While Washington Husky football fans previously had to wait a decade to see someone run for 1,000 (or more) yards in a season as 10 years passed between when Rashaan Shehee and Louis Rankin each broke the 1,000-yard rushing threshold, that wasn’t the case between Rankin and the next Husky to meet that milestone.
Chris Polk didn’t make Husky fans wait long at all. I mean, yes, there was a brief gap, but it was a fraction of that previous gap. Because in 2009, Polk managed to get his first 1,000 yard rushing season (and he did it as a freshman).
Which, you know, impressive stuff.
Polk happened to run for 1,113 yards and he scored five touchdowns on the ground thanks to the 226 carries (good for 4.9 yards per carry) back in 2009. And while that touchdown total wasn’t the most impressive thing ever, we’re talking about someone at the very beginning of their career and still making a monumental impact on the Huskies’ offense.
Washington Husky football history: Chris Polk got his first 1,000-yard rushing season for the Huskies in 2009
In his college debut, while facing the really talented LSU Tigers, Polk managed to run for 90 yards. Not bad against one of the SEC’s premier programs. When taking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Polk ran for 136 yards. Again, that’s not bad. Not bad at all. It’s actually pretty impressive.
Polk also happened to run for at least 100 yards against the following:
- 132 yards against the UCLA Bruins
- 130 yards against the Washington State Cougars
- 104 yards against the Oregon Ducks
Across the entire season, Polk put up an average of 92.8 rushing yards per game. The dude was durable and punished defenses on a very regular basis. This was definitely a great way to get a start to a college football career.