Editor's Note: Darren McFadden will be honored this Saturday, Oct. 19, with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during Arkansas' game against Auburn in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He will be officially inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10 in New York City.

Darren McFadden
University of Arkansas
Running Back, 2005-07

• Twice named a First Team All-American (2006-consensus, 2007-unanimous).
• Twice finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up while also winning the Doak Walker Award both years.
• Remains the Razorbacks' all-time leading rusher (4,590 yards).
• Played for coach Houston Nutt.
• Becomes the ninth Arkansas player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Arkansas football was everything to Darren McFadden in high school. The Little Rock native first attended a game on a recruiting visit as a 10th grader and never really looked elsewhere. The state ties make McFadden's induction into the College Football Hall of Fame all the more special, as the local product made good on his promise and then rewrote the Razorbacks' record books.

"I'm actually just now sitting back and just reflecting on everything, because everything seemed like it happened so fast," McFadden said. "Just to think about all the support I had from the coaches I had, the great teammates that I had. My family just putting up with having to do all sort of fun trips here because of football. There are so many people that played a big role. My high school teacher [Leecie Henson] that I talked to since seventh or eighth grade. We still keep in contact. They've all played a big role in helping me to get to where I am, and I'm very appreciative of it."

McFadden is the ninth former Arkansas player to make the Hall. He is a two-time Doak Walker Award winner, a two-time First Team All-American and, incredibly enough, a two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up. He is the school's all-time leading rusher (4,590 yards) and its all-time leader in all-purpose yards (5,881).

He helped the Hogs win the SEC West in 2006, and his 321 rushing yards against South Carolina in 2007 remain tied for the best single-game effort in SEC history.

Still, his greatest memory came in his regular-season finale, when Arkansas entered Death Valley on Black Friday in 2007 and knocked off No. 1 LSU in a 50-48 in a triple overtime classic. The win would resonate for years to come, as the Tigers rebounded from that loss to win the national title that season.

"Anytime we play LSU, everybody's hyped up," McFadden said. "It's one of those big rivalries that people get pumped up for. Just to go out there and just see some of the faces on the guys I was out there playing with is something I'll never forget."

Be it with his legs or with his arm, "Run DMC" became a revolutionary player in Fayetteville, as he regularly lined up at receiver and quarterback, catching 46 balls for 365 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for 205 yards and seven touchdowns (against just one pick). The jack-of-all-trades tallied 926 kick return yards and a score on special teams, too.

"I've seen lots of guys on defense who think they've got him all lined up, that he won't be able to get around the end, for instance, and then he just makes a move, accelerates and he's gone," Arkansas co-star Felix Jones told Sports Illustrated ahead of the 2007 Heisman ceremony. "D-Mac's speed gets him to spots you don't think he can get to."

That speed took him to Oakland, where the Raiders drafted him fourth overall in 2008. He spent 10 seasons in the NFL with Oakland and Dallas. Now living in North Texas, McFadden has volunteered for many charitable organizations and remains active in all three communities that helped raise him.

As the passing game has opened up across college football in the decade since McFadden burst on to the scene, the idea of a running back becoming a Heisman finalist twice is almost a foreign concept.

"I think over the years I guess the running back was one of the, I don't want to say 'forgotten' positions, but people didn't pay as much [attention] to them," McFadden said. "So just to be able to go up there and rep the running backs as a group and be one of the top players in the country was great."