Jonah Coleman's Place in UW's 1,000-Yard Rushing Club

With two games left, the Husky running back could move halfway up the chart.

Jonah Coleman runs for a touchdown against USC after escaping the tackle of USC's Braylan Shelby. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Standing to the left of Demond Williams Jr., an upright Jonah Coleman took a handoff and zipped through a hole over the right side for a 3-yard gain, bringing a pair of UCLA tacklers with him to the Bruins 20 with just over three minutes to play.

On that play, Coleman surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark.

Yet there was no outward pageantry for this moment, no stadium public-address system acknowledgement, no call to take a bow, though the Big Ten Network TV crew was on top of it, letting its viewers know what this running back had done.

The 5-foot-9, 229-pound Coleman, as he has all season, just went back to work doing what needs to be done for a Jedd Fisch coaching staff that fully expects to establish the run to set up everything else on offense, which was the exact opposite of Kalen DeBoer's approach and the failure for Jimmy Lake staff before him.

Asked for his reaction after reaching this personal milestone, an exhausted Coleman had just one word: "Speechless."

The Stockton, California, native became the15th different Huskies ball carrier to surpass 1,000 yards in a season, reaching 1,008 on 173 carries to date, with this crew of elite runners in Montlake collectively pulling this feat 24 times in school annals.

"I just had to slow down, go back to the basics, and just trust the coaching, be more patient and lot of blocks developed and stuff like that, and I was able to find some space," he said in a postgame interview.

1,000-YARD HUSKY RUSHERS
1. Bishop Sankey, 2013, 1,870 yards	Rushed for 240 against California, 208 against Illinois and 200 against WSU.
2, Corey Dillon, 1996, 1,695 yards	Ran for 222 yards in first quarter alone against San Jose State.
3. Chris Polk, 2011, 1,488 yards	Rushed for 100 yards in 10 of 13 outings, topped by 189 against Utah
4. Bishop Sankey, 2012, 1,439 yards	He was held under 100 in 6 games, but finished strong with 205 vs. Boise State;
5. Chris Polk, 2010, 1,415 yards	He went over 1,000 with 284 against WSU and 177 against Nebraska in last 2 games.
6. Greg Lewis, 1990, 1,407 yards	He had 100-yard streak end at 10 games because of a knee injury.
7. Napoleon Kaufman, 1994, 1,390 yards	He gained 211 against Ohio State, 254 against San Jose State, 227 against UCLA.
8. Myles Gaskin, 2017, 1,380 yards	Gaskin rushed for 100 or more in just 6 of 13 games, but had 202 against Colorado.
9. Myles Gaskin, 2016, 1,372 yards	He had 100 or more in just 6 of 14 outings, but piled p 197 against Oregon.
10. Myles Gaskin, 2015, 1,302 yards	Even with games of 5 and 16 yards, he got well over 1,000.
11. Napoleon Kaufman, 1993, 1,299 yards	He had games of 195 against Stanford and 181 against WSU to break 1,000.
12, Louis Rankin, 2007, 1,294 yards	He broke 100 just 4 times in 13 games, but had 255 against Stanford, 224 against Cal.
13. Myles Gaskin, 2018, 1,268 yards	He missed 2 midseason games, but had 100 or more in 4 of his final 5 outings.
14. Greg Lewis, 1989, 1,197 yards	He had just 4 100-yard games, but he had more than enough to hit 1,000.
15. Dillon Johnson, 2023, 1,195 yards	Rushed 25 times for 256 yards and 4 TDs at USC.
16. Chris Polk, 2009, 1,113 yards	He rushed for 100 in just one of his first 6 games, but it was 136 against Notre Dame.
17. Joe Steele, 1978, 1,111 yards	He got over 1,000 with career-best 193 yards against WSU in season-ender.
18. Hugh McElhenny, 1950, 1,107 yards	He began the season with 177 vs. Kansas State and finished with 296 against WSU.
19. Napoleon Kaufman, 1992, 1,084 yards	He broke 100 just 4 times, but he had 208 against California.
20. Rashaan Shehee, 1997, 1,055 yards	He missed 3 games with an injury but got over 1,000 with 193 against Michigan State.
21. Salvon Ahmed, 2019, 1,016 yards	Ahmed got over 1,000 yards with 153 against USC and 174 against Oregon State.
22. Jacque Robinson, 1984, 1,036 yards	He went the first 7 games without 100, but closed with 4 in the last 5 games.
23. Jonah Coleman, 2024, 1,008 yards	He could climb as high as No. 13 in last two outings.
24. Ronnie Rowland, 1976, 1,002 yards	Rowland had 4 100 outings, matched each time by fullback Robin Earl.

Coleman keeps getting punished and punishing people. To go over four digits, he ran 21 times for 95 yards and 2 touchdowns against UCLA, just missing out on his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season.

While his UW rushing total ranks him 23rd among the previous Huskies to reach 1,000, he could climb as high as high as 13 or 14 on the list with two games remaining -- a road outing at Oregon and an undetermined bowl game.

In 2023, Coleman led Arizona in rushing with 892 yards on 128 carries while sharing the load with older players and was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention, and then he was the first one to follow Fisch to Seattle when the coach took the job here.

Just a junior, he can return to the UW next season and try and top this one, with Fisch indicating the chances of the back coming back is "high 90 percent."

Coleman, when asked about a possible return, wouldn't answer. As always, with or without a ball in his hands, he prefers to remain elusive.

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