Warhawk rushing game: 6 yards and a cloud of FieldTurf pellets

For most UW-Whitewater football fans, the term “pound the rock” is the rallying cry for one of the top running games in all of NCAA Division III football.

Justin Beaver (2004-2007) holds the WIAC career rushing record of 6,584 yards (1,188 attempts) despite missing much of his freshman season due to injury.

When Beaver and his teammates captured the school’s first NCAA Division III national title as seniors in 2007, many thought that his career rushing mark would stand for many years.

Enter Levell Coppage as a freshman in 2008. The Oak Park, Illinois native enters his senior season closing in on Beaver’s career rushing record.

Coppage enters 2011 with 5675 yards rushing (944 attempts) and needs 910 yards to eclipse Beaver’s school and WIAC career rushing record.

What is most amazing about Coppage’s career has been propensity to get into the end zone with the football. The preseason Division III Player of the Year candidate enters his senior season with 81 rushing touchdowns – 30 more than Greg Corning (UWRF) who is in second place in the conference record book with 51 career touchdowns.

The Warhawk rushing game was “top headline” good long before Beaver and Coppage arrived on the UW-Whitewater campus.

How good has the Warhawk rushing game been? Since the year 2000, UW-Whitewater has had just one season where a running back has not gained at least one-thousand yards on the ground.

Chad Wurth, who is currently in third-place all-time in UW-Whitewater career rushing, was “held” to 982 yards rushing as a senior in 2003. Wurth rushed for 1207 yards as a freshman in 2000. The Monona Grove product lead the WIAC as a sophomore in 2001 with 1019 yards and finished second in the conference in 2002 with 1093 yards.

The following is a year-by-year look at UW-Whitewater rushing leaders (2000-2010)

2010: Levell Coppage – 2,107 yards - 25 TDs (14 games)
2009: Levell Coppage – 2,107 yards - 35 TDs (15 games)
2008: Levell Coppage - 1,461 yards – 21 TDs (13 games)
2008: Antwan Anderson- 1,213 yards – 13 TDs (14 games)
2007: Justin Beaver – 2,430 yards – 15 TDs (15 games)
2006: Justin Beaver – 1,369 yards – 4 TDs (10 games)
2005: Justin Beaver – 2,420 yards – 24 TDs (14 games)
2004: Colin Burns – 1,422 yards – 5 TDs (10 games)
2003: Chad Wurth – 982 yards – 9 TDs (10 games)
2002: Chad Wurth – 1,093 yards 6 TDs (10 games)
2001: Chad Wurth – 1,019 yards – 9 TDs (10 games)
2000: Chad Wurth – 1,207 yards – 13 TDs (10 games)