The Future 40, Prospect 25: Toby Gerhart Scouting Report

<!--end meta-->

A new series was formed nearly two months ago here The Future 40, and the next edition is here! The segment has and will continue to run every other day until late April as we provide you with in-depth scouting reports of some 2010 NFL Draft prospects, giving you information key to understanding some of the players’ strengths, weaknesses, projected round of selection, possibility of being picked by the Eagles, and much more! And because the Draft is an important event for the entire league, some of the top-ranked players not expected to go to Philadelphia will also be reported on. In the first look at a prospect, we evaluated Nebraska’s DT Ndamukong Suh, who many consider to be the best player in the entire rookie class. In the second, we examined powerful RB Jonathan Dwyer and in the other editions that have released, LB Sean Weatherspoon, CB Joe Haden, SS Earl Thomas, RB/WR Dexter McCluster, FS Taylor Mays, OG Mike Iupati, QB Colt McCoy, RB Ryan Mathews and DE Jason Pierre-Paul have been included. For a complete list of the prospects covered, visit the Segments section of the site, or simply click here. This time around, we stuck to an offensive perspective and took a look at Toby Gerhart:

• Prospect Name: Toby Gerhart
• Position: Running Back
• College: Stanford University
• Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 235 pounds
• Age: 22 years
• Class Status: Senior

Summary: For a guy who ran for nearly 2,000 yards in his final collegiate season and was in contention for the latest Heisman Trophy award, Toby Gerhart is receiving very little attention as a top-round Draft pick, and has been discussed rarely among the professional scouts and analysts these past few weeks. Whether that allows the team that he ends up on to say they got one of the selection process’ biggest steals or not is yet to be seen. For now, though, it’s best just to weigh the pros and cons that come with Gerhart, who remains among the better players headed into the NFL in spite of the lack of attention lately. After a historical high school career in California in which he climbed among the nation’s all-time record books in terms of most rushing yards, the wise player headed to Stanford, in part because of his academic success. In his freshman campaign of 2006, Gerhart saw little action on the field, as he played backup to teammate Anthony Kimble and finished the year with only one game under his belt as a starter. The following year he was given a larger role with the offensive unit, but his season was derailed when a serious knee injury surfaced and he was forced to miss all but a single game. Hopes and regards among the staff were still high for Gerhart, but some began to question whether he would ever be able to make a significant impact. Of course, those questions were silenced when the RB exploded in ‘08 with a 15-touchdown and 1,136 yard rushing performance. An array of awards and conference honors were also showered upon the tough player, and many of the doubters of him began to regain hope. In his fourth and final year as a Cardinal, Gerhart absolutely dominated on the field; in addition to drawing consideration as one of the best runners to enter the 2010 NFL Draft, he was mentioned as a candidate for the best award in college football–the Heisman. After all, when one gains roughly 2,000 yards from scrimmage and scores 27 times, there are sure to be honors to come. Only because of his lack of overall athleticism and agility outside running the ball hard and up the middle has he fallen on many pro teams’ Draft rankings. Besides that, he is definitely among the most impressive prospects set to enter next month’s rookie selection event.

Career Statistics:

Notable Achievements/Awards:

• All-Pac-10 Honors (2008, 2009)
• Doak Walker Award winner (2009)
• Archie Griffin Award winner (2009)
• Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year Award (2009)
• Jim Brown Trophy Award winner (2009)
• NCAA rushing leader (2009)
• All-American Honors (2009)

Strengths:

• Is an extremely powerful runner
• Utilizes his large physical frame very well, and drives opponents as he moves
• Has speedy, agile footwork as he cuts and maneuvers around the field
• Enjoys making contact and willingly takes hand-offs up the gut of the defense
• Is a successful short-yardage situation rusher
• Identifies defensive schemes and plans very well and often capitalizes on spotted misreads by his opponent
• Has the ability to handle the majority of a workload in an NFL backfield
• Can execute solid blocks when lined up in proper areas of the field
• Possesses a wonderful work ethic and is very competitive/also a strong leader
• Uses great lower-body strength to push defenders back as they attempt to bring him down

Weaknesses:

• Has average speed and is not very athletic overall
• Can’t break into a different “gear” or level of quickness down the field
• Rarely avoids tackle attempts from bigger defenders or members of a LB corps
• Doesn’t have a wide variety of escape moves, and too often relies on a stiff arm technique
• Sometimes has trouble holding onto the ball at a consistent level
• Lacks elite pass-catching skills and can be contained quite easily in the receiving aspect of the game
• Tends to run the ball with a highly upright stance

Projected Round of Selection: 2nd-4th round

NFL Player Comparison: Shonn Greene, New York Jets

–

We hope that everyone enjoyed the twenty-fifth report for The Future 40 prospect segment, and urge you to keep checking back for more scouting analysis as the series continues all the way up until the Draft! Also, remember that we will happily take and consider requests from our fans for this series! If you or another Eagle fanatic is interested in seeing a certain player be evaluated in The Future 40, be sure to contact us as soon as possible, and we will attempt to include your selected prospect!

(picture source)