Luke Lippincott
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Luke Lippincott (born December 24, 1985 in Salinas, California) plays running back for the University of Nevada Wolfpack in the NCAA college football tournament. An epitomy of consistency on Nevada's offensive attack, Lippincott has provided the perfect compliment to Colin Kaepernick's passing game. Making a move from defense to offense during his sophomore year, the 6 foot 2, 215 pound California native has emerged into the #1 option on the ground, eventually earning the respect from the Western Athletic Conference coaches who placed him into the All-Conference First team for the first time in his career.
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Personal Life
Luke is one of Dr. Brian and the late Linda Lippincott's three children. His mother, who was officially diagnosed with cancer when he was still a freshman in high school, passed away in the spring of 2007 because of brain cancer. He does a symbolic gesture every game day---leaving a ticket at the will-call window for his mom---because he feels that if he leaves a ticket, she's there watching from above. His father, who has his own medical practice and also teaches at Cal-State Monterey Bay and John F. Kennedy University in Campbell, played football in high school and at Saint Mary's College. Luke's father used him and his siblings as “guinea pigs” for his psychological experiment when he was about 7 years old. The hypnosis experiment, which gives progressive muscle relaxation and is primarily used for people with anxiety, was first implemented in baseball to help Luke overcome his fear of catching the ball. Luke has since used the visualization technique when he started playing football for Nevada to enhance his performance. Some of his teammates have also shown interest in Luke's technique, as a matter of fact, some of them have already adapted it. Luke wanted to make his father proud so he followed on his footsteps by becoming a psychology major, with a minor in information systems, at the University of Nevada.
High School
The multitalented Lippincott was a four-sport athlete at Palma High in Salinas, California. He was an All-TCAL selection in football, wrestling, baseball and track in 2003. Lippincott displayed versatility as a football standout, playing on both ends of the field as a running back and as a defensive back. During his senior year, he was selected into the all-state second-team while earning an All-CCS selection from the San Jose Mercury News as a safety and an All-Monterey County accolades from the Monterey County Herald as a running back. For his career, he accumulated 2,205 yards and 30 touchdowns on 317 carries for an average of 7.0 yards per carry on the ground while catching 20 passes for 330 yards on offense, in addition to 266 tackles, 49 tackles for loss, 10 fumble recoveries and eight interceptions on defense.
College
Scout.com's 1-star rated defender wanted to attend the same college as his father, Saint Mary's College, but the school's football program was being shut-down so he had to find another school. He landed a spot at Nevada but was originally recruited to be a safety.
2004
Redshirted.
2005
Lippincott missed his redshirt freshman year because of injury. He spent this period watching films and implementing his father's visualization technique. He also made a transition from safety to running back during the spring practices.
2006
When he finally got the chance to strut his stuff on the field, Lippincott was casted as a backup to Robert Hubbard at running back. He made his collegiate debut @ Fresno State, scoring his first touchdown while registering 32 yards on 7 carries and tallying 6 receiving yards on 2 catches. He had the same number of carries the following week @ Arizona State and was able to score on a 2-yard run in Nevada's first win of the season against Colorado State. He had brief showings in wins against Northwestern and @ UNLV (3 carries for 8 yards). In Wolfpack's 6th win of the season, he notched 93 rush yards on 19 carries with 2 TDs in a 45-7 blowout @ Idaho, and then registered a career high of 25 carries and 144 rushing yards with 2 scores in a 42-0 shutout against Utah State where he garnered his first WAC Player of the Week award. He also established a career high of 3 scoring runs and 27 receiving yards, with his second 100-yard output (122) of the season in another 42-0 shutout win @ Louisiana Tech. His production dropped considerably in the last two games, recording only 12 rushing yards on 2 carries in the regular season finale against Boise State, and had only 2 carries with no gains in his postseason debut at the MPC Computers Bowl against Miami.
He ended the year as the team's #2 rusher with 94 carries for 456 rushing yards while matching receiver Mike McCoy in the touchdown category with 9. He also had 7 catches for 29 yards in 12 outings and 3 starts and was named as one of the team's two Fireman's Awardees for stepping up in a time of need.
2007
During his junior year, Lippincott eventually earned the starting role after competing with several personnels on the backfield during the offseason. It was however a very disappointing season debut for him as he managed to carry the football only 4 times and had a negative gain in the season opening loss at Nebraska. But he was able to redeem himself after posting his first 100-yard game of the season in a loss @ Northwestern after gaining 140 yards on 28 carries with a touchdown which he followed up with a 14-carry, 127-yard, 1-TD performance in a win Nicholls State. However, rival UNLV was ready for Lippincott during their clash at Mackay Stadium in Reno as the Rebels limited the California native to merely 61 yards on 15 carries, and so was Fresno State who held down Lippincott to a season low 6 carries though he did manage to catch the first touchdown reception of his career in a loss to the Bulldogs. Lippincott came to Boise State ready to rebound from a couple of sub-par performances, as he rushed for four scores including one in the fourth overtime as Nevada lost a thrilling 67-69 decision to the Broncos. He also carried the pigskin 31 times for 187 yards in the high scoring event which made it to the record books with the 136 combined score being the most points in an overtime game. After the heartbreaking loss, the Wolfpack went on a three game sweep of Utah State, Idaho, and New Mexico State, as Lippincott recorded a career game with personal bests of 36 carries and 241 rush yards with 2 scores against the Aggies, produced 119 rush yards and 2 scores on 27 carries against the Vandals, and rushed for 143 yards on 30 carries against the NMSU Aggies. He registered his 7th 100-yard turnout (140 yards and 1 score on 25 carries) and his second scoring catch in a 26-28 heartbreaker at Hawai'i but was limited to 74 yards on 16 carries in another close one @ San Jose State. Lippincott concluded the regular season with another milestone in the win against Louisiana Tech where he scored a total of 5 TDs (4 rushed, 1 caught) on the first 100 rush-100 catch game of his career (112 rush yards, 105 receiving yards). Despite barely qualifying with a 6-6 card, Nevada made enough impression to earn another berth at a bowl game, advancing to the New Mexico Bowl to face New Mexico. It was however an off-night for Lippincott as he only had 40 rush yards on 10 carries in the 0-23 shutout loss.
Despite his team coming up short once more, Lippincott still had a remarkable year overall after leading his team in rushing with 257 carries for 1,380 rushing yards and 15 scoring runs, while emerging as the team's #1 all-purpose runner with 1,675 total yards. He is also the team's leading scorer with 108 points, and is second in total offense behind Colin Kaepernick with 1,380 yards.
2008
Lippincott rushed 6 times for 25 yards in the team's second spring scrimmage at Mackay Stadium.
Career Stats
| Rushing | Receiving | Fumbles | ||||||||||
| Year | Att | RshYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | RecYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | Lst |
| 2006 | 94 | 456 | 4.9 | 40 | 9 | 7 | 29 | 4.1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 267 | 1420 | 5.3 | 32 | 15 | 26 | 295 | 11.3 | 42 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Highlights
| Luke Lippincott scores four touchdowns in the Wolfpack's 67-69 4th overtime loss to Boise State. |
Achievements
2007
- All-WAC First Team
- CollegeFootballNews.com All-WAC Offense
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #5 Player in the WAC
- CollegeFootballNews.com's #1 RB in the WAC
- Nevada's Golden Helmet Award (MVP)
- Nevada's Striker Award (dominating player over a period of time)
- Phil Steele First Team All-WAC
2006
- Fireman's Award
- WAC Player of the Week award (vs. Utah State)
References
- A hypnotic power
- Lippincott running with a heavy heart
- Luke Lippincott @ Cfbstats.com
- Luke Lippincott ESPN.com Profile
- Luke Lippincott Nevada Profile
- Luke Lippincott Scout.com Profile
