By
Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Freshman running back Clarence Farmer enjoying a trial by
One day you're third on the depth chart - the next day, you're signing autographs.
During Tuesday afternoon's UA football practice, a father and son were watching the Wildcats run plays when the father noticed UA's newest rising star working out on the stationary bike.
"There is Clarence Farmer," - the father told his son - "the kid I have been telling you about."
The boy, awestruck upon meeting the freshman running back, could hardly stop smiling. Farmer, who had carried the ball just twice before last weekend, signed the boy's t-shirt.
"It means a lot to kids to have someone to look up to," Farmer said.
It' safe to say Clarence Farmer is not your typical college freshman. It usually takes a freshman a couple weeks to adjust to the change of moving away from home and moving out on their own.
Farmer hasn't had that luxury.
"The biggest adjustment is time management," Farmer said. "Basically college football is a job you devote so much time to and then you have classes."
If statistics are any indication, it shouldn't take long for Farmer to adjust.
The freshman was thrown into the mix last Saturday in Arizona's 17-3 victory against San Diego State, where Farmer made a name for himself as UA's featured back in the second half, carrying the ball 13 times for 95 yards.
"Farmer is just a big tailback who doesn't go down," Wildcat head coach Dick Tomey said. "On one play, he took like five of them nine yards, and he was really impressive."
As a true freshman, Farmer was not expecting to see much playing time at all, much less become one of UA's three platooning running backs.
"I was just going into the season saying 'whatever happens, happens' as far as playing time," Farmer said. "I wasn't really anticipating this, getting this much time."
Tomey is now optimistic that he can rotate three capable players at running back - Farmer, and sophomores Larry Croom and Leo Mills.
First-year running backs coach Randy Robbins feels that the most important thing Farmer has learned so far is confidence.
"I think he gaining more and more confidence each day," Robbins said. "I think that is the most important thing that he has learned. That he competes and that he is a competitor. With his size and strength it helps."
Farmer, who chose Arizona over Tennessee, came to Tucson for a few reasons.
"I have a best friend here named Lance Rufford," Farmer said. "When I came through on a recruiting trip, the family atmosphere that the players showed to me on the recruiting trip and the coaches and they showed me that they were concerned about me."
Farmer, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound native of Houston was one of the most sought -after running backs to come out of the Lone Star State last year.
At Booker T. Washington high school in Houston, Farmer was a multiple- sport athlete, lettering in football, basketball, baseball and track and field.
The one thing Farmer has had a hard time adjusting to is moving away from his 11-year-old brother, Tarence.
"For one, my little brother looks up to me a lot and not being at home at least I can be a big brother to some kids," Farmer said.
Compared to other players on the team, Farmer is a kid himself - a freshman trying to fit in.
"Being a freshman is pretty fun," he said. "Being away from home and the whole college thing. I mean, playing football for the U of A and actually getting playing time ... that's just a feeling you can only experience if you do it."
Welcome to college.
