After six years of college, Xazavian Valladay thriving in bellcow role for ASU

Xazavian Valladay does not generally concern himself with personal accolades. After practice Wednesday afternoon, when a reporter casually mentioned that the Arizona State running back leads the Pac-12 in carries, Valladay interjected. “Me? For real? That's wild."

His explanation for not knowing about the carry total was simple.

“I just run the ball,” Valladay said. “I just try to make plays. I'm not into the stats and stuff.”

There is, however, one stat that has caught Valladay’s eye. With a two-yard carry in the third quarter of Saturday’s 42-34 win over Colorado, Valladay accumulated his 4,000th career rushing yard — the most of any active player in FBS.

At the time, it wasn’t a threshold that meant much to Valladay, not with ASU locked in a close, must-win game. Afterwards, though, the totality of his accomplishment set in.

“You kinda reflect on your journey,” Valladay said. “Especially this being my last year. I try not to think about it too much, but I try to appreciate the things because I don't try to be all into myself. But definitely blessed and fortunate just to have milestones like that.”

For Valladay, this year has been a unique challenge. As far as the winding careers of college football’s ‘super’ seniors go, his path has been a relatively straightforward one. As a lightly-recruited two-star, Wyoming was his only FBS offer. This was so long ago, mind you, that when Valladay arrived in Laramie, Josh Allen was still under center for the Cowboys.

With Allen out of the picture following Valladay’s redshirt year, Wyoming embraced being a run-first offense — one that leaned heavily on its bellcow back. From 2019 to 2021, Valladay averaged 95.3 yards per game. By last season, he had spent five years at Wyoming, all under the same coach. It’s an endangered concept in the transfer portal era, but familiarity bred success.

Thanks to the COVID-19 year, Valladay still had one final season of eligibility. With a career rushing average of 5.2 yards per carry, his name quickly ascended the lists of the nation’s most desirable transfer targets at running back.

ASU was a perfect fit.

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The Sun Devils had lost Rachaad White to the NFL, and then-running backs coach Shaun Aguano wanted another back who could carry a heavy load to replace him. At Wyoming, Valladay had proven he could fill that role — one that’s become especially important of late. Aguano is now serving as the interim head coach and running a faster tempo offense, which necessitates a running back who can stay on the field.

“With this kind of tempo offense, you’re gonna lose a couple (yards), but I wanted to make sure that we kept it going,” Aguano said. “Hopefully by the third and fourth quarter, they’ll be tiring out and then we can get on them.”

Transfers, though, aren’t always this seamless, even when they make sense on paper. Valladay openly admits the difference from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 has been stark.

“It's the tempo,” Valladay said. “The tempo here is really faster. The guys are more athletic here. Man, the … pace and the players here are definitely what's different from the Mountain West.”

And yet, he’s been just as effective. With 760 yards on 137 carries, he has a higher yards per carry total at ASU than he did at Wyoming. His 12 total touchdowns are a career high. As ASU has sputtered to a 3-5 record and been marred by inconsistency at quarterback, Valladay has been a bright spot by filling the void left by White with almost identical numbers (at least on the ground — he’s not as much of a threat in the receiving game).

Valladay attributes his comfort in the Pac-12 to his off-season preparation.

As would be expected of a player in his sixth year of college football, he knows how to maximize his time in the weight room. But he also dedicated more time than ever to film study, specifically identifying different coverages. Typically, that’s a skill associated with quarterbacks, but recognizing coverages can also help running backs find holes and break more explosive plays.

“I always want to be the best,” Valladay said. “And when you want to be the best, you've gotta do more than what the average player does. When you hear great players and what they say, you have to do more than what the average football players do.”

Theo Mackie covers Arizona high school sports and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He can be reached by email at theo.mackie@gannett.com and on Twitter @theo_mackie.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Valladay thriving in bellcow role for ASU offense