Posted by ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel
The best thing about the spread offense is that it has given the little back a second lease on college football. Noel Devine, all 5-foot-8, 176 pounds of him, makes breaking off a long run look so easy that you wonder why he doesn’t do it more often. Devine had a 77-yard touchdown run and a 56-yarder that set up another score in the first half alone Thursday night against Colorado. That makes seven rushes of more than 50 yards in the junior’s career.
Stanford is promoting 235-pound back Toby Gerhart with a photo of him pounding downfield in the rain. What’s striking is a big, strong Stanford player wearing No. 7. That’s John Elway’s number, yet Stanford never retired it. Here’s the stranger thing: Gerhart wears No. 7 not because of Elway, but because of Steve Campbell, a quarterback who preceded him at Norco (Calif.) High. Gerhart did say he’s “honored to share it” with Elway.
Mike Locksley contributed to Ralph Friedgen’s early success at Maryland and Ron Zook’s success at Illinois. He is known as an A-list recruiter. That’s one of the reasons why New Mexico hired him. In his first year, Locksley has had a sexual harassment complaint filed against him and slugged an assistant coach. His offense is in the bottom-three nationally in five categories and the Lobos are 0-4. They should use Locksley in MBA textbooks. Subject: How not to lead.