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Stanford Two Sport Star Officially Declares His Intention

STANFORD, Calif. -Stanford two sport star Toby Gerhart announced Friday  he will forego his final year of collegiate eligibility in order to enter the 2010 NFL Draft.

Gerhart hit 12 home runs and scored 44 touchdowns in his two sport career at Stanford.

Gerhart, who played in 38 career football games from 2006-09, had the option to return to Stanford as a fifth-year senior since he played in just one game as a sophomore in 2007 due to injury.

He started in 105 games in his three-year baseball career at Stanford in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 seasons.  He hit 16 career home runs with 69 RBIs as an outfielder, helping the Cardinal to the 2008 College World Series.

Gerhart has withdrawn from Stanford for the winter quarter in order to devote his time to prepare for NFL Combine in February.

“After careful thought and deliberation, I have decided to withdraw from Stanford University for the winter quarter in order to fully devote my energies towards the pursuit of my dream of playing in the NFL,” said Gerhart. “While I certainly will miss patrolling left field on the Sunken Diamond or running through the gaping holes created by my O-linemen on the gridiron at Stanford Stadium, I will forever cherish the camaraderie, friendships, and memories that I forged here at Stanford with all my friends, teammates, and coaches.

“I want to give special thanks to Coach (Jim) Harbaugh for resurrecting the program, running backs coach Willie Taggart for making me the player I am today, and the Tunnel Workers Union (O-Line) for doing the dirty work which made my life easier.  We’ve been through a lot of adversity during my time here, but I’m extremely proud to have been part of the class that brought Stanford football back to national prominence.

“Most of all, I wish to thank the entire student body, and Stanford fans everywhere, for the tremendous support and boundless enthusiasm they have shown us over the past four years.

“I have been blessed to have spent time at this special place and have seen first-hand how the Stanford family takes care of not just its own members, but the disadvantaged and underprivileged within our community as well.  Because of that, I urge Stanford fans everywhere to join me in extending a helping hand to the devastated citizens of Haiti. They need our help now. Whether it’s a small donation of food, bottled water or medical supplies, a monetary gift to the United Nations or the Red Cross, or volunteering whatever aid you can provide, please do so. Keep all those affected and providing rescue in our thoughts and prayers.”

Gerhart is the third college two sport star to declare or this year’s NFL Draft.  LSU’s Chad Jones‘ dad announced his intentions earlier this week, while Notre Dame Biletnikoff Award winner Golden Tate declared for the draft last month.

Gerhart, Jones and Tate have all been included in the Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Reports throughout the fall.

Gerhart, who was the recipient of the 2009 Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back, rushed for a school-record 1,871 yards and a nation-leading 28 touchdowns this past season, helping the Cardinal to an 8-5 overall record and an appearance in the Brut Sun Bowl. He led the Pac-10 Conference and finished second nationally in rushing average with a 143.9 per game mark. Gerhart also led the all Football Bowl Subdivision players in scoring with 172 points (13.23 per game).

A consensus first team All-America selection by Associated Press, the Walter Camp Foundation, Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America, to name a few, Gerhart finished second to Alabama’s Mark Ingram in the Heisman Trophy balloting by just 28 points in the closest balloting in the 75 year history of the award. He was named the Pac-10 Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, becoming the first Stanford player to win the award since Troy Walters in 1999.

Gerhart ran for 100 or more yards in 11 of Stanford’s 13 games this season, including each of the last seven contests. He rushed for 200 yards on more on three occasions, against No. 24 Washington (200), No. 7 Oregon (career-high 223) and Notre Dame (205), becoming the first Stanford back to collect multiple 200-yard games in one season.

Gerhart ran for 100 yards or more in 20 of his final 26 career games, averaging 121.0 yards during that stretch.

His 28 rushing touchdowns led the nation and set new Stanford and Pac-10 single-season records. Gerhart finished the 2009 season with 172 total points, which was the seventh highest single-season mark among NCAA FBS scoring leaders.

The Norco, Calif., native finished his career with school-record 44 touchdowns (all rushing) and his 264 career points rank second on Stanford’s all-time career list. Gerhart rushed for two or more touchdowns 13 times in his career, including five games with three TDs or more.

Gerhart will participate in the NFL Combine, scheduled for Feb. 24-March 2 in Indianapolis. The 2010 NFL Draft is slated for Apr. 22-24 in New York City.

(Release & staff contributions)

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Four Things I’m Thinking About Right Now

1.  College football’s Doak Walker and Biletnikoff Awards could both go to guys who also play college baseball.  If you have followed our Two Sport Reports so far this season you know that Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Notre Dame’s Golden Tate are among college baseball players who have excelled on the gridiron this fall.

Gerhart’s 1,395 rushing yards are currently the third most in the nation, while Tate is fourth in the land with  1,172 receiving yards.  Tate has scored a total of 14 touchdowns (11 receiving, 2 rushing & 1 punt return), while Gerhart has rumbled across the goal line 19 times.  Tate needs just 78 more receiving yards to break current Chicago Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija’s Notre Dame single season receiving school record.

Gerhart batted .288 with 7 home runs and 36 RBIs for the Cardinal in 2009.  Tate hit .329 with 13 stolen bases and scored 45 runs at the top of the Irish line-up last season.

Both were also just named Walter Camp Player of the Year semifinalists.  The duo goes head to head when Notre Dame visits Stanford on Nov. 28th in the regular season finale for both teams.

2.  I talked a little about schedules last week, and I mentioned how Virginia’s first two weeks of 2010 will be challenging with three games each vs. East Carolina and Rhode Island.  Well how about Rhode Island’s 2010 slate?  Rhody opens the season with three games in Starkville, MS vs. Mississippi State and then heads to Charlottesville, VA for those three games against the Cavaliers the following weekend.

There’s a double edged sword for a northern team scheduling two such trips.  The Pros:  You’ll get guarantees for making the trips (needed revenue for teams that don’t get DI college football windfall), you’ll bump your strength of schedule and RPIs, you give your players exposure to great college baseball environments, and you have the chance to compete against and beat good competition.  The Con:  You need to win at least two games in a three-game series to get credit when it comes down to NCAA Tournament selection time.

I’ve talked to an NCAA selection committee member about this before.  Winning just one of three games is essentially the same as losing all three games when it comes to selection.  Teams from the north are better off scheduling just two games against an ACC or SEC team and hope for a split, but most teams from the south have no interest in that.

Jim Foster’s URI team won 37 games in 2009.  They played single games against the likes of Miami, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Boston College (all tourney teams), but they missed the NCAA Tournament.  They still have a handful of “TBA” games in Winter Haven, FL to be added to the 2010 slate.  We’ll see how things shake out…

3.  I talked last week about guys flying below the radar in high school and then blossoming in college. There’s no better example than Middle Tennessee State’s Bryce Brentz.  The 2009 Team USA outfielder who grew up in Knoxville is wearing blue instead of orange in college, and he’s wearing it well.  As a sophomore last season Brentz led the nation with his .465 average, 28 home runs and .930 slugging percentage.  Not bad for a guy who says he never thought much about playing for Tennessee because he was a “late bloomer”.   MTSU has also won 71 games with a 2009 NCAA Regional appearance in Brentz’s first two years in Murfreesboro.

4.  There’s been a lot of recent talk about revamping instant replay in Major League Baseball.  Most of the talk, centered around umpiring mistakes that were made during the playoffs.   People like Bob Costas are in favor of expanding replay during the playoffs, but not necessarily during the regular season.  The reasoning is there are more cameras in use and the games mean more, so why not take advantage of the extra technology and make sure you get the calls right.  Would you want that rationale applied to the College World Series?  Those games are arguably the most important games of the college season, and they’re all televised by ESPN.  Who’s to say they are really the most important games though?  One could argue though that game three of a Super Regional is just as important as any game in Omaha, because you have to win there just to get to the promised land.  While all Super Regional games are now televised there are not as many cameras in use there, and the angles are different, because the college stadiums are smaller than Rosenblatt Stadium.

Getting the calls right is the most important thing, but sometimes hairs are split by technology.  Case in point:  the Chicago Bulls vs. Denver Nuggets game last week.  A last second shot initially looked like the Bulls won the game.  However after ten minutes of replay review the shot was waved off and the Nuggets won.  If it takes ten minutes to make the decision shouldn’t the initial ruling just stand?

College football has instant replay, but that system is far from perfect.  Who hasn’t watched a college football game and scratched their heads at calls made on the field that are overturned even when video replays don’t indisputably support the decision to overturn them.  Too often judgment in the replay booth replaces judgments made on the field, and that’s not how replay is supposed to be used.

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STANFORD, Calif. – Toby Gerhart has been named one of 10 semifinalists for the 2009 Doak Walker Award, which honors the nation’s top collegiate running back.

Gerhart

He has gone over the 100-yard mark in seven of nine games this season, including a pair of 200-yard games. Last Saturday, the senior from Norco, Calif. rushed for 223 yards in Stanford’s 52-41 win over previously seventh-ranked Oregon, breaking the school’s single game rushing record.

Gerhart joins (in alphabetical order) Donald Buckram of UTEP, Jonathan Dwyer of Georgia Tech, Mark Ingram of Alabama, Dion Lewis of Pitt, Ryan Mathews of Fresno State, Jacquizz Rodgers of Oregon State, C.J. Spiller of Clemson, Ben Tate of Auburn and Ryan Williams of Virginia Tech among the semifinalists for this prestigious award.

The three finalists for the award will be named on Nov. 23 and a second vote by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee will determine the recipient. The 2009 Doak Walker Award recipient will be announced live on The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards on Thursday, December 10.

The Award is named after three-time SMU All-American running back and 1948 Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker.

Gerhart has also started 105 games in his first three seasons for the Cardinal baseball team.  His efforts during the 2009 football season have been chronicaled in the Collegebaseball360.com “Two Sport Reports“.  We will have a new Report with updated stats for Gerhart and other two sport athletes this week.

(Press Release & Staff Reports)

Here’s the rundown of some of the new things on the site this week:

1.  Podcast interview with Florida Gulf Coast pitcher Chris Sale – who was named the Cape Cod Pitching MVP over the summer.

2.  The debut of Around The Bases – Four thoughts on college baseball (mostly).

3.  Gordon Beckham honored at Saturday’s Georgia vs. Auburn football game.

4.  Rider will host the 2011 MAAC Baseball Championship.

5.  Tournament passes on sale for the 2010 ACC Baseball Tournament.

6.  The passing of Missouri Valley Conference umpire Lenny Brickens.

7.  Stanford running back Toby Gerhart named a Doak Walker Award semifinalist.

8.  More 2010 schedules that were released during the week.

Remember, while we can’t (and wouldn’t) specifically ask you to purchase anything from our sponsors.  However, if you do plan to buy things like sports tickets, baseball caps, baseball equipment, or other sports apparel, you will be helping us continue to bring you great college baseball information if you make those kind of purchases through the sponsor links on our web site.