Projecting Georgia RB Todd Gurley’s stats through end of 2014 season
Now that Georgia running back Todd Gurley has established himself as one of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy, we can start looking at what he’s already done and projecting some numbers towards the end of the season.
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Gurley is a multi-talented weapon for the Bulldogs, used primarily as a tailback, but also very adept at catching passes out of the backfield. He’s also able to work on special teams as a dangerous return man (as Clemson found out), and if that’s not enough, he’s apparently a dangerous quarterback as well, taking snaps out of the wildcat formation and even tossing a 50-yard completion against Vanderbilt.
To date, Gurley has 773 rushing yards, averaging a monstrous 8.2 yards per carry, and he has 53 receiving yards. You can also tack on 147 return yards to his total. All together, he’s scored nine touchdowns for Georgia this season.
If we extrapolate those numbers moving forward, and make adjustments based on team defensive numbers, we get a pretty good idea of just what Gurley could do for the entire season moving forward.
These projections are based on each opponent’s current ranking in rushing defense, and the percent of yards Gurley averages based on what opponents typically allow in total rush yardage.
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Of course all of this is assuming Gurley stays healthy, and that head coach Mark Richt doesn’t pull him fairly early in certain games. Some of these numbers are also showing an exponential lessening of number of carries for Gurley, who will probably be unable to keep up the pace he’s set in the first half of the season.
Should these totals pan out, it would put Gurley third on Georgia’s single season rushing list, behind the 1981 and 1982 seasons by Herschel Walker. It would also move him to second on Georgia’s all-time career rushing list, again behind Herschel Walker.
It’s also safe to say that if Gurley puts up those numbers and has a “Heisman moment” or two over the last seven games, he’s going to be practically a lock to win the 2014 Heisman Trophy.