BRONX, N.Y. — Some of the biggest names in sports have tapped the plate or toed the rubber for the New York Yankees. Names like Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Dimaggio and Jeter are just a few.

One of the biggest names in sports in 2011 will be in Yankee Stadium on Friday afternoon. However, he won’t be playing baseball and he won’t be in the starting lineup for either the Iowa State or Rutgers football teams.

On October 16, 2010, Eric LeGrand, a junior defensive tackle for Rutgers, was covering a kickoff and as he put his head down to tackle Army kick returner Malcolm Brown, his body stiffened. LeGrand lay motionless on the field for several minutes before being taken off the field on a cart. The diagnosis was grim with a severe spinal injury that included a pair of fractured vertebrae. He was paralyzed from the neck down.

“I look back at that and just see where I am today, it’s crazy,”  LeGrand said on Tuesday. “I would have never thought that I’d be driving around here at Yankee Stadium just the way I am and being normal just like I was before.”

LeGrand began his recovery at the Kessler Insititute for Rehabilitation, during which time he had a few mottos he called on to help him regain his strength.

“Believe,” which was adopted by his family after the injury along with the “bELieve” Foundation that sold sports apparel with LeGrand’s likeness and number to help raise funds for his rehab. Also “Keep Choppin’,” a mantra that Rutgers coach Greg Schiano has preached to his team, like a lumberjack swinging his axe to keep chopping no matter how adverse a situation may be.

Rutgers junior linebacker Steve Beauharnais remembered as a freshman when he was watching LeGrand on the defensive line in the fourth quarter of one game. Beauharnais recalled the Scarlet Knights leading by a wide margin and seeing that the defense had for the most part given up as the opponent drove down the field easily.

But not LeGrand.

Beauharnais said he remembered LeGrand ripping through the offensive line on a third down to get a sack and end the team’s drive, even with the Scarlet Knights having the victory secured.

“That kid was really amazing, he really was, and I’m not just saying that because he’s hurt right now, it’s just that he was really amazing and he did a lot for us,” Beauharnais said. “He’s that tough glue to who we are, and when coach [Schiano] talks about [keep choppin’] that’s who Eric was.”

LeGrand is no longer a football player with Rutgers, but after making incredible strides in his recovery, he is very much a big part of the Rutgers football program.

Fourteen months after his injury, LeGrand is now able to breathe, eat and talk without a tube. He can direct his wheelchair with a joystick that he moves with his mouth and chin. Just this month, he made progress that stunned the doctors helping him rehab as he was able to sit up straight for 23 straight seconds.

LeGrand wants to add seven seconds to that feat when he resumes rehab next week and in the long term, he wants to walk again. His remarkable progress has inspired his family, friends and teammates.

“It’s phenomenal, that’s our guy, that’s our brother,” said junior linebacker Khaseem Greene. “To see him go through what he’s gone through and just the fight that he has, the way he believes in himself and the way he approaches each day as another day to get better, another day to work harder, it’s just amazing [and] he’s inspired the whole world.”

In the 57 years of the weekly sports magazine Sports Illustrated, never has anyone but the editors of the magazine decided who would grace its cover. That ended last week when fans had the chance to vote on 15 different covers that would commemorate the “Moment of the Year” in 2011. Fans voted and they selected LeGrand’s return to the field as he led the Scarlet Knights out of the tunnel in his wheelchair onto a snow-covered field for their home game against West Virginia.

“That was crazy,” LeGrand said. “I couldn’t even put that into words. You just dream about that growing up. And just all the fans voting for me, it was really a blessing to have them all pick me and just to see myself on the cover and with two of my teammates too. We all loved it.”

Before resuming his rehabilitation, LeGrand will fly out to Denver on Sunday where he’ll get to watch the NFL regular season finale of his favorite team, the Denver Broncos, as they take on the Kansas City Chiefs with a playoff berth on the line. The game will be even more special for LeGrand, as he’ll get to sit and watch the game with his favorite player growing up, former Broncos running back Terrell Davis.

“It’s been a childhood dream to go out there on Sunday for a game and I’ll get to sit with my favorite player, Terrell Davis, growing up, so I’m happy for that,” LeGrand said.

Like the trip to Denver, this entire week has been a special one for LeGrand, as it’s been his first week away from rehabilitation since his injury and the first opportunity to spend an extended amount of time with his teammates away from the rehab center.

“Being around the guys again just in the hotel and going to the game with them, that’s the best part of it,” LeGrand said. “When we have the fun times like we used to have before I was hurt.”

LeGrand’s presence this week has been a definite plus for Rutgers heading into Friday, but it’s also given Iowa State players a chance to reflect on his story.

“It really teaches you about football and how instantly everything can just be taken from you,” said ISU junior linebacker Jake Knott. “And for him to never get down and bounce back from it like that and work hard every single day, to be able to do that, it’s a really inspirational story.”

Fellow junior linebacker A.J. Klein recalled earlier this season when defensive back Leonard Johnson was carted off the field on a stretcher against Texas with a minor neck strain.

“I couldn’t imagine being put in the situation that [LeGrand] is,” Klein said. “He’s a really strong individual and just for him to be back and for him to be with his team is a special thing for them and I think that will give them some motivation.”

Now an analyst with the Rutgers radio team, LeGrand offered up his prediction for Friday’s game when speaking with reporters on Tuesday night.

“Hopefully it’s going to be a shootout out there and I’m hoping that the defense won’t allow 34 points, but I’m going to say it’s going to be about 38-34 out there,” LeGrand said. “Rutgers, of course.”