Curtis Samuel is on Pace to for 1,000 Yards Rushing and Receiving, Something Never Done Before at the FBS Level

Since 2000, no position has won the Heisman Trophy more than quarterback. Thirteen of the 15 players dubbed college football's most outstanding player since the turn of the century—USC running back Reggie Bush's vacated 2005 season not among them—are signal callers. While Ohio State has a player with the potential to get to New York that plays that position in J.T. Barrett, the Swiss Army Knife that is Curtis Samuel is on a blistering pace through four games in 2016 that puts him among some of football's all-time greats.

Samuel has 330 yards rushing and 345 more receiving for No. 2 and 4-0 Ohio State. If he continues at that clip, he could reach 1,000 yards in each, a feat as spectacular as it is rare.

Brian Westbrook is the only college football player to ever have a season with 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. He finished with 1,046 rushing yards and 1,144 receiving yards for FCS Villanova in 1998.

No player has achieved the feat at the FBS, Division II or Division III level.

Two players have turned in 1,000/1,000 seasons in the NFL. Roger Craig became the first player to do so when he rushed for 1,050 yards and caught passes for 1,016 yards for the San Francisco 49ers in 1985. Marshall Faulk would become the second – and last – player to do it, when he rushed for 1,381 yards and finished with 1,048 receiving yards as a St. Louis Ram in 1999.

Depending on how many games the Buckeyes play this season (thus, if they make the College Football Playoff) Samuel could put together a brilliant campaign that is worthy of national recognition.

As a hybrid back in Urban Meyer's offense, Samuel's explosiveness is unrivaled on Ohio State and mostly across the country. Meyer coached plenty of great players in his career, including one Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Tim Tebow. Percy Harvin became the standard for H-back and even though he never really was in the conversation to win the award he is just as versatile as Samuel.

“I think it's a little harder for those positions to get it, the H-back, but he's certainly having that kind of year that he should be in the conversation,” Meyer said this week of Samuel.

Here's a look at Division I running backs who have topped 1,000 yards rushing in one season, while making a run at the 1,000-yard receiving mark:

McCaffrey is the lone player on that list above to still be in college football. His production in 2016 is down by his standards, however, dwarfed a bit by Samuel in terms of all-purpose yardage. Additionally, Samuel is the only player since 2000 to start a season with more than 300 yards rushing and 300 receiving through the first four games.

Byars makes this list, but Eddie George actually holds the Ohio State record for yards from scrimmage in one season when he totaled 2,344 yards in 1995 – a number that's good enough for 11th in FBS history.

Harvin came close to the mythical 1,000/1,000 mark when he put up 764 rushing yards and 858 receiving yards as a sophomore at Florida in 2007.

Barry Sanders holds the FBS record for yards from scrimmage in one season when he finished with 2,956 (2,850 yards rushing and 106 yards receiving) in 1988 for Oklahoma State. McCaffrey broke Sanders' NCAA all-purpose record last year when he ended the year with 3,864 yards at Stanford.

There is plenty of football left to be played and the competition will eventually get tougher for Samuel as Ohio State pushes forward into Big Ten play. But what he did through four games and the pace he is on right now is highly uncommon at all levels of football.