One Who Got Away Comes Home

Stanford freshman running back Toby Gerhart is one recruit who got away from UCLA, and Saturday the Bruins will get a chance to see him up close at the Rose Bowl.

“We would have loved to have him in our program,” UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said about Gerhart, The Times’ high school player of the year last season. “I know baseball is in his equation there and he felt that [Stanford] was the best opportunity for him and it didn’t work in our favor.”

Gerhart -- a two-sport standout at Norco High whom Baseball America named among the top 50 high school players as a senior -- holds the California high school career rushing record with 9,622 yards and is third all-time nationally. As a senior, Gerhart rushed for a remarkable 3,233 yards and scored 39 touchdowns in leading Norco to the Southern Section Division V championship.

“He’s a good player with good speed and size,” Dorrell said. “He’s as good as any other back that we’ve faced so far.”

Although Gerhart has not started a game and is listed as No. 2 running back behind Anthony Kimble, he leads the Cardinal in rushing with 201 yards and is averaging a team-high 4.6 yards a carry. For Stanford Coach Walt Harris, Gerhart has been one of the few bright spots.

“We were hoping that he would,” Harris said about Gerhart. “We are not real deep at that position, so we were counting on him to have a chance to be in the mix. He’s done a nice job for us.”

Gerhart, who broke the state high school career mark by more than 1,000 yards, had his best game this season in Stanford’s 35-34 loss to San Jose State when he gained 82 yards in 13 carries. But he hasn’t had much work since with the Cardinal getting routed at home by Navy and Washington State.

“He plays real physical,” Harris said about Gerhart, 6 feet 1 and 229 pounds. “He’s also getting better in the open field. He runs hard

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Dorrell on sophomore quarterback Ben Olson: “He’s had obviously some success in the Utah game and he had success in our previous two games too. They’ve been different in terms of types of success it was. He’s a young quarterback that’s gaining experience. He’s going to get better and better. He’s realizing certain things every week.”

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Junior defensive end William Snead practiced at tight end and although the move may be temporary, he didn’t look bad playing a position he hasn’t tried since high school.

“The biggest thing is to get all the information that I can get to make the transition,” said Snead, a former standout at Oakland Skyline High.

Dorrell, who suggested the move, said Snead would continue to be a reserve player on defense but will likely remain at tight end in practice this week.

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Senior receiver Joe Cowan, who has been sidelined because of a knee injury since the start of training camp, did some light running in practice Tuesday.... It’s still uncertain when junior cornerback Michael Norris (knee) and freshman safety Christian Ramirez (hamstring) will return but both did some individual work in practice.

lonnie.white@latimes.com