Marshall Faulk

Marshall William Faulk (born February 26, 1973) is an American football coach and former professional running back who is the running backs coach for the Colorado Buffaloes. Faulk previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, most notably with the St. Louis Rams. He is regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time.

Faulk played college football for the San Diego State Aztecs, twice receiving unanimous All-American honors. He was selected second overall in the 1994 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts, where he spent his five seasons and earned two Pro Bowl selections. Faulk spent his next seven seasons with the Rams, becoming a central contributor to the Greatest Show on Turf offense. As a member of the Rams, Faulk was named NFL Most Valuable Player in 2000, won a record three AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year awards, extended his Pro Bowl selections to seven, and received three consecutive first-team All-Pro selections. He also appeared in two Super Bowls and won Super Bowl XXXIV. Following his playing career, Faulk was an analyst for various programs on NFL Network until December 2017.

Faulk is one of only three NFL players (along with Marcus Allen and Tiki Barber) to reach at least 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards and the only to amass 12,000 yards rushing and 6,000 yards receiving. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

Faulk was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended Carver High School in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where he played for the Carver Rams high school football team. Also a standout track sprinter, Faulk was timed at 10.3 seconds in the 100 meters, 21.74 over 200 meters, and 49.4 in the 400 meters.^{[citation needed]} While growing up he sold popcorn at New Orleans Saints games in the Louisiana Superdome.

During his final two years playing for Carver High, Faulk rushed 1,800 yards and scored thirty-two touchdowns. In his senior season, he also played defensive back, intercepting 11 passes and returning six of them for touchdowns.

Faulk was heavily recruited by several major colleges, but due to his standout performance on defense, most of them recruited him to play the cornerback position. However, Faulk strongly desired to play the running back position in college. "I didn't love playing cornerback, so I knew I wouldn't be as successful in that position," Faulk told Sports Illustrated Kids. "You have to really love what you do to be a star." Ultimately he accepted an athletic scholarship to attend San Diego State University, because they were the first team to offer him a scholarship to play running back.

One of the best performances of his career was against the University of the Pacific on September 14, 1991, in just his second collegiate game. In 37 carries, he amassed 386 yards and scored seven touchdowns, both records for freshmen (the 386 yards were a then-NCAA record). "Faulk had scoring runs of 61, 7, 47, 9, 5, 8 and 25 yards." That performance sparked one of the greatest freshman seasons in NCAA history, gaining 1,429 yards rushing, with 1,630 total yards from scrimmage, 23 total touchdowns (21 rushing), and 140 points scored. At the end of the year, Faulk joined Tony Dorsett and Herschel Walker as one of just three true freshmen ever selected to the College Football All-America Team by the Associated Press.

Faulk went on to better 1,600 yards rushing in his sophomore year. In Faulk's junior season in 1993, he was able to showcase his all-purpose ability by catching 47 passes for 640 yards and 3 touchdowns to go with 1,530 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground. These numbers put Faulk 3rd in the nation in all-purpose yardage that year, and 2nd in scoring. Faulk left San Diego State University with many of the school's offensive records, among them 5,562 all-purpose yards and 62 career touchdowns, which is the 8th most in NCAA history.