Paul Arnold (born September 27, 1980) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

/ wide receiver who played at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

from 1999 through 2002. He is one of the most decorated high school football players ever from the State of Washington. As a sophomore at

O'Dea High School O'Dea High School is a Catholic all boys high school founded in 1923 and is located in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. The school is named after Edward John O'Dea who was bishop of Seattle when the school was built. O'Dea is a part of the Ar ...

in Seattle, Washington, he was the 1996 Class 2A player of the year after he rushed for 1,136 yards on 70 carries for 16.2 yards per carry and scored 26 TDs. As a junior in 1997, at Kennedy High School in Burien, a suburb of Seattle, he rushed for 800 yards and 11 TDs in an injury plagued season. In 1998, as a senior, he rushed for 1,974 yards and 32 TDs and had 2,555 all-purpose yards. He was named to the All-State team and selected as the Class 3A player of the year. He was also named to the

Parade All-American ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday magazine, Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a ...

team and to the USA Today All-American team. In track, as a junior, he won the state 3A title in the 200 meters with a time of 21.8. His top 100 meter time in high school was 10.6. At the Nike Football Training Camp in Portland, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.33. In a recruiting battle, Arnold chose the University of Washington over Colorado, Notre Dame and other schools. Playing as a running back as a true freshman in 1999, he appeared in all 11 regular season games and in the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...

against

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

. In the second game of his college career, he set a school record with a 100-yard kickoff return for a TD against Air Force. It earned him the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Special Teams Player of the week. In the

Apple Cup The Apple Cup is an American college football rivalry game between the University of Washington Huskies and Washington State University Cougars, the two largest universities in the state of Washington. Both are members of the North Division of the ...

game against rival

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

, he had an 80-yard TD run from scrimmage and finished the game with 126 yards on 14 carries. He finished the year 19th in the nation with a kickoff return average of 24.9 yards per return. In the 2000 season, he became the starting tailback. On October 7, 2000, against

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

, in the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

33-30 win over the

Beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

, which was their only loss of the season, he rushed for 102 yards and had 65 receiving yards in earning the Pac 10 Offensive player of the week. Because of an injury, he missed the remainder of the 2000 season. In 2001, he converted to wide receiver and started his last two years opposite All-Pac 10 wide receiver Reggie Williams. Following his college career, he signed a free agent contract with the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

in 2003, but he was released at the end of the preseason. He signed a contract with the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

, but later decided not to pursue a professional football career.

References

*University of Washington media guid

References

Further reading