Penn State Football: 15 best running backs in Nittany Lions history
By John Buhler
Ki-Jana Carter is probably best known today for being the No. 1 overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1995 NFL Draft. While he is often labeled a bust for his injury-riddled professional career, people tend to forget just how dominating of a ball carrier he was in college at Penn State in the early 1990s.
Carter was a three-sport athlete coming out of high school and committed to Penn State in 1992. After playing sparingly as a freshman in 1992, Carter had back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons in 1993 and 1994 for the Nittany Lions. He had 1,026 yards on 155 carries for seven touchdowns as a sophomore in 1993, but it was his junior season in 1994 that made him a Penn State legend.
Penn State went undefeated that season en route to winning the Rose Bowl in 1994. Carter would rush for 1,539 yards on 198 carries for a ridiculous 23 touchdowns. He was a consensus All-American, be named Rose Bowl MVP in a 38-20 win over the Oregon Ducks and finish as runner-up to Colorado Buffaloes running back Rashaan Salaam for the 1994 Heisman Trophy.
Carter finished his Penn State career with 395 carries for 2,829 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns. Through the 2018 NCAA season, Carter is fourth all time in Penn State rushing touchdowns and 10th all time in career rushing yards. One can only imagine how great those numbers would have been if he returned to the Nittany Lions in 1995.
Despite his excellence at Penn State, it’s almost impossible to separate his lackluster NFL career from what he did in college. He had to go pro, as he was coming off an undefeated season, was the Heisman runner-up and the Bengals took him No. 1 overall. However, the Bengals were arguably the worst run NFL franchise in the 1990s and that was not a great situation for Carter to land professionally.
Interestingly enough, Cincinnati didn’t actually own the No. 1 overall pick initially. That belonged to the expansion Carolina Panthers, who moved back to No. 5 in the deal with Cincinnati to draft Carter’s Penn State teammate in quarterback Kerry Collins. Collins had a good NFL career and has since been enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame. Maybe Carter joins him in Atlanta one day?