2017 Position Report Card Running Backs: A Love Supreme

Ninety-one years ago John Coltrane was born in the small town of Hamlet, North Carolina. When his talent as a musician became apparent, he joined a band led by own of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, Miles Davis. After a few years of that collaboration, Coltrane formed a group of his own and produced such landmark titles as Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, and his signature record, A Love Supreme, one of the greatest recordings in music history.

What does any of this have to do with Stanford Football? Why does it serve as the lede for an article claiming to review the performance of the 2017 running backs? It's simple really. Seven decades after Coltrane's birth in Hamlet, a boy named Jonathan Bryce Love was born just ninety minutes up the road in Raleigh. Like Coltrane, Love rose to prominence while serving in the shadows of a legend. With Coltrane it was Miles Davis; with Love it was Christian McCaffrey. Like Coltrane, Love was doubted by some when he was elevated to the staring role in the Stanford backfield this past fall. Like Coltrane, Love wasted little time in achieving stardom of his own.