Last year, it was a spin move to escape a tackle on a 4th-and-four play in the fourth quarter that proved the catalyst for the Crimson’s 14-10 comeback win.

In his senior season, Gordon’s expected to continue to spark the offense on the field. But more lasting will be the contribution he’s made to the development of Scales and the squad’s third running back, sophomore Rich Zajeski.

“I see him as what pushes me to get better every day,” Scales says of his mentor. “His patience as a runner, his confidence as a runner, his ability to see the game for what all is going on—his vision on the field is second to none. And so that’s what I pursue and I try to be every day.”

For Gordon’s part, facing competition has driven the already-accomplished athlete to take steps to improve his game.

“When you have these young guys kind of clipping at your heels every time, it really pushes you to keep trying, not just to stay static and stay the same player as I’ve been since freshman year,” he says.

But though Scales and Zajeski, who made an impression on Murphy in preseason and will fill the spot in the tailback rotation left by the graduation of Cheng Ho ’10, may be learning from Gordon on the field, that doesn’t mean their relationship is all business.

“I mess with him all the time,” Scales admits with a grin. “We call him G-Pops, we call him Grandpa, because he’s so much older than me. So he gives us heck for that all the time.”

Joking aside, the elder statesman gets as much out of the relationship as his protégé.

“We’re all brothers on this team, we’re all very close, but to have someone like Treavor who’s at my position, who has the same mindset, has the same goals, same type of competitive drive—it’s really nice,” Gordon says. “I hope that he’s able to learn from everything that I do and take it a step further.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.