Utah Utes football: Workhorse RB John White IV has opponents seeing red

SALT LAKE CITY — John White IV is carrying quite a load for the University of Utah football team. In last week's 27-8 win over Oregon State, the junior ran the ball 35 times, netting 205 yards on the ground — becoming the first Ute since Marty Johnson in 2002 to reach the 200-yard mark in a game.

It also moved White closer to another milestone. He's just 85 yards away from becoming just the 11th player in program history to run for 1,000-yards in a season.

White could reach the mark Saturday in Tucson against Arizona. He's averaging 114.4 yards per game and will face a rushing defense that ranks 10th in the Pac-12. The Wildcats are giving up 174 yards per outing.

"He's one of those guys that you give him a little bit and he'll make a lot out of it. That's something that's great for an offensive lineman to have," said right tackle Tony Bergstrom. "He's closing in on that 1,000-yard mark, which is a big thing for us. We take a lot of pride in it. But obviously he's done a lot on his own, too, so we really appreciate John White."

The feeling is mutual. After the Oregon State game, White deflected attention away from himself and noted that everybody played hard.

"We just stuck to what we normally do," said the 5-foot-8, 186-pound White. "That's just establishing the run and that's what we did."

White, however, was the driving force behind Utah's success. He accounted for all but 20 of the Utes' yards on the ground. Highlights included a 60-yard gain and a 6-yard touchdown run.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham called it a "big performance" and "huge."

White is making quite an impact. The Utes are 4-0 this season when he runs for more than 100 yards, eclipsing the mark against Montana State (150), BYU (174), Pittsburgh (171) and Oregon State.

"He's still early in his career, he's only been here eight games, but so far he's off to a great start," Whittingham said when asked if White ranks among the best running backs in Utah history. "He's closing in on that (1,000-yard) milestone. I think time will tell if he's going to be in the same category. We've had some pretty good running backs come through here."

With four Pac-12 games and a possible bowl game left to play, White has already posted the 17th-best rushing season in Ute history. He's currently on pace to finish the regular season with 1,491 yards — just shy of Carl Monroe's school record of 1,507 in 1982. A bowl game, obviously, could make the difference in that regard.