I come to you today, humbly, in praise of a player you might not know about. To some, he seemingly operates on the fringes of college football (read: West Coast), attracting attention from only those who dissect box scores with a biologist's care, or watch ESPN as if its intravenous fluid. To some, he's as alien as the reputation of his hometown -- Roswell, N.M.

Stay up late some Saturday night and you might see him, making would-be tacklers miss, breaking misguided arm tackles and slipping through seams like thread through a needle. He embodies things that, in the college game, can be difficult to find but impossible to do without -- toughness, consistency, humility and excellence.

He is DonTrell Moore, running back for the University of New Mexico. He is the Mountain West Conference's all-time leading rusher. He's the nation's No. 2 active rusher, behind only Memphis' DeAngelo Williams. And, last weekend against Colorado State, he became just the sixth back in NCAA history to record four straight seasons of 1,000 yards or more.

Let's chew on that for a minute. Just the sixth back? Consider all of the great running backs that have circulated through the college game. It's an amazing list, to say the least. Doak Walker, Charles White, Billy Simms, Eric Dickerson and Ricky Williams just to name a few. And there are only six?

One was Tony Dorsett, the first to do it, back when the NCAA started relaxing its restrictions on how much freshmen could play (remember, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno still isn't comfortable with freshman in the starting lineup, even though he's playing four this fall to stellar results). Dorsett paved the way for guys like Amos Lawrence and Denvis Manns, guys I hadn't heard of until I started researching this article. Ron Dayne and Cedric Benson, the fourth and fifth players to accomplis the feat, of course, are still in the NFL.

Backs like Moore should become more commonplace in college football, now that freshmen are gaining more playing time as coaches need to win now, and not later, to keep their jobs. Of course, major programs benefit from playing freshmen early, and so do the players -- as in going hardship to the NFL before their senior year.

But Moore has stayed for his senior year, just as Williams and Dayne and Benson did. But Moore wasn't chasing a record, or else he could have gone hardship after his junior season and would be backing up some well-heeled NFL veteran as I write this.

No, Moore's career changed in San Francisco on Dec. 30 of last year. That night, at the Emerald Bowl, Moore looked nothing like the jewel he had become as a college player. Lying on the ground, writing in pain, Moore tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the first quarter.

On the fast track to NFL possibilities, Moore now had to rebuild his name and his knee. Now he was Deuce McAllister, Willis McGahee or Frank Gore -- productive college players who, after a knee injury, are now looked upon with a suspicious eye by NFL scouts. As he worked to regain the strength in his knee, the days blended together.

"I don't know (how long it was), you can't really count them," Moore said. "I have no idea. I just know it was for six months and it's still going on now. A lot of hours of the day."

Moore's track record kept him on some scouts' radar, to be sure. As a redshirt freshman he rushed for 1,134 yards and 13 touchdowns. As a sophomore, he gained 1,450 yards and scored 13 more times. As a junior he gained 1,091 yards for the season, and scored five touchdowns in the season opener. He even fought a sprained MCL for three weeks, before his knee finally gave way in San Francisco.

But a knee injury, as much as even the layman sports fan knows about them, are crapshoots. Some players react differently. No one could know how Moore's knee would react once he was healthy again. But Moore's background certainly played a part.

Moore is part of an athletic family. In fact, it was his mother who turned him on to football, running contrary to every stereotypical mother who believed they needed to protect their children from the violence of football.

"I just started playing because my mom asked me to," Moore said. "I was playing basketball and my mom just asked me to play football because she wanted me to have something else to do, and to be well rounded in athletics. I never knew what was to come."

Mom was an athlete at a time when women still weren't athletes. His mom was in gymnastics and volleyball growing up. No doubt Moore acquired some of her talent.

Moore feverishly rehabbed his knee after his February surgery, hoping to be ready for the Lobos' season opener in September. He made it, as the Lobos faced Nevada-Las Vegas.

Moore started, but worked his way into form slowly, gaining only 39 yards against the Rebels. But his toughness on two straight runs in the third quarter -- in which he dragged defenders for 16 yards -- was a sign of things to come.

You see, during Moore's absence, the Lobos changed their offensive scheme from an I-formation, two-back set, to a spread option formation. The different formations meant Moore now had to get used to getting hit more often.

"Part of it is that I think the running game that we're running out of the spread offense doesn't allow him as many open field opportunities once he breaks the line of scrimmage," New Mexico head coach Rocky Long said. "In the past we were two tight ends and two backs a lot, so when you break the line of scrimmage it's him against one guy. There was more open space once he broke the line of scrimmage. Now he's the dive back in a read option play, so when he breaks the line of scrimmage there's a lot of safeties back there that are coming toward the line of scrimmage that are keeping him from going 30 or more yards. Now he's getting six and seven yard gains because everyone is in an umbrella-type defense. He's having more opportunities to break tackles because he doesn't have the open space to shake someone."

Moore adjusted quickly. He gained 94 yards on 20 carries against Missouri the following game. He even threw a touchdown pass, the second of his college career. Then, against New Mexico State he became the Lobos' all-time leading rusher by gaining 120 yards on 24 carries, passing Mike Williams, who set the record in 1978. Moore did his damage in just three quarters.

More stellar outings followed. He rushed for 161 yards against Texas El-Paso, making him the 65th back in NCAA history to gain 4,000 yards in a career. Then against TCU, he rushed for 129 yards, three touchdowns and 228 all-purpose yards. Against one of the NCAA's best defenses, Moore showed he was all the way back.

"He (Moore) is making himself into one of the best in the history of the NCAA and you can't say too much more than that," Long said.

He only grabbed 82 yards the following game against BYU, but against Wyoming Moore would earn MWC Offensive Player of the Week honors after gaining 181 rushing yards and scoring three times in a victory, as the Cowboys were the MWC's top-ranked defense. Along the way, he passed Bo Jackson, Earl Campbell and Dickerson on the NCAA all-time rushing list.

After his 117-yard performance against Colorado State last weekend, Moore has 1,085 rushing yards this season, and 4,760 yards for his career. It's only a matter of time -- and 240 yards -- before Moore becomes the 11th back in NCAA Division I history to rush for 5,000 yards in a career.

The NFL will most certainly follow. The career that might have been in jeopardy 10 months ago is flourishing once again. Moore's thought about it, and thought out life without football. He's a criminal justice major, and spent the summer working as an intern with the Metro Court. He says he could be a forensic scientist or crime scene investigator if football doesn't work out.

But is there any doubt that Moore will be a first-day selection in next April's NFL Draft, perhaps a first-round pick? None. And for a player as well-respected and as hard-working as Moore, those are just desserts.

"Well, you know the plan is to make a (NFL) team and excel at that," Moore said. "But I have other things planned out just in case that doesn't happen. Hopefully, the Lord says the same and I'm able to play in the NFL."