Despite 101 yards, Southern Miss' Frank Gore Jr. may not have spot on Buffalo Bills roster

ORCHARD PARK - Frank Gore Jr. plans to be at practice Monday afternoon at One Bills Drive.

The running back with the familiar name may be told on Tuesday - no check that, he almost certainly will be told - that he didn’t make the Buffalo Bills 53-man roster , but for the rookie undrafted free agent, until the inevitable happens, he’s reporting for duty.

“We got off (Sunday), then back to practice on Monday,” Gore said matter-of-factly Saturday following the Bills’ 31-26 preseason-concluding loss to the Carolina Panthers , a game where he was the Bills’ best player. “I can’t control it so there’s nothing that I can really do about it. But I put my best foot forward every day during camp, during preseason. Whatever they decide, they decide. They’re going to do what’s best for the team and I’ll be fine.”

In all likelihood, the Bills will bring Gore back into the building Wednesday when they can begin to compile their 17-man practice squad. Yes, there’s a chance that another team could scoop him up off the waiver wire, especially after a game in which he rushed 18 times for 101 yards and scored a touchdown, but chances are he’ll come back to Buffalo.

“I thought he did some good things,” coach Sean McDermott said. “You know, it’s unfortunate that he went down towards the end of the game there, but ran hard and gave us some juice in there. Probably just like most rookies … as the training camp wore on, and then preseason one to two, and then two to three as well, and just getting more and more comfortable in our run game and our system.”

Gore seemed to hurt his ankle in the fourth quarter and he was unable to finish the game, but he was checked afterward and he looked OK in the locker room.

“I’m fine, just got rolled under and it hurt for the moment, but I’m fine now,” he said.

Frank Gore Jr. is son of NFL legend

Gore is the son of Frank Gore Sr., one of the most productive running backs in NFL history as he gained 16,000 yards to trail only Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton. In 2019, he gained 599 of those yards in his lone season in Buffalo, the second-to-last of his 16-year career.

Gore Sr. was in town Saturday for the game and he made an appearance in the locker room, catching up with some friends, but when the media gathered in front of his son’s locker, he disappeared so that he junior could enjoy his moment.

The Bills did not play any of their front-line players in the game, and Gore took over for Darrynton Evans who started at running back but who left the game with a hamstring injury. That’s why Gore got so much work. When he got hurt, the Bills had to use wide receiver KJ Hamler at running back and he ripped off an 18-yard run which led to his one-yard touchdown run that closed the scoring with 1:57 remaining.

“We were out of backs and so we wanted to get a run in there and K.J. was great,” McDermott said. “Did a great job getting to the edge there and brought some juice, man, some good energy. It was awesome to see and then you saw the response from his teammates on the sideline.”

Gore outperformed Evans, and it might have been enough to alter the decision on which back the Bills will try to retain on the practice squad.

“That’s a part of it, right?” McDermott said. “You don’t discount it just because it’s the last preseason game and we automatically just quickly, when I get back over to the office, move on to the first game of the season. You want to extrapolate out what we need to from this game, whether it’s personnel, schematics, situational things that we can learn from this game as well.”

If nothing else, they saw that Gore can get the job done when he gets a chance.

Frank Gore Jr.'s college credentials

Gore had a standout career at Southern Mississippi as he finished with 4,022 rushing yards, third-most in school history. He also caught 75 passes for 692 yards, but his lack of size - he’s only 5-foot-8 though he does carry 201 pounds - was partially why he went undrafted.

The Bills kept tabs on him during the draft process, and they also spoke to his dad who naturally told them if they liked what he brought to the table in 2019, they were going to love his son. Whether that pushed it across the proverbial goal line, general manager Brandon Beane extended an offer and Gore was with the team throughout the spring before heading to training camp.

However, it was tough for Gore to go from being the guy in college, to just another guy in the NFL.

“I actually felt that I was doing good throughout the preseason,” he said. “It was just everyone had to rotate so like I really couldn’t get into a groove because I’m used to playing in college for all four quarters. So I was excited to come out here (Saturday) and be able to play like a full game again so that’s what I was looking forward to and I was ready for it.”

He understands the business of the NFL, having grown up with it, so he realizes that if he does get cut, he just put some nice tape out there for other teams to see.

“Of course I feel like I belong in this league,” he said. “I don’t know where; I hope I’m here, but it really doesn’t matter. Like I said before, Beane’s gonna do his best for his team and hopefully someone’s seen something in me, so really, I’ll be fine, for sure. No matter if it’s this year, next year, the year after, I’ll be fine.”

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Despite 101 yards, Southern Miss' Frank Gore Jr. may not have spot on Buffalo Bills roster