At this point, Jason Wright is 2-for-4. Not 2-for-4 in starts or completions or field goals.

Northwestern’s starting running back is 2-for-4 in Big Ten Player of the Week honors.

The first time — after he returned Texas Christian’s opening kickoff for 100 yards and ran for 191 kickoff return yards in the game — the 5-foot-10, 210-pound junior smiled and said the Special Teams Player of the Week honor was nice publicity for the program, but that it really had more to do with great blocking than his running.

The second time came after the game against the Naval Academy, when Wright rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns, despite sitting out most of the second quarter with cramps.

Being named Offensive Player of the Week against Navy, he said, was ridiculous.

“It’s really embarrassing because I didn’t do anything special,” Wright said. “The holes were humongous.”

As Wright is careful to give credit where credit is due — mostly to his blockers — the Wildcats’ offensive linemen seem happy just watching him slice past into the open field.

“It makes you feel good as an offensive lineman to put a defensive guy on his back and look up and the running back gained 10 yards,” Jeff Roehl said. “It’s great blocking for (Wright) because he comes out and hits the hole hard.”

Not that the modest Wright would ever admit such thing.

Wright would tell you that he’s merely an expendable member of the running back corps, even as head coach Randy Walker tells you he’s “as complete a guy as I’ve ever coached.”

But ask Wright about his strengths as a back, and you’ll get the following:

“I guess people say I have pretty good cutting ability — but I think Noah (Herron) is a better cutter than I am.”

Wright has run for 346 yards and three rushing touchdowns in the first four games.

Best to believe Roehl and Walker.

Or perhaps a third opinion, this one from the opposition.

“(He’s) kind of emerged as one of the top running backs in the conference, if not the country,” Michigan State head coach Bobby Williams said.

But Wright’s emergence at running back is actually a re-emergence of sorts.

As a standout at Diamond Bar High School in Southern California, Wright had three seasons with more than 1,000 yards rushing. But upon arriving in Evanston, he found out that Damien Anderson was the starting tailback, and that the position was overflowing with talented reserves.

So Walker and his staff moved Wright to receiver, where he played sparingly. Wright was a staple on special teams, though, starting all 11 games.

“I think coming out of high school, your ego’s pretty big,” Wright said. “Of course I thought I’d play (running back). But I embraced receiver, even though I wasn’t very good when I got switched.”

Wright said once he made the move, he was completely focused on learning the new position. It was not until late in the 2001 season, when Anderson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, that coaches told Wright to look at the running-back playbook again.

Sage advice, considering both of Anderson’s backups, Kevin Lawrence and Herron, then suffered injuries and were unable to play in NU’s final game.

Wright was in the backfield against Illinois. He carried the ball twice, gaining a total of five yards.

“I was thrown into the fray, and I didn’t play well,” Wright said. “I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.”

But despite this shaky debut, Wright stayed in the backfield. Walker said he was impressed with Wright’s improvement throughout spring ball — so impressed that he was listed behind only Torri Stuckey in the spring prospectus.

Stuckey was still a starting at the end of the summer, but he had been converted into a safety. Wright had taken over at tailback.

Wright has been the leader of NU’s ground game, with 56 percent of the team’s rushing yards and 66 total carries.

Of course, he’s quick to point out that the Cats have enough depth at the position to keep everyone on his toes.

Herron has been highly successful in short-yardage situations, especially against Navy, where he ran for a career-high 95 yards. And Backes, one of the fastest players on the team, should be a major factor once he’s fully recovered from a shoulder injury.

But for now the job belongs to Wright. He has the talent and the accolades to prove it –