Imagine it's your job to take the stage after Miles Davis finishes his set. Perhaps you're walking to the lectern after Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers a speech. Maybe your slot at open mic night comes directly after Maya Angelou. What would it be like to follow genius, to perform when everyone in the audience is already satisfied, heading to the exits, confident that nothing you have to offer could possibly match what they've already seen?
Or, what if you've been handed the starting tailback position at Stanford University just a season after one of the best to play the position moved on to the NFL? This is the problem facing Stanford junior Bryce Love -- how do you follow genius?
The good news for Love is that he's ready. He's no stranger to the field, having rushed for 779 yards as the primary backup last season, a total that would've led the Cardinal in rushing in 43 of the previous 66 years. When Love made his debut as a freshman in 2015, it didn't take long for him to make his presence felt. In the season's second game against Central Florida, Love lined up wide to the left and took a quick bubble screen from Kevin Hogan and turned it into a 93-yard touchdown. His combination of speed and quickness is rare, making him the type of athlete who must be watched at all times, whether you're sitting in the stands or lined up on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
He had two other long touchdowns that season (47 and 48 yards), but it was last season when he became a more consistent contributor to the offense. Seeing occasional time off the bench, Love put up some respectable totals: 11 for 51 yards against USC, 12 for 78 against Arizona, 9 for 89 against Oregon State, and 7 for 111 in the regular season finale against Rice.
If you tend to see the glass as half full, you might point out that those numbers are inflated in every case by a single long run, but that's like saying the only reason California weather is so beautiful is that the sun is always shining. The reality, though, is that small backs will always be questioned. At 5'10" and 196 pounds, Love might not profile as a typical lead back, but he excelled when given the opportunity to start in two different games last year. In a 17-10 win at Notre Dame, Love carried the ball 23 times for 129 yards and a touchdown, and he went for 115 yards on 22 carries (plus a 49-yard receiving touchdown) in a 25-23 win over North Carolina in the Sun Bowl.
The 5.42 yards per carry average he posted in those two starts will play well in 2017 as he takes over as the featured back in an offense that's primed to pick up where it left off last season. When I spoke with him last week, Love was confident but well aware of the legacy he's stepping into. "It's an honor. You look at all the great backs that have been here, from Tommy Vardell to Darin Nelson to Christian, Stepfan Taylor, Toby Gerhart. The list goes on and on. Greatness is here. I wouldn't say it's pressure, but it makes you want to live up to the standard that's been set."
Love is next in line, and he's ready to live up to the expectations that come with being a Stanford running back. (He confidently claims to be not just the fastest player on the team, but also the best chef and top Madden player in the locker room.) He's also eager to contribute in multiple ways. We can expect to see somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty carries per game, but he'll also be active in the passing game and special teams. He'll definitely continue to return kickoffs, and he's even hoping to get a shot at returning punts. All in all, we can look for a thousand to twelve hundred yards rushing, and two to three hundred yards receiving from Love, with both those numbers being conservative estimates.
Behind Love is junior Cameron Scarlett. At 6'1" and 213, Scarlett projects as a short-yardage back in the vein of Remound Wright, but it's also likely that he'll get some time as the featured back to give Love some rest.
No other running back on the roster (aside from returning fullback Daniel Marx) has any game experience, but there are still at least three players that are more than interesting. Sophomore Trevor Speights arrived on campus last year with high expectations, and he'll certainly get a chance to earn some carries this fall. Freshman Sione Lund is unlike any running back currently on the roster. In fact, he's unlike any Stanford back I've ever seen. ESPN rated him as the top fullback in his graduating class, and at 6'1" and 254 pounds, he certainly fits the part, but he was recruited to Stanford as true running back. My guess is that he'll emerge as something of a hybrid. True freshmen rarely see the field at Stanford, but Lund could push for time. Another intriguing freshman is Connor Weddington, curiously listed on the roster as WR/RB. A four-star recruit from Washington who backed out of a commitment to the Huskies to attend his dream school, Weddington carries a great deal of promise. We might not see him this fall, but his time is coming.
Editor's Note: The original article reported that Sione Lund had taken a two-year LDS mission. I regret the error.
