How Cal Poly running back overcame injuries to score his first touchdown as a Mustang

In a fourth-quarter huddle during Cal Poly’s season opener against the University of San Diego, offensive coordinator Sheldon Cross had a message for his players.

He told the offense they were “going to score here,” running back Mark Biggins recalled, with the team in the red zone at the 18-yard line. “He pretty much said it was going to be a touchdown.”

Then, in a game where much of the focus was on quarterback Sam Huard’s debut under center, the Mustangs opted to put the ball in Biggins’ hands.

From the I formation, the redshirt senior took the handoff from Huard and dashed through the defensive line, reaching the end zone unscathed, with only the arms of defenders reaching out attempting to take him down.

Biggins flipped the ball to the referee before taking a knee and pointing to the sky, celebrating his first-ever touchdown in an often-frustrating college football career marked more by his time spent off the field than on it.

Heading into his fifth season as a Mustang, Biggins has played under three different head coaches: Tim Walsh, Beau Baldwin and now Paul Wulff.

In those prior seasons under a multitude of coaches, Biggins had never reached the end zone.

When he crossed the goal line in the Mustangs’ 27-10 win on Sept. 1, Biggins called it “a surreal moment.”

“It’s something that I’ve dreamed about when I was in high school, finally being able to score in a college game. I was thinking it would probably come a little sooner.

“But it’s better later than never.”

Running back’s career derailed by injuries

In high school at St. Ignatius in San Francisco, Biggins was an immediate standout from freshman year.

However, when he came to Cal Poly, he had to adjust to not being “the guy” right away. A pair of ensuing injuries only made things more difficult for the ball carrier who is now one of the team’s longest-tenured players.

After Biggins’ freshman season in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the Mustangs’ 2020 season until the spring of 2021.

In the team’s first game against Southern Utah, Biggins, who was a sophomore at the time, got the start at running back.

However, in the first quarter, after only getting two rushing attempts, Biggins dislocated his shoulder.

Biggins was apart of a large group of players who went down to injury that year, ultimately leading the program to discontinue the season due to health and safety concerns.

After the injury, he worked to rehabilitate his shoulder and secure his starting role for the fall season, but the turnaround from the spring was too quick and it didn’t work out.

“I was pretty frustrated,” Biggins said. “I couldn’t just make all the excuses in the world. I just knew I had to keep working.”

By the next spring, Biggins was healthy enough to suit up for early season practices, and he felt that his work was starting to “pay off a little bit.”

He was seeing snaps with the first and second string group, but then fate struck again when Biggins suffered a torn ACL and MCL, which would force him to miss the entire 2022 season.

About a month or two prior to injuring his knee, Biggins also suffered a death in the family, losing a close cousin.

“He was one of those guys that he was good at everything,” Biggins said. “He was always the cool guy that everybody liked. He was really good in school. He was also really good in sports. ... He was just somebody that I aspired to be like in my family.”

That span of a couple months ended up being his “most challenging time,” Biggins said.

“That could have made any other person stray away from football, decide to quite, and get distracted by other things,” he said.

He credits his mother, father and brother for keeping him on track.

“They were telling me that I just needed to keep putting the work in, lock in and just get to another level of how focused I am when it comes to this game,” Biggins said. “Just because it can be taken away at any given moment.”

Cal Poly player has a renewed focus this year

Before the season began, Biggins told himself that his first touchdown was going to be for his cousin.

So when Biggins kissed his hand, took a knee and pointed to the sky after scoring, he was giving thanks to his cousin.

“I was just like saying thank you to him for giving me the strength to do all of this that I’m doing,” Biggins said. “That’s why you see in my celebration I pounded on my chest, kissed my hand and pointed up just because I was showing thanks to him.”

A lesson Biggins shares with the younger members of the team from his experience is “you’re not gonna be what you envision (as quickly as) tomorrow.”

“You have to put in daily deposits every single day in order to get to where you’re trying to be,” Biggins said.

Now, heading into his fifth year, it’s Biggins who has high expectations for himself.

“I’m expecting to have just a really standout year and try to put the country on notice just because I’ve spent a lot of time on those sidelines,” Biggins said. “It my time to shine now and show everybody who I say I am.

“I try to say that I’m the best back in the country, and it’s just time for me to show that.”