Toby Gerhart is the NFL's 21st Century Jim Brown

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Thoughts on Stanford's Running Back who-should-have-won-The-Heisman Toby Gerhart before this blogger leaves Georgia for the 2010 NFL Draft in New York City (thanks to The Inn at Irving Place, part of The Small Luxury Hotels of The World brand), and in the wake of my good friend Yahoo! Sports Mike Silver's post called Race factors into evaluation of Gerhart.

The fact that Toby Gerhart is a generational cultural test has been the case since he started running through and around people in 2009. You have to see Toby Gerhart in person to appreciate that he really is that fast.

While the Stanford Offensive Line at times gave Toby truck-sized holes to run through, there were more occasions when Gerhart just plain knocked people over. Toby Gerhart is the NFL's 21st Century Jim Brown.  Just watch:



Now the problem is some people insist on comparing Toby to a white running back because he's white. It's racist, not because of the comparison but because it's a put down of white running backs: it's a code-name for "slow."

Racism is to put a person down because of their skin color and that's what some NFL personnel evaluators are doing to Toby Gerhart. In effect, they're taking money out of his pocket that he'll have to win back with tough play in the league.

Because of such perceptions, Gerhart will be selected in lower rounds of the NFL Draft when he really should be taken in the 2nd round at the worst and the low 1st round at the best.   This is a player who ran for 1,857 yards and 27 touchdowns in the Pac-10.  Think about it.

Consider the racist evaluations as some gave Gerhart as told to Mike Silver:

One team I interviewed with asked me about being a white running back. They asked if it made me feel entitled, or like I felt I was a poster child for white running backs. I said, 'No, I'm just out there playing ball. I don't think about that.' I didn't really know what to say."

That revelation alone is enough to make the blood boil. If someone said that to a black college player, they would be rightly branded racist. It's amazing someone thought they could get away with treating Toby Gerhart that way.

But the NFL's problem is that some people in it stereotype others, thus Stanford's Toby Gerhart can't be a fast powerful running back who happens to be white, any more than Florida State Cornerback Myron Rolle can be a smart Rhodes Scholar player who happens to be black.

Geez.

Racism prevents the proper evaluation of college football players for the NFL. Remember this blog and Silver's article when you watch the NFL Draft Thursday night.

Stay tuned.