McCaffrey will skip Stanford’s bowl game. Christian
Former Valor Christian star begins preparation for NFL draft
McCaffrey is done playing college football, even though Stanford has one more game. The running back wants to prepare for the draft and said on Twitter on Monday he will not play in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30.
Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey announced Monday that he will sit out the Cardinal’s meeting with North Carolina in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30 in El Paso, officially ending his college career.
McCaffrey, the second-eldest son of Lisa McCaffrey and former Broncos receiver Ed McCaffrey, previously announced this month that he will forgo his senior season at Stanford and enter the 2017 NFL draft.
“Very tough decision, but I have decided not to play in the Sun Bowl so I can begin my draft prep immediately,” he tweeted. “Thx to all my teammates for their 100% support — It means a lot to me. Go Cardinal!”
McCaffrey joins Louisiana State running back Leonard Fournette in choosing to sit out his team’s bowl game ahead of the draft. Fournette said last week that he would not play in the Citrus Bowl, against No. 15 Louisville, so he could rest his injured ankle.
“I’m not a quitter at all. I tried to play through the injury as best as I could,” Fournette said. “It’s a hurtful feeling knowing that we had the season that we had and I didn’t get the opportunity to play to my full potential.”
McCaffrey, a former Valor Christian star, is projected by multiple outlets as a latefirst-round selection and leaves Stanford with multiple school and NCAA records. This season he led the nation with 211.6 allpurpose yards per game and ranked fourth with 145.7 yards rushing per game. He was named to the all-Pac-12 first team and was voted as Stanford’s MVP for the second consecutive season. McCaffrey, a communications major with a 3.43 GPA, was also named CoSIDA academic All-American of the year.
In 2015, McCaffrey snapped Barry Sanders’ NCAA all-purpose-yards record with 3,864. McCaffrey finished second in the nation with 2,019 yards rushing and became the first player in Stanford history to top the 2,000 mark in a season. Among his many accolades after his sophomore season, McCaffrey was named The Associated Press’ college football player of the year, the Pac-12 player of the year and the Paul Hornung Award winner for most versatile player, and he was the Heisman Trophy runner-up.
In McCaffrey’s final game with Stanford, a 41-17 win over Rice, he recorded 271 allpurpose yards and scored two touchdowns. In his career, McCaffrey amassed 3,922 yards rushing and 21 rushing touchdowns, 1,206 yards receiving and 10 receiving touchdowns. His 6,987 career all-purpose yards rank second on Stanford’s all-time list, behind Darrin Nelson’s 7,120.
“What he’s done here at Stanford is jawdropping. It’s awe-inspiring. It’s up there with Andrew Luck and John Elway and Jim Plunkett — guys that have done phenomenal things,” Stanford coach David Shaw said during McCaffrey’s news conference to announce his draft decision.
McCaffrey helped the Cardinal to a bowl game in each of his three collegiate seasons, including last January’s Rose Bowl win over Iowa. He was named the game’s offensive MVP with a Rose Bowl record 368 all-purpose yards.
Stanford (9-3) now prepares to face North Carolina (8-4) in the Sun Bowl without its biggest offensive weapon and one of its captains.