Franklin Delano Gore (Biography & Achievement)

Franklin Delano Gore (Born May 14, 1983) is an American football player who belongs to the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL) and plays in the running position. He is the most veteran of the league in that position (Yahoo Sports, 2016).

He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes and was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft 2005 by the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he was from 2005 to 2014. He is the historic leader of the 49ers in carried yards and in landings.

Throughout his NFL career to this day, Frank Gore is considered to be one of the best players in his position (Indianapolis Colts, 2016). He has been selected five times to the Pro Bowl and has eight seasons with more than 1,000 yards carried. Gore was the 29th runner to reach 10,000 yards by land (49ers, San Francisco, 2014).

He is also one of only three players to have nine consecutive seasons with at least 200 carries keeping an average of four yards per carry over NFL, 2016. The other two in this group are Jim Brown and Barry Sanders, both in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Despite his good individual performance throughout his career, most of his teams have not been up to date, only in 2011 he and the 49ers got a season with 13-3 record under the technical lead of Jim Harbaugh. In that year San Francisco led the NFC West division and reached the national conference championship game, in that season became the historic leader of the 49ers in carried yards (NFL, 2011).

In 2012, Gore outlasted Joe Perry and Roger Craig as the top scorer in touchdowns in the history of the 49ers (Mercury News, 2012) and helped them reach Super Bowl XLII.

Early Years

Frank Gore was born in Miami, Florida, grew up in the town of Cocunut Grove and went to Coral Gables High School where he was an excellent runner. He broke the two-yard rushing record, first with 377 yards, beating Markeith Cooper's previous record of 361, in effect since 1995. In that same season he beat that mark with a game where he completed 419 yards against Southwest High School Sun Sentinel, 2000).

During his senior year of high school in 2000, Frank broke several Dade County records, running 2,658 yards in ten games, accumulating 274 carries and 34 touchdowns.

For this he was awarded the Nick Kotys Award, which is awarded to the most outstanding high school football player, being the only person to receive the tribute twice (Miami Herald, 2014). He was recognized and named as the number three prospect in Dade County by the Miami Herald, number four in the state of Florida and the seventh nationwide (USA Today, 2005). Gore finally chose the University of Miami for family reasons.

College career

Gore received a scholarship to enter the University of Miami. As a freshman in 2001, Gore completed 562 yards with five runs on 62 carries, averaging 9.1 yards per carry as a substitute in his position.

That team went on to win the national championship in the Rose Bowl against Nebraska. Among Gore's outstanding performances was West Virginia, where he completed 124 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries, against Syracuse averaging 13.9 yards per carry, running 153 yards in 11 attempts (University of Miami, 2003) . In that same year he was awarded the Sporting News award as the best university rookie of the Big East. (CSN, 2015)

Gore suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee before spring practice in 2002 and was in recovery for the rest of the year before his injury. Gore had won ownership as a runner for the Miami Hurricanes (Online Athens, 2003 ). In the second half of the year he played in the University of Miami scout team and did well against the starting lineup, showing improvement as the season progressed (University of Miami, 2003).

Gore made his return to the starting lineup in 2003, ran 468 yards on 89 carries and scored four touchdowns in just five games. He became the first player in college history to start a season with three consecutive games over 100 yards rushing, with 118 yards on 21 carries in the opening game against Louisiana Tech.

He completed 127 yards in 24 attempts with two touchdowns in the win against Florida scoring the winning touchdown and ran 24 times for 134 yards, scoring once in the win over East Carolina. In his fifth game, he had four carries, accumulating 15 yards against West Virginia, then suffered the same injury that knocked him out of football the year before (University of Miami, 2003).

He returned to the ranks in his penultimate college year in 2004, changed his shirt from 32 to 3 to try to change his luck, managed to run 945 yards with eight touchdowns in 197 attempts (USA Today, 2005). In total, he played 28 games with the Hurricanes and accumulated 1,975 yards and 17 touchdowns (Sports-Reference, 2005).

Career

2005 Draft

Gore was selected in the 65th overall place of the 2005 NFL Draft by the 49ers of San Francisco, was the first selected of the third round and the sixth runner chosen in the draft. (NFL, 2005)

With the 49ers from San Francisco

In 2005 Gore played 14 games, finishing the seventh season among all rookie runners in the NFL with an average of 4.8 yards per carry (49ers, San Francisco, 2007). He led the team in straight yards with 608 in 127 attempts and three touchdowns.

Gore also caught 15 passes completing 131 yards (NFL, 2016). The last time a rookie led the 49ers in scuffed yards was 1990, when Dexter Carter brought 460 yards to his team (AP, 2005). Gore's 608 yards were the highest number for a San Francisco rookie since Roger Craig had 725 yards in 1983 (NinerNoise, 2016).

Frank Gore had such outstanding accomplishments that season his first over 100-yard game against the Houston Texans when he completed 108 yards on 25 carries (49ers, San Francisco, 2015). He also had his first game of two touchdowns against the St. Louis Rams. (Fox Sports, 2005)

During 2006 he became one of the best runners in the NFL. He drove the ball 312 times to a record of his team with 1,695 yards, surpassing the 1998 record of 1,570 yards established by Garrison Hearst (Eastbay Times, 2006). He was first in the NFC in rushing yards, also set a franchise record with 2,180 combined yards (1,695 rushing yards and 485 rushing) remaining second in this section in the NFC and fourth in the league (49ers, San Francisco , 2007).

In San Francisco's first game against the Seattle Seahawks, Gore set the record for more yards in a single game with 212 on 24 carries. He had nine games over 100 yards in 2006, breaking the 49ers record of six, achieved by Garrison Hearst and Roger Craig (49ers, San Francisco, 2007).

His defensive ability helped him finish the season averaging 5.4 yards per carry, taking second place among all NFL runners behind Maurice Jones-Drew (NFL, 2006). He won the NFC Best Offensive Player of the Week award twice during the 2006 season. For his outstanding performance, he was selected as the NFC starter in the Pro Bowl (49ers, San Francisco, 2007).

In the 2007 season Gore signed an extension of his contract until 2011 that cost about million (ESPN, 2007). At training camp Gore broke a bone out of his hand and missed the entire preseason (Mercury News, 2007).

On Sept. 13, Gore's mother died of liver disease, missing out on pre-game practice, but returned that weekend to score two touchdowns in the 17-16 victory over the St. Louis Rams (Mercury News, 2007). His best encounter was against the Arizona Cardinals when he completed 116 rushing yards and 98 rushing with two runs (ESPN, 2007). He finished that season with 1,102 rushing yards and 436 rushing yards.

In the 2008 season his team did not have a record that could carry them into postseason, however in the last game of the season became the first player of the 49ers to have 1,000 rushing yards in three consecutive seasons (TheRichest, 2016) .

The 49ers and Frank Gore were renewed in 2009 with a new runner coach, Tom Rathman, who had already been with the Bay Team (NinerNoise, 2009). Despite this, the season did not start well against the Arizona Cardinals, but the following week had a historic day before the Seattle Seahawks. He ran 206 yards, including two touchdowns over 75 yards, becoming the second player in NFL history to do so. The other player to do so was Barry Sanders (Seattle Times, 2009). In that year he was named as the first baseman in the Pro Bowl match for the second time in his career.

In 2010 Gore had a productive start to the season running for 854 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had four games over 100 yards rushing before he fractured his hip in week 12 against the Arizona Cardinals, which culminated his season (ESPN, 2010).

In 2011 Gore accepted an extension of his three-year contract by the millions, which kept him with the 49ers until the 2014 season (ESPN, 2011). During the break of the season, San Francisco hired Jim Harbaugh as their new coach and built a combination of ground play, extra pass and excellent defense. This helped Gore and the 49ers get a 13-3 record in the regular season and a postseason berth, their first since 2002.

The 2012 season began for Gore with a big game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field with 112 yards for the San Francisco victory (ESPN, 2012). In Week 7, it was critical to the 49ers' win against Seattle Seahawks Division rivals with 131 yards rushing in 16 attempts and 51 yards in 5 receptions (Seattle Seahawks, 2012). In the last regular-season game, against the Arizona Cardinals became the historic leader of the 49ers in land scoring, his team won the title of the West Division (Niners Nation, 2012). He finished the season with 1,214 yards on 258 carries and eight touchdowns. He was selected to play in the Pro Bowl, his fourth appearance.

In the postseason, the 49ers faced the Green Bay Packers again, this time at home. Gore had 119 yards and a touchdown. In the NFC championship game against the Atlanta Falcons Gore had 90 rushing yards and two touchdowns in his victory coming from behind 28-24, taking the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII, his first Super Bowl since 1994. In that match Gore had 19 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown, despite the fact San Francisco lost the 34-31 game (ESPN, 2013).

In 2013 the ownership of Gore was questioned for turning 30 years during the rest of the season. He responded to criticism by holding the 16 regular season games. After a dubious start, in week four he had a big game, running 153 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. He finished that season with three games over 100 yards plus 1,128 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 279 carries (NFL, 2016).

In 2014 Gore started the season with 33 yards remaining to reach the 10,000 mark by land, he landed in the first game of the season, where he ran 66 yards, thus becoming the 29th player in NFL history in Get 10,000 yards.

His team had a difficult season and finished out of the qualifiers to the next round. He finished his final season with the 49ers with 1,106 rushing yards, 4 touchdowns on 255 carries and became the 20th player in history to get 11,000 rushing yards (Niners Nation, 2014).

With the Indianapolis Colts

On March 10, 2015, Frank Gore signed with the Indianapolis Colts. His contract included 5 million guaranteed (ESPN, 2015), was a respectable season but did not reach the 1,000-yard mark, finishing 9th in that department with 967 and had six touchdowns (NFL, 2016). His best match was against Miami, he ran for 85 yards rushing with 15 carries and two touchdowns.

In the 2016 season the Colts had a tricky start and Gore has not had the same performance of previous years, with only one encounter with more than 100 rushing yards. Despite this, Gore outplayed the historic Jim Brown in lifted-up yards (ESPN, 2016), currently his team is 6-7 with three games remaining and few chances to qualify for the postseason.

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