Myles Gaskin (born February 15, 1997) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Early years

Gaskin was raised in

Lynnwood, Washington Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located north of Seattle and south of Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. It is the fou ...

, a suburb north of Seattle. He attended the Alderwood Boys and Girls Club where his athleticism playing basketball was noted by his coach. Gaskin attended

O'Dea High School O'Dea High School is a Catholic all boys high school founded in 1923 and is located in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. The school is named after Edward John O'Dea who was bishop of Seattle when the school was built. O'Dea is a part of the Ar ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. As a junior, he rushed for 2,182 yards and 35

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and as a senior he had 1,567 yards and 25 touchdowns. Myles also ran track, competing in the 100 meter dash and the 4 by 100 meter relay. He committed to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

to play college football.

College career

Gaskin became Washington's starting running back his true freshman year in 2015. He became the first true freshman in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards, finishing with 1,302 on 227 carries. He also set a freshman record with 14 rushing touchdowns. He was named the MVP of the

2015 Heart of Dallas Bowl The 2015 Heart of Dallas Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 26, 2015 at the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. The sixth edition of the Heart of Dallas Bowl featured the Washington Huskies of t ...

after rushing for 181 yards and four touchdowns. Gaskin played in all 14 games of his sophomore season, amassing 1,373 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was named to the All-Pac-12 first-team following the regular season. In his statistically most-successful junior year, Gaskin led the Pac-12 with 21 rushing touchdowns and 24 total touchdowns, and was fifth in the conference in rushing yards. In the fourth game of the season at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, he rushed for 202 yards, the only 200+ game of his career. His productivity declined slightly his senior year, but he still became the first Pac-12 player with four 1000+ rushing-yard-seasons, and led the 2018 Huskies to conference championship and the Rose Bowl. There, in the last game of his college career, Gaskin rushed for two touchdowns and passed for a third in his only career pass attempt, all in the fourth quarter. Gaskin finished his career at Washington with a school-record 62 touchdowns (2nd in Pac-12 history to

Royce Freeman Royce Deion Freeman (born February 24, 1996) is an American football running back for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon. High school career Freeman attended Imperial High School in Im ...

) and 5,323 rushing yards (3rd to Freeman and Charles White). He also holds school records for 100-rushing-yard games (26), rush attempts (945), rushing yards per game (102.4), rushing touchdowns (57), rushes of 50+ yards (10), and all-purpose yards (5,878).

Professional career

Gaskin was drafted by the

in the seventh round, 234th overall, of the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

, the last of 25 running backs taken and the second by the Dolphins. In Week 16, in the 38–35 overtime victory over the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

, he scored his first career touchdown on a two-yard run. He was placed on injured reserve on December 24, 2019. He appeared in seven games as a rookie and recorded 133 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown to go along with seven receptions for 51 receiving yards. In 2020, Gaskin started the season as backup to

Matt Breida Matthew John Breida (born February 28, 1995) is an American football running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia Southern and signed with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent ...

and

Jordan Howard Jordan Reginald Howard (born November 2, 1994) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at UAB and Indiana. High school career Howard played high school football at Gardendale High School in Gardenda ...

. In his first career start in Week 3, he had a career-best 95 yards from scrimmage in a victory over

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. In Week 6, Gaskin had 49 yards on the Dolphins' second series, en route to 126 yards from scrimmage in a 24-0 win over the Jets. He was placed on injured reserve on November 5, 2020, with a sprained MCL. He was activated on December 5, 2020. He was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

list by the team on December 12, 2020, and activated on December 23. In Week 16 against the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

, Gaskin rushed for 87 yards and recorded 5 catches for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns one being a 59 yard reception from

Ryan Fitzpatrick Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick (born November 24, 1982) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. During his career, Fitzpatrick started at quarterback for nine different teams, the most ...

during the 26–25 win. Gaskin was the starter for most games in Miami's 2021 season, but carried 5 or fewer times in six of them. His 846 yards from scrimmage was second on the 9-8 team to

Jaylen Waddle Jaylen Waddle (born November 25, 1998) is an American football wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama and was drafted sixth overall by the Dolphins in the 2021 NFL Draf ...

, but splitting carries with

Duke Johnson Randy "Duke" Johnson Jr. (born September 23, 1993) is an American football running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round (77th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft. ...

the Dolphins struggled to an NFL-second-worst 3.5 yards per rush. Bright spots included 10 catches for 74 yards and 2 touchdowns in a Week 5 loss to the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, and 89 yards rushing with a receiving touchdown in a Week 15 win over the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

NFL career statistics

References

External links