Wyoming RB Xazavian Valladay Joins Sun Devils
After losing its top two running backs from the 2021 campaign, ASU's backfield gets a veteran boost from one of the top Mountain West offensive players, Wyoming's Xazavian Valladay.
After losing its top two running backs from the 2021 campaign, ASU’s backfield gets a veteran boost from one of the top Mountain West offensive players, Wyoming’s Xazavian Valladay.
The 6-0 198-pound Valladay was named to the second team 2021 All-Mountain West Conference after collecting a team-high 1,096 rushing tards scoring six touchdowns, and playing in 13 Cowboys games last season. At the end of the regular season, he ranked No. 3 in the Mountain West in rushing yards per game (82.0) while ranking No. 5 in rushing attempts (190). He also ranked No. 3 in rushing yards per carry (5.18 per carry). Valladay showcased his versatility as he ranked No. 8 in the conference in all-purpose yards (101.42 all-purpose yards per game), as well as coming in second on the Cowboy team in receptions with 23 for 233 yards. For his career (2017-2021), The running back collected 3,274 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.
“Xazavian came into Wyoming pretty under-recruited,” said GoWyoGo Publisher Ian McMackin. “He has terrific work ethic and developed himself into really one of the best running backs in the Mountain West Conference. He is the second all-time leading rusher in Wyoming’s history. He certainly isn’t a power back. But one thing he does very effectively is he reads the holes really well, and he’s also a very hard runner. He’s not a big running back, but what he does is run really tough for his size and can break tackles, so he doesn’t have blazing speed but has a very good middle gear between to run between 20 to 40 yards.
McMackin stated that in a run-oriented Wyoming offense, Valladay was part of a very competitive position group, and the fact that ASU’s newest 2022 class addition was able to assert himself as the top ball carrier for the Cowboys speaks volumes of Valladay’s abilities.
“We actually thought for a while that he might go to the NFL Draft this year,” McMackin commented. “He redshirted in 2017 and was just starting to get a feel for everything in 2018. But ever since 2019, he blew up and has been one of the best running backs in the conference (was a first-team All-Mountain West selection in 2019 and 2020). In 2019 he was getting 90 percent of the carries because they didn’t really have a lot behind him that year. This past year his carries got split up a little bit more. I think what was going to happen with him this year was that these carriers were going to continue to get kind sliced up and have this be more running back by committee.
“Another reason why I think he transferred was that sometimes you’re at a school for four or five years, and you’re now ready to move on and try something new. He left on Wyoming on good terms for sure, and Wyoming’s coaching staff has been pretty supportive of him. He’s one of the team captains, and he was a leader. Even when his number of carries kind of diminished a little, he wasn’t on the sidelines pouting about it. He was a real team player.”
Valladay, who is coming in this semester as a grad transfer with one year of eligibility left, is the third scholarship running back on ASU’s team and the most veteran one at that; he joins sophomore Daniyel Ngata and incoming freshman Tevin White who arrived on campus this month.
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