Kentucky Football: Who are the top 5 best running backs in school history?

Sonny Collins one of the top two in the Wildcat backfield

Everybody knows Sonny Collins whether your young or old, chances are you’ve heard of him. Another Kentucky proud product cracks our list at number two all-time. Collins for many years basically owned the entire page for rushing records at Kentucky.

But that nearly didn’t materialize as he suffered a serious ankle injury just two games into his senior year in high school that sparked rumors that he may never play football. Collins feared he would have to follow his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and work in the coal mines running from rats instead of defenses.

“Well, I started getting phone calls. Rumors began spreading about, and my daddy worried that I wasn’t going to get into college with that kind of stuff going around. I could see myself in the coal mines. I worked one summer there. Both of my grandfathers, or at least one of them, died of black lung. I’d always heard about it, but I didn’t know how it actually was until I was old enough to go down. Man, it’s spooky.

But the injury healed and that was good news for Kentucky fans.

The Madisonville native ended up a first-team All-SEC selection for three of his four years with Kentucky and was also voted SEC player of the year in 1973. The Wildcat legend held the all-time rushing record for 43 years until broken in 2019 with 3,835 yards. Collins is also second all-time in touchdowns with 26, another record he held for almost two decades until Moe Williams came along.

Collins was asked about his favorite football memory or best game at Kentucky by Northern Kentucky Tribune writer Jaime Vaught.

It took place at Jackson, Miss., during his sophomore year in 1973 as the Wildcats rolled over the Bulldogs in a 42-14 win.

"“I ran 200-plus yards and four TDs at the end of three quarters. I was national player of the week. I was done for the night. We won the game.”"

Collins also holds two out of the ten best single-season rushing yard totals in UK history and was enshrined in the UK Athletics Hall of Fame with the class of 2005.

Collins left Lexington after his senior season and was drafted in the second round of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons. Unfortunately, Collins’s career ended with only one season after he suffered a career-ending knee injury. In 2012 Collins was also elected as an SEC Legend.

Collins was in the spotlight as one Benny Snell closed in on his records and even came to watch Snell play at Kroger Field from his home in Fayetteville, Ga, and was even named an honorary team captain when the Wildcats took on Mississippi State in 2018.