Antrel Rolle has been playing football against Frank Gore since they were youngsters near Miami. When they were in high school — Rolle at South Dade, Gore a bit north in Coral Gables — Rolle always heard that Gore, blessed with elusiveness, exceptional balance and uncanny field vision, might be the best running back ever to come out of those neighborhoods, which doubled as a recruiter’s dream.

Clinton Portis saw it for himself, when, while already a University of Miami running back, he went to Gables High School games to watch the youngster he now considers a protégé playing, he said, with no socks under his cleats, no gloves on his hands, shredding heavily favored opponents by running draws and dives out of four-wide receiver sets. Portis returned to the Hurricanes practices to tell his coaches, “This Frank Gore is special.”

Rolle, now a Giants safety, said this week: “You really don’t get a full grasp of what kind of runner he is until you go against him. I will say it to the day I die, going against him, I still feel he was the best running back to come through the University of Miami before his knee injuries.”

That is the legend of Frank Gore, one of the most talented players on, perhaps, Miami’s most talented team, who was never as good as he might have been in college. He had to overcome two significant injuries, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee just after he beat out Willis McGahee in spring practice before Gore’s sophomore season, then the one in his right knee the next season. Those injuries are why the San Francisco 49ers chose clips from Gore’s freshman season when they showed his college highlights before their playoff victory over Green Bay last weekend. That was when, with his knees still unscarred and while splitting time with McGahee and Portis as a true freshman, he averaged 9.1 yards per carry.