between the tackles as freshmen and Sophomore's, and Staley just wasn't near as successful.
Yards and td's count, but running the option isn't about being fast enough to get to the edge, that's a sweep, catching that pitch from the qb and running untouched has everything to do with 3 things: the qb making the timely pitch, the defense not having an extra man for the pitch(much of this goes back to the qb's pitch), and the speed of the rb.
2001 was an incredible year could have been a 2,000 yard year with 3 more games that he missed. But he didn't quadruple(quintuple had he not missed those 3 games) his previous season's best rushing effort for no reason other than being 1 year older and more experienced.