In the final hours before last night’s midnight deadline for college players to declare for the NFL draft, Stanford running back Bryce Love announced his intention to return to school for the 2018 season.

After bursting on to the scene and finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Baker Mayfield, the move may come as a surprise to some. But recall back to Andrew Luck, who turned down a sure chance to be drafted #1 overall after his redshirt sophomore season to finish his degree at Stanford. It goes without saying that football players at Stanford, where 98 percent of athletes graduate, don’t lose sight of the “student” part of student-athlete.

In 2017, Love ran for 2118 yards and 19 touchdowns on 263 carries, earning him the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. He is the presumed favorite for the Heisman next season, although Penn State’s Saquon Barkley and other backs have shown the difficulty in sustaining monster seasons back-to-back years. On the other hand, Love was visibly limited by an ankle injury in the second half of the season despite running for 100+ yards in five of six games to end the year. He will surely return healthy to start the season and if he can stay that way, he could actually put up better numbers.

For Stanford, the Love news is a blessing and should make them the favorite to win the Pac-12 North at the very least. Their 33-1 odds to win the 2019 CFP certainly seems like a good value bet now as well. The Cardinal found a strong option for the future at quarterback with K.J. Costello, who put up good, but not great, numbers as the starter in the second half of the season. If Costello can make strides as a passer and hand the ball off to a healthy Love 25 times a game, Stanford will be a very tough offense to stop.