Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey has had a record-breaking Pac-12 season this year. Last week against Notre Dame, he broke Reggie Bush’s record of 2890 all-purpose yards during his 2005 Heisman campaign.
McCaffrey currently sits at 2905 all-purpose yards and if he can maintain his pace of 253 all-purpose yards per game tonight and in Stanford’s eventual bowl game, he will end up breaking Barry Sanders all-time all-purpose yards record of 3,250.
Stanford University has already been on the forefront of innovation and that has been no different during the virtual reality boom that has swept across pro and college football during the past year. It also helps that STRIVR Labs CEO and Co-Founder Derek Belch was an alumnus of Stanford University and a former member of the football team and still currently resides in Palo Alto, California.
The Cardinal’s use of virtual reality has been widely documented this year and most recently its benefits were shown when kicker Conrad Ukropina spoke of virtual reality’s benefits before hitting his game-winning field goal last week against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
“We set the camera right where I start from and I’m able to see my whole process from 1-2-kick,” he told FOX Sports. “A big thing for me technique-wise is my plant foot –sometimes I come in a bit too close. The average person watching it wouldn’t notice. “The VR’s helped me a lot from a visualization standpoint for my confidence.”
Throughout McCaffrey’s record-breaking season, he has been mentioned as a potential Heisman finalist along with Alabama’s Derrick Henry and Clemson Quarterback DeShaun Watson. The school even created their own website for McCaffrey’s heisman bid at wildcaff.com.
So as McCaffrey looks to continue his run at Barry Sanders’ all-time rushing yards record and help the Cardinal get one of the Final 4 football playoff spots against USC tonight, you can see McCaffrey’s run to the record books through the eyes of virtual reality.