By Cody Porter

The conclusion of the 1984 season marked UK football’s best in the past 35 years. Led by head coach Jerry Claiborne, the Cats went 9-3, including the most recent victory over Tennessee until the 2011 season, and a win over Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Bowl.

Leading that team was a group of superior UK running backs, not seen since.

Freshman Mark Higgs was a part of those victories and the second-leading rusher on the team to the departing senior George Adams.

Despite moving into a duo role with Marc Logan, Higgs rushed for 611 yards and five touchdowns his sophomore season.

Again Higgs’ junior season he would return to being a triple threat, with he, Logan and Ivy Joe Hunter all getting in excess of 100 carries.

Finally his consistency would engorge into something more.

The 1987 season would pave the way for Higgs to take a leading role and rush for 1,278 yards and 10 touchdowns.

His 6.62 yards per attempt during his senior year is the highest in UK history.

On paper, he looks to be merely a consistent running back, but when delved into, Higgs and his fellow position players were the UK offense for many of those years, enabling them all to get an overwhelming amount of carries, before he was given the reigns in ’87.

Higgs was drafted in the eighth round of the 1988 draft by the Dallas Cowboys.

A few seasons after bouncing around the league, he ended up with the Miami Dolphins, whom he led in rushing from 1991 to 1993.