Apparently, no one told Bryce Love and Patrick Laird that they’re supposed to be bitter rivals.

More Information 3,245 Combined yards rushing for Stanford’s Bryce Love (2,118, second among FBS players) and Cal’s Patrick Laird (1,127) last season.

Read More

The Stanford and Cal running backs briefly put the Big Game aside this summer and roomed together while acting as counselors at The Opening — a showcase for the nation’s top high school recruits.

“They’re really talented football players, but that’s not where it stops with them,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said. “The more they’re out there for young people, the better off we all will be.”

Two of the Pac-12’s top three returning running backs (along with Washington’s Myles Gaskin), Laird and Love had plenty of football they could have discussed when retiring to their room each day after working the summer camp.

More often, however, they chatted about outside interests.

Any chance Love gets, the human biology major and future doctor stresses education to the youth. Laird started a program this offseason, challenging children to combat summer learning loss by reading on their own.

“I’m a big fan of his reading program and his desire to elicit change in society,” Love said. “He’s using his platform to really affect the youth. That was the first thing I told him: how amazing that was.”

Laird said he was struck by the humility that oozes from Love, who regularly spends media sessions praising his offensive linemen and coaching staff, instead of rattling off the numbers that make him the preseason favorite to win the Heisman (2,118 yards on 8.1 yards per carry and 19 touchdowns last season).

Though they took starkly contrasting paths to becoming the stars of their respective offenses, Love and Laird found similarities in their desires to improve.

Laird was a walk-on, who was once seventh on Cal’s running back depth chart and was even moved to receiver before his 1,000-yard season last year.

Already adept at reading where a defense is flowing and what cut to make as his linemen move to block in the Bears’ zone scheme, Laird said he wants to improve his moves to beat defenders in the secondary this season.

The 6-foot, 205-pound senior also wants to improve his pass protection, and after catching 45 passes for 322 yards last year, Laird believes he can expand his route tree this season.

“That’s the difference between average and good, and good and great,” Wilcox said. “There are a lot of talented people out there … but the level of detail is what separates people.”

Toward the end of The Opening in Frisco, Texas, Laird had a mentoring session with the high school running backs and recounted his story of becoming an all-conference player despite barely being recruited.

“My experience coming out of high school was vastly different than those kids,” he said. “I told them that off the bat. I tried to just kind of share how I found success in college, but the tough thing is: Those kids hear how great they are every day. Then, there’s the social media aspect of it, which puts the kids on a pedestal.

“I sometimes feel like that’s the antithesis of football. For me, accomplishment in football is winning a game. For other people, it’s about how many tweets were about them or how many articles were about them. … I hope a couple of them took the advice, but it’s tough. When I was 16 or 17, I’m not sure how mature I was, so I don’t blame them too much.”

Love heard the message and backed it.

He was a four-star recruit and was invited to The Opening as a senior out of Wake Forest (N.C.) High, so he could relate to the showcase’s attendees. But he had to sit at Stanford behind Christian McCaffrey and has managed to remain grounded since becoming a household name.

“During the recruiting process, you can get lost in the hype and start believing all those things,” Love said. “You need to understand that, once you get to this level, it’s a whole different beast. You better be ready to work.”

Love, who played last season weighing in the high 180s and low 190s, reported to Cardinal training camp last week at 202 pounds — adding muscle while keeping the burst that allowed him to break off a record-setting 13 runs of at least 50 yards last season.

He said he’s prepared for people to compare his numbers from last season to those he produces this year, but he’ll keep his focus on tracking wins and losses.

After their summer experience, surely, Love and Laird will allow themselves to peek at each other’s stats, too.

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron