It's not unusual to find a running back willing to handle the majority of his team's carries. Anyone who ever played the position feels they're at their best when their number is called exclusively.

Josh Scobey, who happens to wear No. 1, sure wouldn't mind being the only one in the backfield.

"I feel like I'm an every-down back and I can take the pounding for four quarters," said the 6-0, 205-pound senior. "It's something I've always done. I can't justify turning this into a dominant-back system, but that's where I come from. That's my roots."

His success at Del City (Okla.) High School first attracted Kansas State. K-State won that recruiting battle, but Scobey failed to qualify academically and enrolled at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.

More carries, more records, more love from Kansas State. Finally cleared to wear purple, he led K-State with 718 yards last season.

Not quite the four-figure total he was accustomed to posting in high school and junior college, but by the end of K-State's 11-3 run, Scobey established himself as the primary back -- a distinction he solidified with 147 yards in the Cotton Bowl.

"Going through a committee as I did, it takes patience," Scobey said. "I had to be very patient every day and go out and work, take every rep and take advantage of every opportunity I had. It paid off."

It wouldn't be a stretch to say the Kansas State single-season rushing record is within reach, considering it's a modest 1,137 yards. Yet the mark set by Isaac Jackson has stood since 1973, surviving the Wildcats' resurgence under Bill Snyder.

"Our situation here is we're going to try to keep it as loose as possible," said K-State offensive coordinator Ron Hudson. "We're going to do a lot of things, but I think Josh can carry it 15-20 times a game. You get over 100 yards a game with him, you're on your way."

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