Todd Gurley takes aim at Offensive Rookie of Year award

[RamBill]

Todd Gurley takes aim at Offensive Rookie of Year award
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...kes-aim-at-offensive-rookie-of-the-year-award

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Rams running back Todd Gurley didn't get to enjoy a full rookie season as he recovered from a torn left ACL. But he made the most of his 13 games, leading all rookies in rushing yards and finishing third in the NFL in that category.

Gurley will find out this weekend whether he's earned a couple awards. Gurley is one of five nominees for the Pepsi Rookie of the Year award, and is also a top contender for the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Gurley said Friday that he covets both -- the winners will be announced on Saturday -- and particularly likes the idea of beating out Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston and Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper.

"Oh man, it would just be cool to take home this award," Gurley said. "Definitely knowing how hard I worked to get in this position. Plus, Jameis and Amari already got a national championship, so I need to get this award from them. I hope it can happen."

Gurley certainly has the credentials to earn both. He already won the Pro Football Writers of America rookie of the year and the team's version of the honor and is a leading contender to make it a clean sweep.

Gurley finished with 1,106 rushing yards in 2015, joining Eric Dickerson and Jerome Bettis as the only Rams rushers to reach 1,000 rushing yards in their debut seasons. He was also first among all rookies in yards from scrimmage (1,294), second in total touchdowns (10) and first in 100-yard games (five).

Along the way Gurley became the first rookie in NFL history to rush for 125 or more yards in four consecutive games. His 566 yards in his first four starts set an NFL record for the Super Bowl era, and he's one of three rookies since 1970 to rush for 700 or more yards in his first six starts.

Gurley also earned a spot in the Pro Bowl, a trip he apparently enjoyed.

"Just being around Hall of Fame coaches, good players, my rookie year, my first time ever in Hawaii, it was good times," Gurley said. "I had never been to Hawaii before. I’m happy about that. I’m going to keep mentioning Hawaii because I’ve never been to Hawaii before so I want people to know that I went."

Gurley scored a touchdown in his Pro Bowl debut, a positive sign considering he missed the Rams' season finale with a foot injury. Gurley said his foot is fine and he's looking forward to a full offseason of workouts, something he didn't have last year because he was recovering from the knee injury.

"I’m definitely looking forward to that because last year it was just all about my knee," Gurley said. "I couldn’t do like extra workouts on my own because they had to keep an eye on it. I’m definitely looking forward to being able to do my own workouts and not having to be monitored by everybody."

Gurley plans to get set up in Los Angeles soon and spend his offseason training at the Exos Performance Center. As for what he hopes to improve on this offseason?

"Everything," Gurley said. "I want to work on my balance, I feel like I can improve a lot more on my blocking ability, coming out of the backfield, just doing a lot more stuff better without the ball."

 

[RamBill]

One Rams player is coming to L.A. to play football -- and replace Kobe

By Fred Katz

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/...ryant-todd-gurley-coming-to-la-replace-020516

Kobe Bryant will be joining the St. Louis Rams in the Things We Used to Love in Sports Museum once this NBA season ends. Bryant will be retiring, fading off into the basketball abyss, as the NBA searches for a new face of the league.

The city of Los Angeles will be looking around for the same. Bryant has been the biggest name in town for years, helping the Lakers to five championships since coming into the NBA in 1996. Now, though, L.A. has the football Rams, who will relocaate from St. Louis next season, and the town's new running back says he's hoping to be the most recognizable face in SoCal:

Los Angeles Rams @RamsNFL
Gurley tells @SportsCenter: "With @kobebryant retiring, hopefully I can take his spot in LA."

Todd Gurley had a superb rookie season with the Rams in St. Louis this past year, leading all first-year players in rushing and getting into the end zone 10 times. He did all that while starting only 12 games. Not bad for a kid who's still only 21.

Still, Gurley has a long way to go to surpass what Kobe's done on the hardwood, and his Rams will have to win a whole lot more in L.A. than they did St. Louis in order for him to get close to Lakers status. After all, the Rams haven't had a winning season since 2003.

 

[RamBill]

Todd Gurley Ready for Some Hardware

Todd Gurley hopes to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and talks about participating in the Pro Bowl. Gurley says he wants to go the the Pro Bowl every year, other than the years the Rams are in the Super Bowl

Watch Gurley Interview

 

[JUMAVA68]

Gurley deserves it but i wouldn't be surprised if Winston walks away with it.QBs seem to get more attention than RBs and i get why but doesn't make it easier to accept.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Gurley deserves it but i wouldn't be surprised if Winston walks away with it.QBs seem to get more attention than RBs and i get why but doesn't make it easier to accept.

You could be right.

It's going to be close.

 

[BatteringRambo]

Gurley's gonna get It!

 

[Austin]

I'd love Gurley to get this. Ultimately, it's kind of meaningless, but it's just one more thing to add to the resume that we can use to fight people on forums in Important Arguments.

Love the angle he's taking, too. Todd has such a laid back and honest approach that's hard not to like.

 

[Young Ram]

At first when we drafted Gurley I was like 'really? A RB?' when I thought we could've used that pick on something else like O-line. Also how Mason performed his rookie year.

But holy shit! I'm glad Gurley is wearing those horns.

 

[CGI_Ram]

At first when we drafted Gurley I was like 'really? A RB?' when I thought we could've used that pick on something else like O-line. Also how Mason performed his rookie year.

But holy crap! I'm glad Gurley is wearing those horns.

I was kind of in the same boat, but I was more concerned about the injury and our recent woes with ACL's.

Gurley is a special runner. This is going to be a fun ride.

 

[IowaRam]

 

[RhodyRams]

Didn't Bradford win OROY in 2010....and it all went downhill from there

Let's hope if TG wins, history doesn't repeat itself

 

[kurtfaulk]

At first when we drafted Gurley I was like 'really? A RB?' when I thought we could've used that pick on something else like O-line. Also how Mason performed his rookie year.

But holy crap! I'm glad Gurley is wearing those horns.

I was only surprised because i didn't think they'd pick him. But after a few seconds and realising the Rams picked up a rb that can rival adp i was ecstatic.

.

 

[DaveFan'51]

You could be right.

It's going to be close.

I'll be praying for him until the announcements are made!!

 

[RhodyRams]

At first when we drafted Gurley I was like 'really? A RB?' when I thought we could've used that pick on something else like O-line. Also how Mason performed his rookie year.

But holy crap! I'm glad Gurley is wearing those horns.

I wasn't watching the draft but my brother texted me "nice pick by the Rams" I looked into it and responded "we don't need another RB, we need O line help"

 

[JUMAVA68]

At first when we drafted Gurley I was like 'really? A RB?' when I thought we could've used that pick on something else like O-line. Also how Mason performed his rookie year.

But holy crap! I'm glad Gurley is wearing those horns.

Same here at the time I thought it was a bad move, never been happier to be wrong.

 

[RamBill]

Bonsignore: Rams come to town and bring a shining star with them

By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/201...me-to-town-and-bring-a-shining-star-with-them

The best young running back in the National Football League didn’t need a pulling guard to open a running lane in the Radio Row maze at the Super Bowl 50 media center in downtown San Francisco on Friday.

In fact, watching Todd Gurley smoothly move from one interview to the next – and there were a whole bunch of nexts - he looked more like a Hollywood leading man working a press junket ahead of his new movie than the soon-to-be NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Meet your next Superstar, Los Angeles.

And he doesn’t even play for the Lakers or Dodgers.

There is a new sheriff in town, and they go by the name of the Los Angeles Rams.

And they are bringing a mega-watt star with them.

“I can’t wait,” Gurley said, flashing a smile that would send the sharks at Creative Artists Agency into pitch mode. “It’s going to be exciting. I’m still getting used to the whole Los Angeles part of the Rams, but it’s exciting times that’s for sure.”

Full disclosure, Gurley hasn’t yet been to L.A., although on a quick stopover in Long Beach recently he did stop in at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.

It doesn’t get much more L.A. than that.

“Everything has been moving pretty fast, but I’ll get out to L.A. soon,” Gurley said.

Fast?

How about warp speed?

This time last year Gurley was still rehabbing his surgically repaired left knee after tearing his ACL during his junior year at Georgia. He still wasn’t quite sure who would take a chance on him in the draft, let alone whether someone would actually invest a first-round pick on someone who underwent knee surgery just a few months before.

The Rams, in need of a running back to anchor Jeff Fisher’s pound-it-out, ball-control offense, were so enthralled by what Gurley did at Georgia they defied conventional wisdom of investing a first-round pick on a running back coming off knee surgery.

It wasn’t difficult to follow their logic.

Gurley played only parts of the three seasons he spent in Athens – the knee injury wiping away half of his junior year – but the 30 games he did play were nothing short of spectacular.

Gurley ran for 3,285 yards (averaging 6.4 yards per carry) and 36 touchdowns over his three seasons while adding 615 yards and six touchdowns on 65 receptions.

Knee injury or not, that kind of production is impossible to ignore.

The Rams bet on Gurley being healthy for the long haul - knowing full well his rookie season would be delayed while the knee healed – and picked Gurley 10th overall.

A year later, he’s one of the bright young faces of the NFL after rushing for 1.106 yards and 10 touchdowns over 13 games as a rookie. And the way he was being whisked from appearance to appearance here Friday, with fan’s lining up deeper than the Denver Broncos defensive front chanting his name and asking for his autograph or a picture, you can tell the the spot light doesn’t just fit him well, it’s already burning pretty brightly for such a young player.

Multiply that by 50 or so and you get an idea of what might be in store for him when he finally settles in in L.A.

“I’m good with that,” Gurley said.

And there was that smile again.

We do superstars like no other. And we offer a stage unlike any other in the country.

Thing is, that stage is about to get a lot less crowded.

With Kobe Bryant saying his final farewell with the Lakers, we need someone to fill the space.

Who better than Gurley, whose combination of speed, power, elusiveness and running ability had the entire NFL reaching for their thesaurus to figure out the right superlative.

Put it this way: He’s a cross between Adrian Peterson and Eric Dickerson with a little bit of Walter Payton and Marcus Allen thrown in.

And he doesn’t just accept the big stage, he kind of thrives on it.

Now he’s coming to Hollywood, and he couldn’t be happier.

“There’s no doubt that’s exciting to think about,” Gurley said. “It’s Los Angeles. It’s Hollywood. It’s the bright lights. I’m ready for it, to embrace it.”

He already knows a little bit about his soon-to-be new home town.

During one of the handful of TV and radio interviews he did Friday, someone asked him to identify the toughest, most congested freeway in Los Angeles. Gurley was given three freeways to chose from: The 101, 405 or 10.

After thinking it over for a second, Gurley smiled and said: “All of the above.”

You got that right.

Welcome to your new home, buddy.

You’re going to fit right in.

 

[Mikey Ram]

I'd love Gurley to get this. Ultimately, it's kind of meaningless, but it's just one more thing to add to the resume that we can use to fight people on forums in Important Arguments.

Love the angle he's taking, too. Todd has such a laid back and honest approach that's hard not to like.

Seems kind of out of character for him to say maybe he can take Kobe's place in L.A... Really surprised that he would say that, if he was serious...(If he even said it at all)...

 

[jap]

Seems kind of out of character for him to say maybe he can take Kobe's place in L.A... Really surprised that he would say that, if he was serious...(If he even said it at all)...

He knows he's good. He has no less than former superstars Herschel Walker and Eric "the Great" Dickinson in his ear. He's humble alright, but humbleness doesn't preclude realizing you are a true superstar in the making.

 

[NateDawg122]

Make no mistake, Todd knows he's a bad ass. I have stories from the UGA party scene to confirm that. But in public he's humble. He's a good guy all around but he's not blind to his talent.

 

[RamBill]

Check out the Top 10 Todd Gurley plays from 2015.

Watch Gurley Top Plays