Our countdown of the Pac-10's top 25 players continues.

No. 22. Owen Marecic, LB/FB, Stanford

2009 numbers: You want numbers! How about eight carries for 15 yards with a long of five yards! Marecic scored four TDs rushing in 2009 and caught eight passes for 132 yards and a TD. He also had two tackles as a linebacker.

Most recent ranking: Marecic wasn't ranked in our final Pac-10 top-30 list last year.

Making the case of Marecic: Obviously, Marecic is not about numbers. Fullback is a mostly thankless position, but Marecic may have been the nation's best one in 2009, paving the way for Toby Gerhart's Heisman Trophy candidacy and 1,871 yards rushing. And yet the 6-foot-1, 244-pound Marecic is such a good football player -- as in football player -- that he likely will start at inside linebacker next fall and be only a part-time fullback. Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh gushes when he talks about Marecic's selflessness and has repeatedly called him his "favorite" player. And how could Harbaugh's favorite player not rank among the Pac-10's top-25?

No. 23. Kristofer O'Dowd, C, USC

No. 24: Casey Matthews, LB, Oregon

No. 25 Kai Forbath, K, UCLA