The No. 1 rusher in college football over the past month has been LSU’s Leonard Fournette. Best player in the SEC. Front-runner for the Heisman. But you already knew that.

The No. 2 rusher in the country over the past month: Iowa State's Mike Warren.

Who?

The redshirt freshman became the Cyclones’ starting running back on Sept. 19. All he’s done is put up 546 rushing yards on 62 carries -- yep, 8.8 yards per carry -- in three games as their workhorse back.

His finest day came Saturday at Texas Tech, a 245-yard performance in which he broke off runs of 51, 47 and 46 yards in the 66-31 loss in Lubbock. He’s not just one of the Big 12’s better breakout stars. He’s the top freshman rusher in the country.

"I’m feeling pretty good about how things are going right now," Warren said. "Once your opportunity comes, it’s time to perform."

Finding that opportunity proved difficult in high school. How did Iowa State manage to pluck Warren out of Lawton High in Oklahoma? All the credit goes to ISU running backs coach Louis Ayeni, who bought in on Warren earlier than anyone.

When Ayeni was an assistant at Toledo, he brought Warren in on an official visit in December 2011. When he was hired by ISU one month later, he had to sell his new staff on taking Warren and sell Warren on giving the Cyclones a chance.

"He wanted us to take a look at him, and take a look we did," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said. "We said absolutely."

What's the rush? Since becoming Iowa State's starter Sept. 19, running back Mike Warren ranks No. 2 in the nation in rushing yards per game. Here are the top five rushers in FBS since Week 3. Name School Yds/game 1. Leonard Fournette LSU 215.8 2. Mike Warren Iowa State 182 3. Shock Linwood Baylor 171.3 4. Matt Breida Ga. Southern 164 5. Christian McCaffrey Stanford 159

So Ayeni called up Warren and pitched him on the new plan.

"I was thinking, 'Yeah, I’m gonna go along for the ride with him,'" Warren said. "I had no other school in mind at that point."

Warren didn’t have many options at that point. Until January when he finally got his ACT score, recruiters didn’t know if Warren would qualify. So most stayed away, despite all evidence of his star potential.

As a junior at Lawton, Warren was the fourth-string back and primarily played defensive end. As a senior, he rushed for more than 2,500 yards and 26 touchdowns. He set a school single-game record with 301 rushing yards, then broke it three weeks later with 358.

Before he rushed for 209 yards per game that season, he ran a 4.34 40-yard dash at a Texas A&M summer camp. Still not enough to drum up more interest.

"I don’t feel overlooked," Warren said, "but I do feel like people have doubted what I can do and underestimated what I could do."

Oklahoma did recruit Warren late in the process. The way Warren understood it, he was considered the backup plan in case Joe Mixon ended up signing with UCLA. Even if it had come to that, though, Warren isn’t sure he would have picked the Sooners.

"I just started thinking about who was there from the beginning and stayed loyal to Iowa State," he said. "I felt comfortable going with Coach Lou. I don’t think I had OU in mind at all, even if they did offer me."

Warren still needed a redshirt season when he arrived in Ames. Rhoads said Warren needed to learn to play with better vision and make people miss. But he always liked Warren’s toughness. When Iowa State was put in a tough spot this offseason, Warren’s opportunity finally arrived.

The dismissal of DeVondrick Nealy and Martinez Syria left ISU with almost no experience at running back. Warren said he knew his number would be called sooner or later. When starter Tyler Brown was also sidelined by knee soreness, the door opened for Warren.

He ran right through it untouched. He’s done that a lot over the past month, rushing for a total of 400 yards before contact in his three starts.

"That’s really a big credit to the offensive line," he said. "Those guys are savages. Their preparation is as hard as anyone I know. Coach [Brandon] Blaney gets those guys right."

And he has to thank Ayeni. His faith got him to Ames in the first place, and his coaching has sharpened Warren's understanding to how to attack defenses. Rhoads can see the natural instincts kicking in now.

"That vision and speed and quickness to hit the hole when it’s open and not delaying is something that’s really accelerated for him in the last three weeks," Rhoads said. "We certainly hope he’s not done with that improvement."

Next up: Time to surpass Fournette, right? Warren laughed at the idea.

"Um, yeah," Warren said. "I guess so."