Rob Hardin / Senior Staff Photographer / rh124104@ohiou.edu

Kalvin McRae dives for a first down during the Bobcats’ MAC championship game against Central Michigan University November 30. The Bobcats lost the matchup 31-10.

It’s no secret that as goes Kalvin McRae, so go the Bobcats.

After five games last season, the Bobcats and McRae, a tailback, were both struggling. The team had just lost to Bowling Green, 21-9, dropping its record to 2-3. In the loss, McRae ran for 55 yards, raising his average to 48 yards per game. It was a far cry from the 109 yards per game he had averaged just a year earlier.

Nothing seemed to be wrong with McRae. In his defense, the Bobcats had played a couple big-name teams (Rutgers and Missouri), and he was still showing the same mix of power and speed that got him 1,202 yards in 2005.

At that point, offensive coordinator Tim Albin had figured out the problem. The Bobcats weren’t giving McRae the ball enough.

“We were averaging throwing the ball 32 times a game. That’s just not us,” Albin said. “We started handing it off more, and we were able to win close games. It just started snowballing.”

One week later against Western Michigan, McRae got the ball a lot more and, in turn, had his best game of the season (120 yards, two touchdowns). The Bobcats won that game and the next six after that on their way to winning the Mid-American Conference East Division.

McRae finished the year with 1,252 yards and 15 touchdowns, his best effort since he joined the team in 2004. The Bobcats finished with nine wins, the most since 1968.

With the 2007 season on the horizon, Albin is taking the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach” to the team’s workhorse.

“Obviously, Kalvin’s our best player on offense, so we’re going to build it around him,” Albin said. “You have to get the ball to your best player on offense any way you can.”

Aside from his success rushing the ball, McRae also led the Bobcats with 29 receptions. Albin said he hopes for McRae to catch between 35 and 40 passes this season.

With high expectations for both the team and himself, McRae seems up to the task.

“The one goal I’ve got my eye set on right now is to become the all-time leading rusher (at Ohio),” McRae said. “Other than that I just want to go out with a bang and just have as much fun as I can in my senior year.”

McRae’s goal of going down as the best rusher in Ohio history is quite attainable. He needs to average a little more than 84 yards per game to gain the 1,009 yards needed to break the school record.Spring practice is usually a time when a team would give extra rest to a player as valuable as McRae. But the Bobcats find themselves in a peculiar situation this spring, having only three true tailbacks in camp until the fall, when four recruits arrive.Coach Frank Solich said that McRae will continue to see steady action in practice, but the team will try to limit his reps when the Bobcats have scrimmages. But that too could be difficult because of the team’s lack of depth in the backfield.The extra work doesn’t seem to bother McRae. He’s been through tougher times.“I feel like I’m in pretty good shape right now,” he said. “I remember a spring practice where I took every rep at one practice. I’m used to it. You’ve got to continue to be a leader for the team and do whatever you can to be better.”