Mike Ichiyama, a versatile football player who earned first team All-America honors as an all-purpose back in 1994. He is best known for posting consecutive 300-yard rushing games in the final two weeks of his career, becoming the first collegiate player in NCAA history to achieve such a feat. Ichiyama remains among UC Davis' all-time leaders in all-purpose yards, receptions, receiving yards, rushing yards, punt returns and kickoff returns.
THE 25-YEAR ICH
On what was roughly the 25th anniversary of Mike Ichiyama's back-to-back 300-yard games, Gilliam's 242 at PSU stands as the No. 5 single-game performance in UC Davis history... Oddly, all five games took place in November, with the No. 6 game – Jermaine Rucker's 238 vs. Saint Mary's – taking place on Oct. 25, 1996:
1. Mike Ichiyama - 309 (11/5/1994)
2. Mike Ichiyama - 305 (11/12/1994)
3. Manusamoa Luuga - 249 (11/19/2016)
4. Preston Jackson - 243 (11/13/1993)
5. ULONZO GILLIAM, Jr. - 242 (11/9/2019)
Ichiyama's performance wrote one of the great "what might have been" stories in program history... He had served as a slot receiver and return man throughout his career, but an injury to starting RB Rusty Stivers moved the diminutive Ichiyama to the backfield for his final two games... On that Nov. 5, 1994 game, the heavy downpour forced UC Davis to run: Ichiyama carried the ball a school-record 42 times... The prevailing thought was to credit the conditions... A muddy field and a small, shifty runner enjoying a one-off start at RB meant that a 300-yard rushing game was unlikely to happen again at any time soon... Yet one week later, Ichiyama broke loose for 305 on a sunny and clear day at San Francisco State's Cox Stadium... He became the second player in NCAA history to run for consecutive 300-yard games, after Northern Illinois' Leshon Johnson in 1993... The next to do so: Texas' Ricky Williams, during his Heisman Trophy season of 1998.
"You turn the ball over four times against a good football team and it's going to be hard to win," Hawkins offered. "That's the nature of the Big Sky. We have to learn from this and move on. You have to learn how to handle defeat without getting defeated."
Much of the post-game focus, however, was on Larison's status.
"He's very special," said Hawkins. "He's strong and physical and with his speed, he can leave you. That kid is blue collar all the way. He is the definition of work."
Added Tompkins, "No matter what, he'll be on the sidelines encouraging us. He's a captain. This one hurts, but that's football. Hats off to them. They play hard and they always find a way. But our confidence is still high. We still have all our goals."
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