In football, images aren't everything, but they're important.

NFL teams have photos taken of each play from high above the press box and high above the end zones - one just before the snap and another about four seconds after the snap. Coordinators frequently review those shots with players, quarterbacks especially, after each possession.

In college ball, such photos are not allowed because of the financial costs.

The Stanford offense, however, has a different type of camera. It's inside the skull of 6-foot-3, 300-pound backup center Conor McFadden.

Let's say the Cardinal have just driven the length of the field in 15 plays. Offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren wants to know what the opposing defense did on a 2nd-and-4 play back at midfield, or how the blocks went on a screen pass a few plays later.

McFadden will show him on the whiteboard he uses like an artist's canvas, recreating the play in X's and O's. Here's how the defense was set up. Here's who blitzed. Here's what the safeties did. Here's who blocked whom - or failed to - on that screen pass. Pick a play, any play.

"A lot of times guys know exactly what the guy over them did, but they can't draw the overall picture," Bloomgren said. "Sometimes we can get the picture painted, but it's never quite exact. With Conor, it's pretty exact, the way his memory is."

Bloomgren asks his linemen for their input, too, "but (McFadden) is our starting point. He's really amazing."

McFadden denies he has a photographic memory, although many people think he does. "I do think I've been given a gift," he said. "I think my memory is special. But I think it's been gained through work."

The Cardinal leave Thursday for Los Angeles to continue their preparations for the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day against Michigan State. It will be the final game of McFadden's football career.

He'll leave after the game to return home to Minnesota and help his father, Mike, in his campaign for the U.S. Senate. The elder McFadden, a businessman, is among several Republican hopefuls trying to unseat Democrat Al Franken.

Conor McFadden hopes to run for office himself someday. Maybe he'll be able to remember names and faces the way he can recall the details of a Stanford end-around.

He's the oldest of five siblings - one brother, Pat, is a freshman running back at Stanford - and honed his leadership skills at St. Thomas Academy in suburban Minneapolis as student-body president and commander of a Junior ROTC battalion.

"My mom didn't allow video games or TV in the house," he said. "As a sixth-grade boy, I hated it: My mom was the devil, the worst person ever. As a 21-year-old, I feel that was the best gift my mother could give to me."

He filled those hours by reading: ancient history, mythology, books about war like "The Iliad." "It was an amazing experience to be put in such a loving environment where my parents did have the guts to say no to me," he said. "I know how hard that is in today's world."

An all-state lineman, he weighed 260 pounds when he entered Stanford. Instead of gaining 20 or 30 pounds, he lost 20. "When you're too small and too slow, that's really not the combination you want," he said with a laugh.

Eventually he started packing on the weight, but he didn't play a down as a freshman or sophomore. Last season, he got into four games as a backup to Sam Schwartzstein. He played in two games this year, blocking for two touchdowns against Washington State and two against Cal.

His real value, though, was with his mind, not his muscle. He started diagramming plays his sophomore year. Stanford offensive linemen have to know their own assignments but also how the whole play is supposed to work, he said.

"That's been such a huge advantage for us in many of the games," he said. "We're able to outthink defenses as well as out-physical them. I wanted to be a part of that. I didn't like sitting on the sidelines and feel I was doing nothing. So I figured: Why not start drawing stuff up on the whiteboard?"

During a game against Washington, he was the first to notice that whenever quarterback Andrew Luck called an audible, the Huskies' safeties dropped back. The tip helped the Cardinal rush for a school-record 446 yards in a 65-21 rout.

"My part in it was extremely minor," McFadden said.

Bloomgren begs to differ. He thinks there's something special about McFadden's mind.

Bloomgren points out that it's extraordinary for anybody to see precisely how teams line up and how plays develop from the field level. That's why most coordinators watch the games from press boxes.

"I've been fortunate enough to be around a lot of smart people and people who could retain a lot of information," Bloomgren said. "I'm not sure I've ever been around anybody who could sequentially store this much information."

During this year's Pac-12 title game, McFadden noticed that Arizona State was blitzing with a safety instead of a cornerback, as it normally did.

"Little things like that can make a big difference," McFadden said. "It's like a chess match. Every play, there's a chance for a humongous difference-maker. If you can think two moves ahead of the person across from you, you have a big advantage."

He's majoring in public policy. "I would have majored in socializing," he said with a smile, "but unfortunately, they don't have that here."

Before he enters politics, he said, he wants to gain life experience - "maybe start a business or become a teacher or join the Army, one of the best leadership opportunities for a young person in the world."

Bloomgren thinks football could use his leadership skills and intelligence, not to mention his ability to diagram plays in his head.

"He would be an unbelievable coach, a guy I'd die to hire," he said. "He's going to change the world, so he'll never do that."