Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, who was coached by Willie Taggart, finished second in the 2009 Heisman Trophy Balloting, the Downtown Athletic Club announced Saturday night. Gerhart finished only 28 points behind Alabama running back Mark Ingram, marking the closest Heisman finish in the award's 75-year history.
Top 5 Finishers In 2009 Heisman Trophy Balloting
|
Player
|
1st place
|
Total
|
|
Mark Ingram
|
227
|
1,304
|
|
Toby Gerhart
|
222
|
1,276
|
|
Colt McCoy
|
203
|
1,145
|
|
Ndamukong Suh
|
161
|
815
|
|
Tim Tebow
|
43
|
390
|
Under the tutelage of new WKU Head Football Coach Willie Taggart, who previously served as Stanford's running backs coach from 2007-09, Gerhart ranks second nationally in rushing average at 144.7 yards per game and has rushed for a Stanford single-season record 1,736 yards and 26 touchdowns in 12 games this season, breaking his own single-season rushing record of 1,136 yards set last season.
Gerhart also carries a cumulative 3.25 grade point average as a management, science and technology major. The Cardinal's Sun Bowl appearance this season marks the school's first bowl game since 2001.
Eleven of Gerhart's efforts have come against schools in BCS conferences, including seven squads that have been ranked in the Top 25 at some point this season, and he is averaging a national-best 200.3 yards per game against ranked opponents this season. He also leads the nation in touchdowns (26) and scoring average (13.33), has rushed for 100-yards or more 19 times in his last 25 games dating back to the 2007 season, and is averaging 20.4 yards a game (3,012 total) during that stretch. He is averaging 5.6 yards per carry this season and 5.6 yards per rushing attempt (533 total) over his last 25 games dating back to the 2007 campaign.
Gerhart averaged 185.5 yards per game (742 total; 6.4 per carry) in Stanford's last four regular season games against No. 7 Oregon (223), No. 11 USC (178), California (136) and Notre Dame (205), and also scored 13 touchdowns in those games in which Stanford posted a 3-1 record. Gerhart rushed for 205 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries (7.1 per carry) in Stanford's 45-38 win over Notre Dame on Nov. 28 while also throwing one TD pass on a halfback option to tie the game at 38-38 at the 8:59 mark of the fourth quarter. Gerhart, who carried seven times for 59 yards during Stanford's game winning drive, then scored the winning touchdown on a four-yard run with 0:59 left.
