CardinalReport.com - Tracking Toby

October 15, 2009

Stanford Media Relations
Special to CardinalReport.com

Tracking Toby?

Currently leads the Pac-10 Conference and ranks fourth nationally in rushing average at 124.3 yards per game.

Has rushed for 746 yards and 10 touchdowns this season.

Has four, 100-yard game to his credit this season, including a career-best 200-yard effort in Stanford's 34-14 win over Washington, which ranked as the eighth-best single-game rushing performance in school history.

Has rushed for 100 or more yards 13 times in his career?his 13, 100-yard games are the second-most in school history behind Stanford's all-time leading rusher Darrin Nelson, who tallied 16, 100-yard games during his illustrious career.

Has rushed for 100-yards or more 13 times in his last 19 games dating back to the 2007 season and is averaging 106.4 yards a game (2,022 total) during that stretch.

Averaging 5.3 yards per carry this season and 5.9 yards per rushing attempt (362 total) over his last 19 games dating back to the 2007 campaign.

Currently ranks fifth on Stanford's all-time career rushing list with 2,397 yards?needs 126 more yards to move into a tie for third place.

Has rushed for at least one touchdown in 11 of his last 13 games and now has 26 rushing touchdowns for his career, which currently ranks third on Stanford's all-time career list?needs one more to tie Brad Muster for second place and 11 more to equal Tommy Vardell's school record of 37.

Opened the season with a 121-yard, two touchdown effort at Washington State?ripped off a career-long 39-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Tallied 113 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in Stanford's 42-17 win over San Jose State.

Rushed for a career-best 200 yards on 27 carries in Stanford's 34-14 win over Washington?the performance ranked as the eighth-best single-game effort in school history?ripped off a career-best 60-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Finished with 141 yards and three touchdowns in Stanford's 24-16 win over UCLA?three TDs fell one short of his career-high of 4, set last year against Washington State.

Earned second team All-Pac-10 honors as a junior after establishing a single-season Stanford record by rushing for 1,136 yards in 12 games, breaking the previous mark of 1,084 set by Tommy Vardell in 1991?became the fifth Stanford running back to reach the 1,000-yard plateau, joining Darrin Nelson (1977, '78 and '81), Brad Muster ('86), Jon Volpe ('89) and Vardell.

Recorded a Pac-10-best eight, 100-yard games in 2008.

Watch the most up-to-date highlights of Toby by clicking here?

Get to know Toby in this 1-on-1 interview by clicking here?

What They Are Saying About Toby Gerhart

"Their running back maybe as good as there is in the country. He's a different kind of running back. He's not going to try to make you miss many times as some of the elusive guys do. He's powerful and tough to bring down as any back I've seen in college football in some time." UCLA Head Coach Rick Neuheisel

"Toby Gerhart is one of the best big backs we have seen in a long time in college football. He is reminiscent of great big backs like Larry Czonka, Christian Okoye and Ron Dayne. He's a combination of speed, power and toughness. He has been instrumental to Stanford's success and if he stays with football will likely be a first round pick." NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott

"We're not the first team he's done that too. He's been doing it for years in this conference." Washington Head Coach Steve Sarkisian

"The Cardinal have professed a desire to become a physical, grind it out football team. Give the ball to 6-foot-1 senior running back Toby Gerhart and pound the opposition in to the turf." Vince Grippi, Spokesman Review

"Stopping him isn't the right phrase. He seems to know how to gash our lines. He'll be one of the better backs we face all year. There are no surprises with him. He'll keep coming at you for all four quarters. As long as he has two legs, he'll keep moving." Justin Cole, San Jose State

"He's strong, he's got good vision and his feet are quick. And if you don't get your body in front of him, you can't bring him down. He's a complete back." Reggie Carter, UCLA

"What stands out the most is his athletic ability. Everybody knows he's big. He's powerful. He'll get stopped but he doesn't blink and just keeps on going. You have to tackle well and be in your right gaps. It's a major challenge for sure. He's got the combination of speed and power. He's got a niftiness about him-quick feet allow him to get into tight spaces and make very good cuts. He's downhill with his shoulders at all times and he carries a punch. He has all of that stuff. He's as good an all-around back as we've seen." Oregon State Head Coach Mike Riley

"As far as running backs go, he's a pretty big guy. If we went out to dinner, it wouldn't surprise me if he were mistaken for an offensive lineman if he weren't Toby Gerhart and people didn't already know who he was. He feels like one of the guys because he takes the hits and takes the lumps just like we do." Stanford center Chase Beeler

"It's pretty incredible because he can run through tackles. I've never seen anyone like that on the college level. You'll see guys bouncing off him. They take him high and give him a good hit and he'll bounce a little bit to the side and keep running and take on another hit, bounce and keep running. Another problem is you can't take him low because he'll run right through your arms. He's a special back." Stanford free safety Bo McNally

"You really need to gang tackle him. He's a big physical guy with great balance. He has surprising speed for a big guy. He can take it the distance. It's going to be very important that we wrap him up. It's very hard to bring him down one-on-one." California Head Coach Jeff Tedford

"He's a great football player. He's physical and runs more like a fullback. Sometimes the things that get lost in the game with him are how he can run away from linebackers after contact. He has good balance and vision. He's the kind who can carry the ball up to 30 times a game and can run an assortment of plays. He blocks like a fullback and catches like a wide receiver." Stanford Head Coach Jim Harbaugh

"He gave me a headache last year. He's the toughest runner I came against. It takes a lot to bring him down. He's big-bigger than most running backs in the Pac-10." Brian Price, UCLA

"Who would have thought the top running back on the West Coast might end up on the other side of the San Francisco Bay? The 6-foot-1, 240 pound Gerhart is fourth in the nation in rushing and embodies Stanford's newly discovered blue-collar style approach under Jim Harbaugh. With no other running backs in the race, Gerhart could make a late season run at the trophy."

"If he needs to go around you, he will. If he needs to go through you, he will. Willpower - and talent - is the essence of Toby Gerhart, who might just be the nation's best running back." Brian Murphy, KNBR Radio

"He's got some trout in him. He has some wiggle when he runs." Gil Brandt, longtime NFL executive

"Most of the time, Gerhart was harder to contain than toxic waste." San Francisco Chronicle

"Stanford's all-everything senior back is 6-foot-1, 235 pounds and playing angrier than a starving hyena." Los Angeles Daily News

"Nothing like a grinding, churning, nasty 235-pound running back to send the Washington Huskies sprawling back to earth in the Pacific-10 Conference football race." Tacoma News Tribune

"Gerhart is a BRUISER, capable of pounding the line for the entire game." The Bleacher Report

"Stanford and Toby Gerhart are legit." Ted Miller, ESPN.com


GERHART'S CAREER STATISITICS

Rushing

Year               G-S       Att          YG           YL      Net           Avg       TD             LG

2006             12-1     106        403           28     375             3.5          0              38

2007               1-0        12        141             1     140          11.7          1              48

2008           12-12     210      1176           40   1136             5.4        15              46

2009               6-6     140        772           26     745             5.3        10              60

Totals         31-19     468      2492           95   2396             5.1        26              60

 

GERHART'S CAREER HIGHS

Rushing Attempts: 29 vs. UCLA, Oct. 3, 2009

Rushing Yards: 200 vs. Washington, Oct. 10, 2009

Rushing Touchdowns: 4 vs. Washington State, Nov. 1, 2008

Long: 60 vs. Washington, Oct. 10, 2009