The Millennium Club

Nick Hartigan was the Ivies' top player of the 2000's


Continuing with my "running" theme this week, here's a list of all the 1,000 rushers at Ivy schools in the 2000's


1) Nick Hartigan, Brown, 1,727 yards (2005)

2) Mike McLeod, Yale, 1,619 yards (2007)

3) Nick Hartigan, Brown, 1,498 yards (2003)

4) Mike McLeod, Yale, 1,364 yards (2006)

5) Johnathan Reese, Columbia, 1,330 yards (2000)

6) Kris Ryan, Penn, 1,304 yards (2001)

7) Clifton Dawson, Harvard, 1,302 yards (2004)

8) Michael Malan, Brown, 1,296 yards (2000)

9) Sam Mathews, Penn, 1,266 yards (2003)

10) Nick Hartigan, Brown, 1,263 yards (2004)

11) Rashad Bartholomew, Yale, 1,232 yards (2000)

12) Clifton Dawson, Harvard, 1,213 yards (2006)

13) Jordan Culbreath, Princeton, 1,206 yards (2008)

14) Clifton Dawson, Harvard, 1,187 yards (2003)

15) Robert Carr, Yale, 1,185 yards (2004)

16) Clifton Dawson, 1,139 yards (2005)

17) Luke Siwula, Cornell, 1,086 yards (2005)

18) Robert Carr, Yale, 1,083 yards (2002)

19) Michael Malan, Brown, 1,059 yards (2001)

20) Joe Sandberg, Penn, 1,042 yards (2006)

21) Cameron Atkinson, Princeton, 1,028 yards (2002)

So there were 21 1,000+ yard rushing seasons by a total of 13 different players in the 2000's. Only Dartmouth failed to produce a 1,000-yard rusher this decade.

By contrast, there were just 18 1,000+ yard rushing seasons in the 1990's by a total of 13 players that decade.

Nick Hartigan and Mike McLeod had the most impressive individual running seasons this decade, but the steady four-for-four 1,000+ seasons for Clifton Dawson is hard to ignore as well.

But look at Dawson's Alma Mater now. Harvard featured a four-headed monster running attack with the QB Collier Winters sharing the ground duties with running backs Gino Gordon, Cheung Ho, and Treavor Scales. Effective multi-faceted running attacks were also the norm at Penn, Brown, and Columbia.

I think this trend will continue, either by design of because of injuries.

The days of the single star backfield seem to be over, even as all the Ivy teams run the ball more overall.