Octavias McKoy found his speed playing flag football when he was 4 years old. Even then, he was rarely stopped.

He carried that with him through college and into his record-setting 455-yard day.

On Saturday, McKoy, a senior running back at Division III Western Connecticut State University, broke the NCAA single-game rushing record in a 55-35 win against Worcester State. He carried the ball 43 times and scored five touchdowns on runs of 15, 1, 41, 53 and 71 yards. He couldn’t be stopped.

“There won’t be another game where he doesn’t get the ball at least 25-30 times,” Western Connecticut head coach Joe Loth said.

The previous mark, 441 yards, was set by Dante Brown of D-III Marietta College in 1996.

“They’ve been playing college football since 1869 and nobody in its history has rushed for more than he has in a game. No one. Not in 130 years,” Loth said.

At the end of the first half at Worcester, McKoy had already rushed for more than 200 yards, exceeding his single-game numbers from earlier in the season. And he more than doubled that number by the end of the game, despite being taken out halfway through the fourth quarter.

The total distance he ran on Saturday spanned four and a half lengths of the field.

“No one was thinking about any records,” McKoy said. “I just focused on staying hydrated, drinking Gatorade and keeping myself fresh so I could just keep running.”

McKoy came out of Stratford (Conn.) High School as an unranked recruit, but it was because of his academics, not for a lack of talent, Loth said. McKoy planned to accept a scholarship from Iowa, but he didn’t qualify academically and bounced around a couple of junior colleges before landing at Western Connecticut.

Now McKoy’s team is 5-2. And with only two games left, it will have its first winning season since 2005.

“There’s more that goes into it than just me,” he said. “My offensive line, my coaches, they all do a great job for me. Everyone is making great blocks.”

During the third week, McKoy was splitting carries with another running back on the team. But after posting more than 150 yards on about 19 carries in back-to-back games, he saw a lot more playing time, Loth said.

Since then, McKoy has averaged about 10 yards a carry and has rushed for at least 150 yards in each of the following four games.

Two weeks before playing Worcester, McKoy ran for 372 yards. The week after that, he rushed for 226. He had been building up to the record-breaking game, said Eric Yates, Western Connecticut’s running backs coach. It wasn’t just a “one-game-wonder.”

“This kid has a wolf mentality. He is bred for football,” Yates said. “His commitment to the game is unreal.”

Since Saturday’s game, McKoy has been recognized as the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the

Beyond Sports Network Athlete of the Week and was interviewed on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Tuesday night.

What he didn’t know — until being asked about it — was that he had been nominated for the network’s Capital One Cup Impact Performance of the Week award, an honor typically reserved for Division I players.

“That’s an honor right there,” McKoy said. “As a child, you grow up always thinking, ‘I want to be on SportsCenter.’”

Published on October 31, 2013 at 1:10 am

Contact Joe: jtinfant@syr.edu | @joeinfantino