Mark Vital chasing down Baylor rebounding records set by Rico Gathers

Mark Vital’s energy is infectious.

Not only for his teammates, but his stellar show of hustle, drive and determination put on for Baylor fans in his first three seasons on campus in Waco is noted consistently in conversation. Couple the redshirt sophomore’s athleticism and raw strength, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound forward will remind many Baylor fans of current NFL tight end Rico Gathers, a forward for Scott Drew’s Bears from 2012 to 2016.

While both have a similar way of playing the game with their aggressiveness and ability to fill the columns in the box score, a similarity in their production on the glass highlights an already interesting comparison.

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Mark Vital’s 6.4 rebounds per game in his first two seasons is ahead of 6.0 by Rico Gathers from 2012-2014.

Through his first two seasons, Vital, who many would consider an undersized forward and a large guard for high-major college basketball, pulled down 429 rebounds in 67 games played for an average of 6.4 rebounds per game. Compare that to Gathers (6-8, 275) who in 75 games over the same stretch of his career pulled down 453 rebounds for an average of 6.0 rebounds. His additional eight games on the court put his total ahead of Vital, but Vital’s per game average was slightly ahead.

Vital did, however, have the advantage of starting 52 of his 67 games while Gathers only started three of his 75 games and often found himself as the spark off the bench. Not to mention, Vital was on the court an average of 8.5 minutes per game more than Gathers in the stretch.

Gathers owns Baylor’s career rebounding record with 1,134 rebounds in 141 games. The total works out to a total of 8.0 boards per game after averaging 11.6 rebounds and 9.0 rebounds in his junior and senior seasons. If Vital wants to surpass that gaudy number he will need to keep his energy up and improve his rebounding per 40 minutes considerably.

With two seasons remaining, Vital will need a total of 706 boards to pass Gathers on Baylor’s career list. A large part of the significant amount of returning team production for Baylor in 2019-2020, Vital could have a handful of additional postseason games to play in that he did not have in his first two seasons. The Bears have played in just six postseason games each of the last two seasons. From 2012-2014, Gathers’ freshman and sophomore seasons, Baylor played in 13 postseason games.

Where Vital does have a significant advantage over Gathers in his first two seasons is in every category outside of points and rebounds.

As a freshman and sophomore, Gathers averaged 6.1 points, 3.5 defensive rebounds, 2.5 offensive rebounds, 0.2 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.5 blocks across 17.3 minutes per game in his first two seasons. He shot 50% from the field and 55% from the free throw line.

Vital averaged 7.0 points, 3.5 defensive rebounds, 2.9 offensive rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks across 25.8 minutes per game in his first two seasons. He shot 47% from the field and 52% from the free throw line.

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Gathers is now playing as a tight end in the NFL.

Some might argue that Gathers would have put up better numbers with the amount of time Vital was give, but the stats show there is no question that these players are of the same breed. From night to night, both players made plays that do not always end up in the box score, which is exactly why this is so peculiar. 

The fact that their averages were so close with their style of play is a testament to the type of effort they put out each and every play. Often times, their stats vary incredibly from night to night. In a way, they were consistently inconsistent, which led to a lot of their stats evening out the way that they did.

Gathers would go on to average 11.4 points, 5.9 defensive rebounds, 4.4 offensive rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.9 blocks across 27.8 minutes per game in his final two seasons. He shot 48% from the field and improved at the free throw line with a 62% average.

In his career, Gathers averaged 8.6 points and 8.0 rebounds.

Vital will be an important part of the Baylor basketball team over his final two seasons, and the Bears hope that he can improve and make the kind of improvements that Gathers to help them team get to where they want to be.