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COLLEGE FOOTBALL: SEC Media Days
Hogs star McFadden eyes even bigger 2007

• Arkansas RB Darren McFadden hopes to improve on his 2006 season in which he finished runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

Colin Chmielewski

HOOVER, Ala.  — Darren McFadden said he dressed up as a clown this past Halloween.

Surely plenty of Southeastern Conference defenders could find the irony in that, considering the Arkansas tailback spent most of 2006 making them look like one.

The runner-up for the Heisman Trophy returns to the Razorbacks for his junior — and likely final — season, looking to improve on a year in which he rushed for 1,647 yards and 14 touchdowns and helped lead   

Arkansas to the SEC Championship game.

And Arkansas coach Houston Nutt believes McFadden (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) can do just that. After all, Nutt knows firsthand his star is anything but a clown off the field.

During the opening day of SEC Media Days, Nutt told a story of how McFadden and fellow running back Felix Jones were in a class together this summer. The two backs already had achieved such a high grade during the semester that the professor gave them and a few other students a week off from class.

But when the teacher showed up the next week, McFadden and Jones were in class anyway.

"That's just the kind of person I am," McFadden said. "I go to class and do the things that I have to do. I felt like it was my responsibility -— by me being a leader of the team — to do the right thing by going to class."

Nutt said that incident just sums up what makes McFadden so special.

"That's what it's about," Nutt said. "That's the attitude. He loves to practice. He loves to go to school. He loves to go to the weight room. I don't know if he likes all the cameras, but he's doing a better job each and every time he gets in front of them."

McFadden is notoriously shy but understands that it's a part he must play based on the star he's become. He even welcomes the pressure that goes with being the top Heisman candidate to start the season.

"It's something that motivates me," he said. "I know that I will have to come with my A-game when I'm out there and not slack around. I must come out for every game."

McFadden will be working with an offensive line that is replacing three starters, but also has Jones (1,168 yards and 6 TDs) and receiver Marcus Monk (962 yards and 11 TDs) to help relieve some of the burden. Having McFadden around not only helps the Razorbacks offense, but it's helping on the other side of the ball too.

"He is a great running back," linebacker Weston Dacus said. "Probably one of the best I've played against in practice. He is going to hit the hole full-speed. He gets us in a lot of trouble with our defensive coordinator. We feel like we can go against anything practicing with a guy of his caliber."

Whether that caliber is Heisman-level gets its first challenge against Troy on Sept. 1. But Nutt knows that date will just be the first week of many that No. 5 will be wearing a target on his back.

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