback in the nation’s most dynamic offense, James soared to new heights — and the nation took notice.
After serving a one-game suspension in the season opener against New Mexico, James picked up where he left off as the Pacific-10 Conference Freshman Player of the Year. In Oregon’s biggest test of the early season, against the highly ranked Stanford Cardinal, James set career marks with 31 carries for 257 yards and three touchdowns en route to a 52-31 Duck victory — a sign of things to come.
James always seemed to provide that sort of spark Oregon needed over the course of their 12-game, undefeated regular season. And though he wouldn’t let you know it, the sophomore’s numbers were mind-boggling at times.
He finished the regular season as the nation’s leading rusher with 152.9 yards per game, and paced all scorers with 12 points per contest. James isn’t one to boast about his individual success this season, giving the deserved credit to his teammates and coaching staff.
“I’m just very determined,” James said. “I want to be the best I can be. The offensive line does a great job, the wide receivers, the quarterback, all around.
“Coach Kelly puts me in great positions to excel, so why shouldn’t I excel?”
One year removed from posting a Pac-10 freshman rushing record with 1,546 yards in 2009, James returned to rush for 1,682 yards on the ground during his sophomore campaign with a school-record 21 rushing touchdowns.
In order to break Jonathan Stewart’s single-season rushing record, James needs just 40 yards additional yards in the BCS title game. He would also need just 68 yards to beat out Derek Loville’s school career record of 3,296 yards set from 1986-89.
For his efforts in helping Oregon to a second consecutive Pac-10 title, James earned a slew of postseason awards. He became Oregon’s first unanimous All-American and was the recipient of the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the nation’s top running back. He beat out Wisconsin junior John Clay and Oklahoma State senior Kendall Hunter.
Most notably, James finished third as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy behind Auburn’s Cam Newton and Stanford’s Andrew Luck. The Texarkana, Texas, native received 22 first-place votes, well behind Newton’s 729 and Luck’s 78. He did receive the most second-place votes, however, with 313 to his credit.
During his time on the awards circuit, James was able to get some much-needed rest after taking a physical beating over the final stretch of the conference slate.
James’ hard-nosed style is something coaches have raved about since he broke onto the scene two years ago.
“He’s just a tough, tough sucker,” Oregon head coach Chip Kelly said. “I’ve said it since day one, I think he doesn’t get enough credit for his toughness. He was great all season long.”
Coming into the season, James had only one individual goal in mind: become an academic All-American. He came up short of reaching that goal this season, but did receive first-team academic All-Pac-10 honors earlier this season. James has a 3.01 grade-point average while majoring in sociology.
Those values helped James, and his teammates, stay on track after a demoralizing offseason.
“It’s just something I wanted to do,” James said. “I take school very serious, because I know, being my size, you can’t play football forever.
“I have no dreams of playing football forever, you know, I want to get my academics, I want to graduate with my degree, and that’s the most important thing to me.”
The importance of earning his degree has James set to return to Oregon for his junior season. There was much speculation about James entering the NFL Draft this year as a redshirt sophomore, but he ultimately decided he wanted to stay with Oregon for at least one more year, if not two.
“Of course I want to be a part of this team,” James said. “Next year, the season after that. I like being here.”
With 3,228 career rushing yards and 36 touchdowns to his credit — again, as only a sophomore — the idea of James sticking around for two more seasons seems somewhat far-fetched. Regardless, Kelly knows he’s guaranteed another year with the reigning Doak Walker trophy winner, providing the national coach of the year with another hint of optimism moving forward.
“This game, college football, has always been about the players,” Kelly said, “and the team with the best players usually are the teams competing for the championships.”
James, and Oregon, appear to be just that.
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