Stanford fans can be forgiven if recruiting has taken over their brains. The Cardinal fans happily watched Friday the commitment of five-star Walker Little -- a moment made even more exciting that it's not a fantasy to imagine adding another elite tackle as well

While the future of the Cardinal's offensive line has been a hot topic, what of the players who will be asked to run through the tunnels of next year's union?

The Cardinal must replace Christian McCaffrey, one of the program's all-time great players, and yet Stanford may already know what the run game will look like without McCaffrey.

"Bryce Love will be one of the most dynamic running backs in college football," said head coach David Shaw. "He proved that he is. He hasn’t had the amount of touches and, God bless him, he has been the most supportive guy of Christian McCaffrey that you can possibly imagine. He’s the first guy to celebrate with Christian after big plays. He looks up to Christian."

When McCaffrey went down with an injury and could not play at Notre Dame -- missing the first game of his career, high school or college -- it was Love who darted and powered his way to 129 yards, despite a nagging injury. Love, who has been questioned by some outside the program as too small to excel within the Cardinal offense, lost only two yards in South Bend.

"We've seen him as a starter ... on a pretty big stage at Notre Dame," offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren said after a recent practice. "He did really well. I think we have a lot of confidence in his ability and where he's going to go. He's a guy you never have to worry about working and pushing himself. He's always going to do that."

And his production in the 17-10 win was not the result of one big play. In fact, his longest run was called back due to a holding penalty.

"He’s exciting," Shaw said. "He’s dynamic. He can do the same things that Christian can do."

While that may be true in some aspects of the game, Love is noticeably behind as a receiver who can navigate routes downfield with the same effectiveness as No. 5. Love has caught one pass out of the backfield in two seasons, and it was only a couple yards past the line of scrimmage as a check-down from Keller Chryst. But Stanford's run game has excelled before without an all-purpose star like McCaffrey.

It will take a group effort by the entire offense to replace McCaffrey's production. And Love is quick to brush aside talk of his status as the apparent heir, instead he is focused on beating North Carolina, the flagship university of his home state.

"Beyond that I feel like I still have to compete along with everybody else," he said. "It's still up in the air -- (I'll) be out there competing with Cameron (Scarlett), Tevor (Speights) and Dorian (Maddox). Work my hardest ... and you know you have to do your 1/11th and contribute in that way."

Love said that Speights and Maddox are making progress in perfecting all the details that allows a running back to be effective. And Scarlett is Love's roommate.

"I love the guy to death," he said. "He's definitely starting to stand out (and) doing what he has to do. Really starting to be patient, hitting holes and he's going to be hard to bring down when he hits full steam. I'm looking forward to it."

Bloomgren praised Scralett's performance in the early bowl practices as the Oregon native may be hitting his stride after scoring his first career touchdown against the Ducks in Autzen Stadium.

"I think that group is a pretty cool room right now," Bloomgren said of the running backs. "I think Coach (Lance) Taylor does an unbelievable job with them."

Notes:

Love on any mixed loyalty among family members when the Cardinal play the Tar Heels: "Definitely have to go for the team I'm on. A lot of my family went out there. I have a lot of respect for the program. A lot of love for the program, definitely. I know they're doing great things."

Dec. 16 -- Defensive coordinator Lance Anderson on younger defenders getting more time in bowl practices: "Last week when we did the young guy stuff, when they had their periods and scrimmages, there was a ton of energy. Guys were playing really hard. Jordan Fox really flashed and did a lot of good things. All four of the freshmen D-linemen (Bo Peek, Thomas Schaffer, Jovan Swann, Mike Williams) did a really nice job. I'm happy with the DBs as well. Treyjohn Butler really flashed in those scrimmages. It's fun to have this extra time with them. There were things early last week, when those D-linemen you could see they hadn't gotten reps and weren't as sharp as they should have been, but they got better as the week went on."

Wesley Annan has been injured (arm) most of the season: "He did a little bit of individual (work) today. He's still not cleared, yet. At least he's back on the grass doing some football activities. That's a start."

Video reminders of what Love can do

