Arkansas Native Kenneth Dixon Sets NCAA TD Record for Louisiana Tech vs Arkansas State

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

The world has a funny way of working things out. For senior running back Kenneth Dixon, his collegiate career has been a slow and steady pace of racking up rushing yards while piling on the touchdowns. On Saturday, Dixon’s outstanding college career for Louisiana Tech came to a big, but on the grand scheme, quiet close with a 47-28 win over Arkansas State and a NCAA FBS record 87 touchdowns from the line of scrimmage, a mirror of his high school career.

Dixon came out of Strong, Arkansas, with a little over a handful of offers from Louisiana-Monroe, Missouri State, Central Arkansas, Memphis, and Arkansas State. The 5’10”, 210 pound, back was bypassed by bigger in-state power the University of Arkansas in favor of 3-star Donovan Roberts (Norman High School, OK) and 4-star Jonathan Williams (Allen High School, TX).

Despite an outstanding senior season when he rushed for an Arkansas single-season state record 3,153 yards with 39 touchdowns for Strong High School, Dixon was only rated as a 3-star and largely overlooked. Dixon quickly showed all of his doubters just how talented he really was rushing for 1,194 yards with 27 touchdowns during his true freshman season for the Bulldogs. He earned Freshman All-American honors and was a first team All-Western Athletic Conference selection. The yards gained on the ground was a NCAA FBS record for a freshman.

A couple of nagging knee injuries slowed Dixon in parts of 10 games in 2013, but the numbers continued to pile up rushing for 917 yards on 151 carries sporting a 6.1 per yard average but slowed his record setting pace with just four rushing touchdowns. Despite being limited, Dixon still earned Second Team All-Conference USA honors.

During his junior season, Dixon continued his onslaught on the record book becoming Louisiana Tech’s all-time leading rusher after a 1,299 yard season with 22 touchdowns. The Bulldogs started displaying Dixon’s all-around talent in 2014 incorporating him into the passing attack. In his first two seasons Dixon dabbled in the passing game catching 24 total passes for 120 yards with two scores but took off in 2014 pulling in 30 passes for 385 yards with six more touchdowns.

Dixon capped off his stellar career rushing for 1,070 yards on 197 carries with 19 touchdowns. He expanded his production in the passing game coming up with 34 receptions for 467 yards with seven additional touchdowns. The senior took a little bit of a backseat in 2015 to the passing game with senior transfer Jeff Driskel lighting it up for the Bulldogs passing for 4,023 yards with 27 touchdowns.

The record for Dixon could be short-lived with Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds having one more game to help pad his stats in the Military Bowl against Pittsburgh on Monday. Reynolds is credited with 115 total touchdowns, 85 rushing and 30 passing. The record is from scrimmage, but an asterisks of some sort should be set up to delineate the difference between the two totally different careers.

Reynolds has that extra option as a quarterback to rack up yards throwing the ball and also controls the offense in Navy’s option attack allowing him to call his own number as he sees fit, which to his credit has worked out well with three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons and three consecutive seasons of 21 or more rushing touchdowns. True, a running back can be part of the passing attack but then so can a quarterback on trick-plays or halfback option throws.

Dixon ended his college career against Arkansas State with 102 yards on 21 carries with two rushing touchdowns and had six receptions for 113 yards with two more scores.

How Dixon stacks up all-time against his peers:

Career-Rushing Touchdowns

QB Keenan Reynolds 85 – Navy (2012-2015)

RB Montee Ball 77 – Wisconsin (2009-2012)

RB Travis Prentice 73 – Miami-Ohio (1996-1999)

RB Kenneth Dixon 72 – Louisiana Tech (2012-2015)

RB Ricky Williams 72 – Texas (1995-1998)

RB Ron Dayne 71 – Wisconsin (1996-1999)

Photo credit: wtop.com; No. 28 Kenneth Dixon verses Illinois.