It took running back Woody Marks just eight games at USC to surpass his previous career-highs from any of his four seasons at Mississippi State.

His 133 carries are more than the 121 he had in nine games last season and his 755 rushing yards have already well surpassed his previous best mark of 582 over 12 games in 2022. His 5.7 yards per carry is a half yard better than in any of his previous seasons and his 8 rushing touchdowns are just one off his Marks' best mark.

Perhaps most notable of all, though, is that he has a very real chance to become USC's first 1,000-yard rusher since Ronald Jones II rumbled for 1,550 in 2017.

Since then, the best single-season individual rushing total for the Trojans was Keaontay Ingram's 911 in 10 games in 2021 before he missed the final two games of the season with injury. Travis Dye came close in 2022 when he rushed for 884 yards in 10 games before a season-ending injury while MarShawn Lloyd finished with 820 rushing yards in 11 games last season despite averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

Lloyd never got the steady volume of touches that Marks has -- averaging 18.2 carries over the last five games -- but then again neither had Marks until this season.

Of course, he spent three of those seasons playing in Mike Leach offenses at Mississippi State, which annually ranked among the fewest rushing attempts in the country. Marks was a high-volume receiver out of the backfield on those teams, peaking at 83 catches for 502 yards and 3 TDs in 2021 (he has 30 catches for 234 yards this season at USC).

So when the Trojans added him through the transfer portal, it didn't seem to the casual observer that they were bringing in a true bell-cow lead back who would dominate the distribution of carries.

But coach Lincoln Riley said the coaching staff did indeed see that potential in Marks, even if he'd never held that role (his career-high was 13.4 carries per game last season).

"The tape suggested that he definitely could be. He’d had a few issues early in his career staying healthy, so we tried to do our due diligence on that," Riley said "That was definitely a big point of emphasis when he came in was just making sure that we were doing everything possible from a training perspective -- from not just in the training room when you get hurt -- but doing everything possible to keep your body in as good of a position [as possible].

"And that was really kind of challenge for all of us was you’ve got some injuries that happen that – listen they’re going to happen no matter, sometimes things happen in this game -- and then at times there are things that happen that are preventative. You can try to swing the odds in your favor by the way you work, your professionalism, the quality of rest, how you take of your body, all of that. We really challenged him and our group on that. Because when you turn on the tape and watch the guy's game, it felt like he could certainly be an every-down back and someone we’d have the chance to rely on throughout the season."

Marks had just two 100-yard rushing games in his four seasons at Mississippi State. He has four this season for USC and would have surely had another last week vs. Rutgers if the Trojans' hadn't put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, as Marks finished with 94 yards and 3 touchdowns on 15 carries -- his lowest workload since the third game of the season -- plus 5 catches for 48 yards.

"He's a versatile player, he is. You see him run with physicality, you the ability to break big runs, he obviously catches the ball well, he's good in pass-pro. He's just a very versatile, very complete back that has a really good attitude and works hard every day and just competes all the time. That's obviously a great mixture for a running back," Riley said of Marks' consistent success this season.

Marks said USC RBs coach Anthony Jones Jr. has helped him embrace patience as a running back and finding his openings. When Marks has, he's made the most of them time and again.

"It's amazing just to see how far that I came since I got here, what the team has put in front of me to help me get to that standpoint," he said of his own success.

That said, every time Marks has been asked this season if he's exceeding expectations or if the opportunity he's found at USC has been even more than he anticipated, he always says no -- he expects more of himself.

"Not really, I'm looking for more over the top with it. We'll see at the end of the season what it will be. I'm not chasing any numbers -- whatever I can get I get," he said.

With 2,638 career rushing yards now (along with 244 catches for 1,459 receiving yards and 35 combined touchdowns), Marks is in range of some other notable career milestones.

But to be the first USC running back in seven years to reach 1,000 rushing yards would be a notable exclamation point on his productive career.

"It would mean a lot to me. I think it would mean a lot to my teammates and the O-line -- it would mean more to the O-line because it would mean they've been doing something good up front," Marks said. "I'd be very appreciative to the O-line, especially the wide receivers out there blocking for me."