Within a week, a record belonging to Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon was gone.
Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine, with 427 yards rushing against a Kansas team that has packed it in for the season. (Actually, I’m not sure KU even really tried that hard at the beginning of 2014). Gordon held the single-game FBS rushing record for seven days. However, he has something Perine does not- a near certain invitation to the downtown athletic club in New York City.
Melvin Gordon won’t just be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, he’ll be the front-runner. MelGo could hit 2,500 rushing yards this year. He has 813 yards in his last three games,. Through 11 contests, Gordon has 2,109 rushing yards. If Wisconsin beats Minnesota (they’re 13.5 point favorites), and reaches the Big Ten Championship game, Wisconsin gets to play in 14 total games. If Melvin Gordon averages 174 rushing yards per game, he can surpass Barry Sanders’ FBS-record, 11-game, 2,628-yard effort of 1988. Of course, the’d have an extra three games to get there, look at it this way:
Averaging 173 yards per game would be BELOW par for Gordon; as he currently averages 191.7 yards per outing.
“I don’t think you can emulate, or be anything like Barry Sanders, he’s just one of a kind and everyone knows there’s only one Barry Sanders,” MelGo said on conference call with the national media today.
“You can’t be like him, you can try but I don’t think you’d be too successful. He was just a legend, with his own style of play and I don’t think anyone can fit that.”
Sanders’ 238.9 per game average record is very likely safe, but Gordon has a chance to break Sanders’ total rushing yardage mark*
Melvin Gordon said the two backs that he started watching film of when he began perfecting his craft of rushing the football was in fact Sanders, and Walter Payton. He also said that a lot of people compare him to the Chiefs’ Jamaal Charles.
“I take that as a huge compliment because he’s one of the best backs in the NFL,” Gordon said.
MelGo also said something on this conference call that further solidifies the theory that he’ll soon be a Seattle Seahawk. I asked Gordon what are the NFL teams who have the offenisve systems and styles that he prefers and/or his favorite team. He said that his mom told him that as a child he wished to be a Green Bay Packer when he grew up, but he doesn’t remember it. Gordon grew up in Kenosha, but said he doesn’t have a current favorite team in the league. And the Seahawks were the very first team he mentioned in regards to preferred system and style.
“I like the way Seattle plays, I love Russell. I like the way New York plays, there’s a lot of teams out there that run the ball and I like their systems,” he said.
Marshawn Lynch and the Seattle Seahawks are parting ways; that’s the conventional wisdom. NFL Network has also reported that the Seahawks have been keeping a very close eye on Melvin Gordon. So between the Seahawks scouting him, the Seattle-Wisconsin connections with quarterback Russell Wilson and Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell, and Gordon’s obvious interest in playing for the Pacific Northwest’s team…it seems like a perfect fit!
Or at least, the perfect mock draft projection. (here’s our latest mock)
So Melvin Gordon could be the next Jamaal Charles; and come close to being the next Barry Sanders.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2