Danny Woodhead

Daniel Jacob Henry Woodhead (born January 25, 1985) is an American amateur golfer and former professional football player.

Woodhead finished as Nebraska's Class A leading rusher, as well as Nebraska's Class A all-time leading rusher with 4,891 yards (2000–2003).

North Platte High's quarterback that year, Derek Enderle, also finished as the state's leading passer.

This marked the first time in North Platte's history that the football team finished with the state's leading passer and rusher in the same season.

In addition to being a star in football, Woodhead was also a four-year letterman that set school or state records in three other sports; in track & field, he broke the school record after sprinting a blistering 10.5 seconds in the 100-meter dash; in basketball, he once scored 47 points in a game; in soccer, he netted 16 goals in a season.

North Platte reached the state finals in 2001, with Woodhead's help after beating Millard North High School team 24–21.

Woodhead blocked a field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter to give North Platte possession with only minutes left.

North Platte's Ben Woodhead, Woodhead's older brother, threw a pass down field to set up a game-winning field goal by Jake McCarthy.

However, North Platte went on to lose the state championship 28–14 to Millard West High School.

In Woodhead's junior season, his team went 8–1 in the regular season, and won two games in the playoffs before falling to Millard North in the semifinals.

In Woodhead's senior season, North Platte had its first undefeated regular season in 40 years, going 9–0.

The team went on to beat Omaha North High School in the first round of the playoffs, Bellevue East in the second round, and finally lost to Millard North 21–7 in the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Only Dan Pugh of Mount Union College, a Division III school in Alliance, Ohio, with 248 points in 2002 and Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State with 234 in 1988, had ever scored more points in a season than Woodhead scored in 2006.

In 2004, Woodhead began attending Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska, where he rushed for 1,840 yards as a freshman.

Woodhead was the first recipient of a full athletic scholarship at Chadron State in its 96-year history.

In 2005, Woodhead carried the ball 278 times for 1,769 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per carry, and 21 touchdowns.

He also had 30 receptions for 367 yards, averaging 12.2 yards per reception.

In 2006 and 2007, he won the Harlon Hill Trophy, awarded to the best player in NCAA Division II, making him the third player to win the trophy twice in its history (the other players are Johnny Bailey and Dusty Bonner).

In 2006, through 12 games, Woodhead rushed for 2,740 yards, a new all-division single season rushing record, surpassing Kavin Gaillaird.

Including the playoffs, his rushing yards in 2006 totaled 2,756.

He also led his team to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2006, losing to Northwest Missouri State.

Northwest Missouri State managed to hold Woodhead to a season low 16 yards rushing on 16 carries while giving up 79 yards receiving, which was more than double anyone on the Northwest Missouri team.

Chadron also had 327 yards of total offense compared to Northwest Missouri State's 306.

Through 39 games, Woodhead's 606 points equated to 15.5 points a game, the highest ever in NCAA Division II.

On October 6, 2007, Woodhead became the NCAA all-time, all-division leading rusher.

However, in 2007 Abilene Christian University's Bernard Scott broke Woodhead's Division II record by scoring 39 touchdowns (234 points).

Woodhead accumulated 7,441 yards on the ground, for his career, giving him a career average of 190.8 yards per game.

He rushed for more than 200 yards in 19 of his 39 appearances and scored in 37 consecutive games, both of which are NCAA all-division records.

After a 208-yard game against Western New Mexico in 2007, he became college football's all-time leading rusher, breaking the record previously held by R.J. Bowers, who played for Grove City College, a Division III school in Pennsylvania from 1997 to 2000.

Nate Kmic broke the all division record with 8,074 for Mount Union College.

Woodhead is also just the sixth NCAA Division II player to rush for more than 1,000 yards in four seasons.

He recorded 9,259 all-purpose yards, which ranked second on the NCAA all-time list at the time of his college career ending.

He played college football as a running back for the Chadron State Eagles and was signed by the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) as an undrafted free agent in 2008.

He also played for the New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens.

Woodhead set several NCAA college football rushing records, including the single season rushing and all-time rushing records.

Woodhead held this record until it was broken by Mount Union running back Nate Kmic on December 13, 2008.

With the Patriots, Woodhead made his lone Super Bowl appearance in 2011.

He finished the game with four catches for 42 yards and a touchdown while rushing seven times for 18 yards, but the Patriots fell to the New York Giants 21–17.

After his football career, he became a golfer, qualifying for United States Golf Association championship tournaments.

Woodhead played football at North Platte High School in North Platte, Nebraska, and broke many records.