Jaillet’s Journal: Frank Gore still moving the chains after 15 seasons

I was 10 when Miami Hurricanes football legend Frank Gore was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. I am now 25. My age puts what Frank Gore is doing into a bit of perspective. The running back signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets on Tuesday, continuing his accomplished, 16-year career in the NFL.

When you look at his statistics, they are truly impressive. His statistics aren’t numbers that will make you think he is the greatest running back ever. Rather, it’s his consistency and ability to get the job done that is most impressive. As a rookie with San Francisco in 2005, he rushed the ball 127 times for 608 yards and three touchdowns.

In 2006, he would be selected to the first Pro Bowl of his career. Gore rushed for 1,695 yards and eight touchdowns. From 2006-2009 he would record at least 1,000 yards rushing. Those four years would be considered a great career for any running back.  Gore was able to accomplish the feat again from 2011-2014. The fact that he was able to put together to separate packages of 1,000 yard seasons is impressive in of itself.

Standout veteran RB Frank Gore is signing a 1-year deal with the Jets, @RosenhausSports tells ESPN. Gore will be reunited with his former coach Adam Gase, with whom he spent the 2018 season.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 5, 2020

Gore a unique treasure in evolving National Football League

Over the years, Gore has not scampered for these yards. He doesn’t magically weave around these holes or dance before he hits them, like Le’Veon Bell. He runs into them head first, and bulldozers his way over defenders. He is a bit of a relic in today’s National Football League. That physical, rugged brand of running is becoming a lost art.

It seems like more than ever, running backs are relying on their offensive lines to create perfect running lanes for them, with the lanes being free of defenders and anybody that might touch them. That is not the case with Gore.

If anything, it would be safe to say that he has welcomed the challenge of defenders over the course of his career. Particularly when he was younger, he would often create contact. Once that happened, the defender would be at his mercy.

It’s impressive to think that he has played this style of football for 15 years in the National Football League. It’s also impressive to think that he was making defenders miserable for quite some time before entering the professional ranks.

Frank Gore makes his mark

He made his college football debut on September 1, 2001. In what was a star-studded Hurricanes backfield that included the likes of Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee, Gore had to prove himself. He ran the ball six times for 15 yards in that contest, and didn’t really give the college football world much to think about.

He would make an impression by the end of his freshman year however. He would finish the season with 62 carries for 562 yards and  five touchdowns. ACL injuries derailed his 2002 season.

However, he was able to put together  solid 2003 and 2004 seasons, and was able to find his way to the NFL Draft with the same physical running style he would go on to make famous in the NFL.

He would wrap up his Miami career with 1,975 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns in three years of work. The rest as they say, is history.

Frank Gore has put together a career that would make most players envious. Now, it’s all gravy from here. It seems like he has found the fountain of youth. It is certainly going to be fun watching a legend take the field once again.