Stanton won the back-up spot, and showed flashes of potential when he played, putting up 456 all-purpose yards as a freshman. A year later, with Scales graduated, Stanton then took over as the starter.
In addition to meeting Scales, freshman Stanton also ran into senior defensive back Jordan Becerra. The fellow rookies forged a quick connection; to this day, they live right next to each other as blockmates.
“He’s hilarious,” Becerra said. “Just look at him—he’s comical.”
The bond between these two, and between Stanton and other members of the football team, is evident pretty quickly. Off the field, Becerra recounted how he, Stanton, and captain Matt Koran often hang together, watching movies in each other’s rooms or just relaxing.
During football games—well that’s a different story.
“He’s one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met,” Becerra said. “When he’s on the field, he’s just intense all the time. When he gets off, he’s so exhausted because he’s putting everything in.”
The exhaustion makes sense. For someone who frequently disappears beneath larger offensive players during the huddle, Stanton has a perplexingly physical style of running. He hits linebackers with apparent impunity; he specializes in lunging for the extra yard after contact.
“He battles through all the beatings he takes,” said senior offensive lineman Adam Redmond. “That charges us up as a group…. We want to protect him, keep him safe, and let him have success.”
Success he has had, running for a career average of 6.0 yards per carry. This season he has eclipsed 100 yards in exactly half of his games.
Certainly some of these statistics reflect the unusual dominance of Harvard’s offensive line, which started the season with three experienced senior starters. But external factors have only so much explaining power.
“He’s unbelievable, the stuff he does,” Redmond said. “No matter who you throw at him—linebackers or defensive linemen—he runs through them…. He needs a second, and he’s gone.”
—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sam.danello@thecrimson.com.