Stanford’s Love will return for senior year

Bryce Love will return for his senior season at Stanford, in position to become the school’s all-time leading rusher. Bryce Love will return for his senior season at Stanford, in position to become the school’s all-time leading rusher. Photo: John Todd / John Todd/isiphotos.com Photo: John Todd / John Todd/isiphotos.com Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Stanford’s Love will return for senior year 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Heisman Trophy runner-up Bryce Love has decided to return to Stanford for his final season of eligibility, putting the Cardinal in position to land at least a top-15 preseason ranking next fall.

His father, Chris, texted the news to The Chronicle early Tuesday morning: “Bryce will return for his senior year!”

The junior tailback didn’t make his decision until the last possible minute Monday night, the deadline for entering the NFL draft.

He tweeted: “Honored to be a Cardinal and to play for this University another year! Back to work.”

With 2,118 yards in 2017, Love was second in the nation in rushing despite an ankle injury that sidelined him for a game and hampered him for the final six. His average of 8.1 yards per rush is the best in FBS history, erasing the record of 7.8 set by Nebraska’s Mike Rozierin 1983.

Next fall Love should be the early favorite for the Heisman. With a little more than half the rushing yards he gained in 2017, he would break the school career record of 4,300 yards that Stepfan Taylor set in 2009-12.

Love’s 69-yard touchdown in Stanford’s 39-37 loss to TCU in the Alamo Bowl was his 13th run of 50 yards or longer this season, another FBS record.

Reggie Lucas, Love’s coach at Wake Forest (N.C.) High School, said, “I’m excited for him. It’s great for him and for Stanford. For him to wait another year won’t hurt him, especially with the number of running backs that were coming out this year.”

This year’s tailback group is rich in talent. Penn State’s Saquon Barkley tops the group, but among the other highly ranked backs are Derrius Guice of LSU, Ronald Jones II of USC, Royce Freeman of Oregon and Sony Michel and Nick Chubb, both of Georgia. The group is so stacked that San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny, who led the nation in rushing, is ranked 12th by CBS Sports.

“Rarely do you hear of (senior) running backs coming back,” Pac-12 Networks analyst Yogi Roth said. “He and (Washington’s) Myles Gaskin coming back is an anomaly. Bryce’s decision speaks volumes of who he is as a young man. He clearly valued his Stanford experience and wants to take his game to another level.”

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Love is a human biology major who plans to go to medical school. He has said he plans to get into either pediatrics or genetic research.

Some of Stanford’s recent star tailbacks have stayed for their full four years of eligibility, including Toby Gerhart, Taylor and (after a year of minor league baseball) Tyler Gaffney, but Christian McCaffrey’s decision to leave in 2017 was part of the trend among elite backs.

The Cardinal should have a superb stable of running backs next season. Behind Love is Cameron Scarlett, who scored eight touchdowns as the main short-yardage back, and Trevor Speights, who has looked good in limited carries. Additionally, Connor Wedington may see time at tailback after playing exclusively at wide receiver as a freshman.

Among the many people probably walking with an extra bounce in their step Tuesday was new offensive coordintor Tavita Pritchard. With quarterback K.J. Costello, nearly all the offensive line and a sparkling group of tight ends and wide receivers back, the offense should be spectacular in 2018.

The Cardinal will lose four underclassmen to the NFL draft: defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, tight end Dalton Schultz, safety Justin Reid and cornerback Quenton Meeks.

The losses of Phillips, Reid and Meeks will deal a blow to the defense, which gave up an average of 405 yards per game, Stanford’s highest mark since 2007. The line, in particular, will have to rely on inexperienced players like Dalyn Wade-Perry, Michael Williams, Jovan Swan and Thomas Schaffer.

Stanford is in much better shape in the secondary to withstand the losses of Reid and Meeks.

With Gaskin returning for his final year at Washington, he and quarterback Jake Browning should help make the Huskies the favorite for the Pac-12 North title, even with Love coming back.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald