Nov. 11, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU's Donnel Pumphrey from ESPNFrontRow on Vimeo.
ESPN reporter Jen Lada interviewed Pumphrey on Wednesday for the Saturday feature, which is described as, "SDSU's all-time rusher finds his way through defenses by instinct, but every decision he's made off the field is inspired by his young daughter Maliya."
On the field, Pumphrey leads the nation with 1,581 rushing yards, while adding 13 touchdowns and a team-high 20 catches for 145 yards. Pumphrey, who is a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award (college player of the year) and was midseason first-team All-American by USA Today, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Sporting News, CBS Sports and Fox Sports, has 135 more yards than the next player, despite not playing in the fourth quarter in each of the last three games. He has four games this year with at least 220 yards rushing (only two others in FBS play have more than one game with 220 and both only have two apiece).
Pumphrey enters Saturday's Nevada game ranked fifth all-time in NCAA history in rushing yards (5,853), 11th in both rushing touchdowns (58) and overall touchdowns (63), and 16th in all-purpose yards (6,877).
The Aztecs (8-1, 5-0 MW) and Wolf Pack (3-6, 1-4 MW) meet at 7:30 p.m. PT. SDSU has won five consecutive games, 16 straight against conference opponents and 18 of its last 19 contests.