But from the first time he touched the ball to the last play of practice, unofficially Saturday was Darren McFadden Day.

He took handoffs and went the distance. He practiced taking snaps as a quarterback without obvious chaos. He practiced catching passes. He lined up as a wide receiver in full-squad drills and spooked every defensive back on the field.

Really, No. 20 was practically the only jersey that mattered all afternoon.

Then, on the final play, Coach Lane Kiffin called a wide option toss to McFadden running left. There was a linebacker waiting. But McFadden exploded to the left corner, and around, and down the sideline, as the offense cheered. . . .

TWEET! End of practice. Darren McFadden Day had just come to a very successful, very emphatic conclusion.

"He brings us a game-breaker," Kiffin said a few minutes later. "Last play of the practice, it came down to one play to win it and there was a linebacker right there and he made the play for us.

"That's what happens sometimes. You can't draw 'em up perfect every time."

The Raiders haven't drawn it up perfectly in more than five years, actually. So yes, they could use a player who, at this infant stage of his NFL career, looks like he can go from 0 to a 60-yard touchdown no matter where he lines up.

We don't know if Kiffin wanted to take McFadden with the fourth overall pick, because the Raiders already have Justin Fargas signed long term, Michael Bush looking ready to rumble and LaMont Jordan around, too.

We don't know if the Raiders will end up wasting McFadden the way they messed up with Randy Moss, the last player this talented to come through the East Bay.

But, after giving the Arkansas product little to do the previous day, the Raiders began to open the whole wide universe of McFadden Offensive Possibilities.

It was as if Kiffin or Greg Knapp or James Lofton or Mark Davis or whoever runs these things decided: Hey, let's see what our No. 1 draft pick can do!

Plus, they probably wanted to show him off a little. Mission accomplished.

Before practice, McFadden met the reporters and said that, if he had to pick one prototype, it might be Minnesota All-Pro Adrian Peterson.

"Just because we're both big, fast guys," McFadden said. "He's probably a little more physical than I am. But as far as just natural playmaking and talent, I feel like I have the edge on any running back.

"Not saying it to be cocky or anything, but I feel like I'm very versatile and I can play a lot of different positions."

He's taller and less zig-zaggy than LaDainian Tomlinson or Barry Sanders. He's faster than Marcus Allen, more versatile than but not as strong as Bo Jackson.

Granted, he was going up against sub-NFL players, but McFadden looked like. . . . nobody I have ever before seen. I don't know if that'll translate to immediate production, but you have to like his chances at this point.

"Yeah, he looked real comfortable in a number of different things we did with him today," Kiffin said.

"We did some individual things actually where he was at quarterback. And we put him outside with some receivers in some later stuff. So he's picking things up real well. But at the same time, we've got to be careful."

Kiffin still says he doesn't want to throw too much of the playbook at McFadden (or invent new stuff for No. 20) too quickly. But Kiffin definitely seemed ready to get McFadden going after Saturday's display.

You can see how this might work: The Raiders are going to let Fargas stay at tailback, probably rotating with McFadden and Bush. But on many downs, they're going to have Fargas or Bush at tailback, then split McFadden out as a receiver or perhaps take a long snap as the quarterback or anything else they can dream up to befuddle defenses.

"We've got so many things to look at with him," Kiffin said. "And we want to make sure we're doing the right things with him. We're not giving him too much. Because the last thing we want to do is take away why he's here, No. 1, and that's to run the ball from the I-formation.

"We'll continue to tinker with different things. See how far we can take it."