John Cappelletti is the answer to a trivia question. He is the last white running back to win the Heisman Trophy. Cappelletti won it in 1973.That might and should change Saturday because Stanford's Toby Gerhart has the numbers to carry the stiff arm trophy home with him. All Gerhart did was lead the nation in rushing with 1,736 yards (by the way, Utah State's Louie Giamonna was the last white running back to lead the nation in rushing in 1974) and was the NCAA leader in scoring with 26 touchdowns.
What's impressive to me is that Gerhart took the typical physical punishment a running back endures during a 12 game regular season was injury proof. Sure Gerhart had some bumps and bruises but didn't go soft, he just kept on running. Case in point, Gerhart's last 4 games of the season. Even beat up he averaged 29 carries 185.5 yards per game rushing. His Stanford teammates can count on him everytime.
What's going to kill Gerhart's chances is that Stanford didn't appear on TV that much except when the Cardinal defeated Notre Dame where Gerhart had 205 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. However, that was 2 weeks ago and probably off voters radar screens.
Plus the guy is a hell of a student at Stanford if you care of such things. My guess is that it doesn't apply.
I beleive Mark Ingram will win it though his numbers come up short to Gerhart's however, Ingram received quite a bit of national TV exposure plus his team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, is playing for the BCS National Championship. Gerhart's Stanford team is heading out to the West Texas town of El Paso Sun Bowl bound.
If I had a vote, it would be Toby Gerhart. Come on, give it to the guy who deserves it and wasn't over hyped and on TV all the time.
Here's a Toby Gerhart highlight reel: Thanks Youtube.com
Photo Courtesy: Larry Iversen/The San Francicsco Chronicle
