Stanford Recruiting and Everything Else

[ThePiombino]

I commented I think in the Stanford game thread that he was in attendance at the game during his OV. What a **** show that was w weather, complete lack of Stanford fans and the horrible team on the field. He must be sold on the education and clearly is deciding not to go to a football factory. I was convinced he was going to end up in Gainseville. I'll give him some credit for not doing that. Too bad they'll struggle to put a full 5 O Linemen in front of him next year.

Worked out well for Barry Sanders' kid. Oh. Wait...

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[BobbyMac]

You think that's a very good class? If so then ours must be out of this world, lol. I think they ultimately landed on a solid/good class. It's something they can win with but I'm not sure I'd call it very good with 20 commits and an avg rating of 88.16

All things considered, I think they ended up with very good class. The top is light compared to ND with Humphreys being the only 5* vs. ND's five elite players. They did a good job at OL filling needs with quality. There are 4 guys who I think are really underrated on the national level like Xavier Watts. Besides that, there's really not a player on their board that I'd have had a beef with had ND had more room and signed them.

 

[Legacy]

I think, too, that they pulled in a very good class on offense. Light on the defense, especially the front seven. Picking out the top recruits at each position and their rankings.

QB - Tanner McKee (returns from mission) #3 Pro-Style ('18)
RB - E.J. Smith #3
WR - John Humphreys #22
TE - Lukas Unger #10 and Ben Yurosek #15
OT - Mile Hinton #8 and Connor McLaughlin #25
OG - Levi Rogers #14
C - Drake Metcalf #7

DL, LB and S - very light
DE - 1 (#42)
DT - 1 (#42)
LBs - one PWO only
S - Alaka'i Gilman only (#50)
CB - Ayden Hector #20, Brandon Jones #30, Omar Parker #37

 

[stpeteirish]

I think, too, that they pulled in a very good class on offense. Light on the defense, especially the front seven. Picking out the top recruits at each position and their rankings.

QB - Tanner McKee (returns from mission) #3 Pro-Style ('18)
RB - E.J. Smith #3
WR - John Humphreys #22
TE - Lukas Unger #10 and Ben Yurosek #15
OT - Mile Hinton #8 and Connor McLaughlin #25
OG - Levi Rogers #14
C - Drake Metcalf #7

DL, LB and S - very light
DE - 1 (#42)
DT - 1 (#42)
LBs - one PWO only
S - Alaka'i Gilman only (#50)
CB - Ayden Hector #20, Brandon Jones #30, Omar Parker #37

Anyone know why we weren't in it for Connor McLaughlin? From Tampa so it wasn't distance.

 

[IrishLax]

Anyone know why we weren't in it for Connor McLaughlin? From Tampa so it wasn't distance.

We didn’t think he was very good.

 

[BobbyMac]

I think, too, that they pulled in a very good class on offense. Light on the defense, especially the front seven. Picking out the top recruits at each position and their rankings.

QB - Tanner McKee (returns from mission) #3 Pro-Style ('18)
RB - E.J. Smith #3
WR - John Humphreys #22
TE - Lukas Unger #10 and Ben Yurosek #15
OT - Mile Hinton #8 and Connor McLaughlin #25
OG - Levi Rogers #14
C - Drake Metcalf #7

DL, LB and S - very light
DE - 1 (#42)
DT - 1 (#42)
LBs - one PWO only
S - Alaka'i Gilman only (#50)
CB - Ayden Hector #20, Brandon Jones #30, Omar Parker #37

John Humphreys is a monster. He's very Shark like and he should come right outta the box killing it. He's been in one of the best HS passing programs in the country at CDM with the Garbers Bros. He had 100rec / 2000yds / 32 TDs. Not a misprint. Ouch.

Silas Starr is one of the sleepers in this class. He's coming off a 60/1300/12 season. He was in my Top 5 WR's on my first 2020 Hit List back in Dec 2017.

The other sleeper you have to watch for is Casey Filkins. He had 2500+ yds rushing and 37 TD's at Lake Oswego who lost in the Championship game to Starr's Central Catholic squad.

I liked Lukas Unger too and he liked ND, just picked a bad year to graduate. I had him at TE #3 for ND this year. I wouldn't have been against bringing him in as a stretch WR / Flex.

Brandon Jones was always in my Top 10 and when you factor in who could have made admissions (Clark Phillips) and those who didn't have interest (Kelee Ringo) he was a lot closer to the top. Seems like a high floor, zero risk kid.

Tobin Phillips had interest in ND but they got their guy inside with Kahuna and Mills ends up there too.

Levi Rogers and Drake Metcalf were guys who had ND at the top of their boards. Rogers had really good film and probably gets an offer if ND knew they were looking for 2-3 inside guys. Pretty sure Metcalf was an offer away from being in South Bend. He tore up the camp scene last spring but ND's got OC's for the next 5 years on roster and he's Sam Mustipher small. Some guys can pull it off at 6-2 but if you have to chose, take the 6-4+ guy.

DE Lance Keneley is another kid I kept a close eye on and he's had big production at Mission Viejo... the second best public school program in California. Can't believe how he flew under the radar. 20 TFL and 13 Sacks vs stiff comp. Used to line up vs Jarrett Patterson everyday in practice as Fr/So. If the Red Baron doesn't fly in from Deutschland, I'd have no problem with him on ND's roster.

Anyone know why we weren't in it for Connor McLaughlin? From Tampa so it wasn't distance.

ND got two OT's, that's all they needed with both OT's returning, Lugg with 2 years left, Carroll back next year w/ 4 to play and Baker 20 months from taking over LT. Kristofic is in the mix too. As for McLaughlin, I REALLY liked his Jr film and he was near the top of my board for sure. I Think Tree landed a good one. If ND only lands one of Baker/Carmody, I'm all in on McLaughlin plus I'd have been all over Jonah Monheim too. Monheim can probably play anywhere.

 

[Luckylucci]

Hey, I'm not a beholden to rankings as the almighty but I'm sure we could do that with a lot of classes. All I know is if ND finished 22nd in team rankings, this place would be a disaster but now Stanford has a 'very good class'. It's a solid/good class but calling it very good seems like a stretch or the term very good is used a little loosely in this instance.

 

[IrishLax]

My unpopular take is that Stanford's class is actually shit outside of a handful of players. They are recruiting to fail. They will never be "elite" again until they start recruiting that side of the ball at that level and/or start cheating again with juice. If you can't play defense, you can't win consistently.

And their power football offense hasn't worked for two years. Are EJ Smith, these pass catchers, and these OL good enough to get back to what they were doing with McCaffrey and Love? I doubt it. I see a team that will play at a 6-9 win level until.

 

[IrishLax]

Colby Parkinson declared for NFL draft. Really just leaves Adebo of their players who project as getting drafted reasonably high.

 

[BobbyMac]

Hey, I'm not a beholden to rankings as the almighty but I'm sure we could do that with a lot of classes. All I know is if ND finished 22nd in team rankings, this place would be a disaster but now Stanford has a 'very good class'. It's a solid/good class but calling it very good seems like a stretch or the term very good is used a little loosely in this instance.

This isn't back peddaling on purpose but I would break down a class

Elite
Excellent
Very Good
Good
OK
Poor
Unacceptable

I think ND's class is excellent with an elite topping. If ND would have landed Ransom & a Kimber/Phillips CB, it would have been elite regardless if there is 247 labeled 86-87 3*'s weighing it down.

As for Stanford, I followed a lot of these kids since Freshmen --> Soph years. I think they have some Watts-like 3*'s coming in.

Anyone wanna do a comparo on ND vs Tree's '20 class by position? I'd go first but I have to put down my phone and get back to a very lame Christmas party. #NoCraftBeer

 

[IrishLax]

This isn't back peddaling on purpose but I would break down a class

Elite
Excellent
Very Good
Good
OK
Poor
Unacceptable

I think ND's class is excellent with an elite topping. If ND would have landed Ransom & a Kimber/Phillips CB, it would have been elite regardless if there is 247 labeled 86-87 3*'s weighing it down.

As for Stanford, I followed a lot of these kids since Freshmen --> Soph years. I think they have some Watts-like 3*'s coming in.

Anyone wanna do a comparo on ND vs Tree's '20 class by position? I'd go first but I have to put down my phone and get back to a very lame Christmas party. #NoCraftBeer

QB - ND, unless you count the Mormon coming back. If you do, then Stanford.
WR - ND by a country mile
RB - ND by a reasonable margin
TE - ND by a country mile
OL - Push. I like Hinton a lot and they got 4 total players, but ND got two good ones.

DL - Shockingly, ND.
LB - Shockingly, ND. They signed no linebackers.
DB - ND, if you include Pryor. ND got 2 "filler" players to go with 2 "good" players and a transfer with high upside. Stanford signed two "good" players to go with two "filler" players. So comparable classes.

There are three total players in Stanford's class that I think would be very desirable for ND. Beyond that it's a lot of guys that would struggle to crack the depth chart... at least on paper, and when looking at offers. Their class is the kind of class that is competitive but not championship caliber. It has major holes, especially when taken as a whole with their current roster.

 

[Legacy]

This isn't back peddaling on purpose but I would break down a class

Elite
Excellent
Very Good
Good
OK
Poor
Unacceptable

I think ND's class is excellent with an elite topping. If ND would have landed Ransom & a Kimber/Phillips CB, it would have been elite regardless if there is 247 labeled 86-87 3*'s weighing it down.

As for Stanford, I followed a lot of these kids since Freshmen --> Soph years. I think they have some Watts-like 3*'s coming in.

Anyone wanna do a comparo on ND vs Tree's '20 class by position? I'd go first but I have to put down my phone and get back to a very lame Christmas party. #NoCraftBeer

Adding in depth considerations,

QB - ND, Even with McKee returning.

RB - ND, Four with experience. Adding Williams and Tyree to the mix. Stanford's second and third string last year were both freshmen. Previous classes - Games Played in '19 - Maddox (8), Speights (1), Woods (0)

TE - ND clearly, six 4*s. Fisk (GP-11) may be their only one with experience. He had four receptions in '19

WR - ND. Stanford has three of their top four WRs by receptions back, though, comprising 68% of their wide receiver receptions. Little depth with experience.

OL - Edge to ND with starters and depth. Stanford - though a lot of the Seniors will pursue a grad transfer, all starters are back plus Little returns from injury. All four '20 additions compliment the six from '19, four of whom redshirted.

DE - ND. Adding only Keneley (#42) to Pakola from '19 (#13) will present depth concerns next year.

DT - ND. At this point, Stanford has two DTs, including '20 signee Phillips (#42) unless some of those in the transfer portal return.

(LBs - Shaw says they only had one spot open - OLB - and no sports for ILB?)
ILB - ND. Stanford - 1 starter (Pryts) returns. The two from '18 each played 2 games in '19. From the '19 class, Sinclair (GP-4) and DiCosmo (DNP) redshirted. None added for '20.

OLB - ND. Stanford with eight OLBs and did not fill the one spot Shaw noted. They may well switch some to ILBs?

CB - ND, especially if Adebo goes pro and Ebuh transfers. Stanford brought in the two good players for '20. Kyu Kelly ('19) started by the end of the year. Butler would start with him. The '18 class again has not contributed again. Turner-Muhammad ('19) did not play last year.

S - ND with Pryor. Stanford with have six Ss with Gilman, but Stanford has built depth with talent. Three of the six CBs from '19 are considered CB/Ss.

 

[Huntr]

Aaaanndd another one into the portal, per Thamel.



LB Andrew Pryts. Only had 72 tackles for them last year. Nbd.

 

[Luckylucci]

It'll be interesting to see if all these guys do indeed leave. Pryts would be a big loss for a LB group that has some talent but not much production.

 

[BobbyMac]

OK... this is just freaky now. He was going to be the captain of the D next year.

 

[Luckylucci]

Well, apparently this has all been planned or at the very least considered by the Stanford staff. Or they at least want us to believe that. The article below gives some insight.

https://247sports.com/Article/Stanford-football-transfer-portal-Andrew-Pryts-starters-141028264/

 

[IrishLax]

Well, apparently this has all been planned or at the very least considered by the Stanford staff. Or they at least want us to believe that. The article below gives some insight.

https://247sports.com/Article/Stanford-football-transfer-portal-Andrew-Pryts-starters-141028264/

Yeah total propaganda per usual:

Williams, a two-year starter, told 247Sports that this big run of transfer portal entrants was somewhat expected in Palo Alto. In fact, head coach David Shaw encouraged his players to explore their options knowing how hard it can be to get into graduate school. Williams labeled potential entry into some Stanford graduate programs as "nearly impossible."

Reminder that Stanford built their program on having tons of players stay for 5 years.

The bottom line is that you have a ton of starters who have major issues with the program and are going to see if they can find better coaches somewhere else + starting time. If they can't, Stanford will gladly take them back as they're WAY below 85 scholarships. What you have going on is what would've happened in 2016 had Kelly not made wholesale changes to the staff after consulting with and listening to players on where they thought the program could improve.

 

[NDMIA]

I think from an academic standpoint you might see more of this and it makes sense. One kid might apply to grad schools at Duke, Vanderbilt or Northwestern along with Stanford as a fallback if he doesn’t get into the grad school they prefer at Stanford. I do think this is above average because the program is a mess but there’s gonna be guys coming back and they are 5-6 of those top portal guys away from being very good next season. They won’t have depth but that’s a usual issue with Stanford.

 

[Legacy]

Stanford also typically would have total scholarship players around eighty when they had a decent return of quality fifth year players. They would get a greater amount of PWOs than other schools who would get scholarships to fill out their scholarship totals. The return of fifth years allowed a good percentage of freshmen to redshirt, which helped them to adjust to their academic demands. For example, from the Class of '16 enrollees (24), nineteen were redshirted. In comparison, in 2019, thirteen of their twenty-four enrollees redshirted even with the new redshirt rules.

As far as fifth years, from the Class of '09 (21 enrollees), twelve were fifth years for 2014.
2015 had eleven fifth years from the Class of '10 (18).
2016 - 8 fifth years from the Class of '11 (20).
2017 - 6 from the Class of '12 (21).
2018 - 9 from the Class of '13 (11).
2019 - 4 from the Class of '14 (20).
Class enrollees in parentheses.

They have also gotten by with a handful of recruits who academically qualified but minimally contributors to football. Those would move on after their four years and a degree.

 

[BobbyMac]

I'll puke.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Michigan is taking a hard look at an offensive lineman in the transfer portal. Get the details here <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoBlue?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoBlue</a>. <a href="https://t.co/WsEIanMy9G">https://t.co/WsEIanMy9G</a> <a href="https://t.co/Q3BRTaHPXa">pic.twitter.com/Q3BRTaHPXa</a></p>— "EJ Holland" (@EJHolland_TW) <a href="https://twitter.com/EJHolland_TW/status/1209285538974437387?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[StPaul_Irish]

EJ can more or less eat a B.O.D's. Big ones, small ones, medium... All the D's...

Thanks, I feel better

 

[Ndaccountant]

EJ can more or less eat a B.O.D's. Big ones, small ones, medium... All the D's...

Thanks, I feel better

I prefer a b.o.b.p. bag of butt plugs. Unwashed .

 

[arrowryan]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST IN: A source has confirmed to <a href="https://twitter.com/247Sports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@247Sports</a> that Stanford starting RB Trevor Speights has entered the transfer portal. Speights is the 14th Cardinal player to enter the portal as a graduate transfer since December:<a href="https://t.co/EMZyIliHlv">https://t.co/EMZyIliHlv</a> <a href="https://t.co/WtEpvdQ4hd">pic.twitter.com/WtEpvdQ4hd</a></p>— 247Sports Transfer Portal (@247SportsPortal) <a href="https://twitter.com/247SportsPortal/status/1215691259144294401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[dublinirish]

is EJ still moving to chicago? lol

 

[KizerWilhelm]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Some good news for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Stanford?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Stanford</a> as CB Paulson Adebo will return in 2020. Mel Kiper ranks him No. 14 overall and the No. 2 draft-eligible cornerback for 2020.</p>— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNRittenberg/status/1215726225408385030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Rack Em]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Some good news for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Stanford?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Stanford</a> as CB Paulson Adebo will return in 2020. Mel Kiper ranks him No. 14 overall and the No. 2 draft-eligible cornerback for 2020.</p>— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNRittenberg/status/1215726225408385030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[KizerWilhelm]

There's some rumbling that he was more affected by his injury than was let on and he knew his combine times would be pretty bad. That's almost the only circumstance where going back to school would make sense.

 

[Legacy]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST IN: A source has confirmed to <a href="https://twitter.com/247Sports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@247Sports</a> that Stanford starting RB Trevor Speights has entered the transfer portal. Speights is the 14th Cardinal player to enter the portal as a graduate transfer since December:<a href="https://t.co/EMZyIliHlv">https://t.co/EMZyIliHlv</a> <a href="https://t.co/WtEpvdQ4hd">pic.twitter.com/WtEpvdQ4hd</a></p>— 247Sports Transfer Portal (@247SportsPortal) <a href="https://twitter.com/247SportsPortal/status/1215691259144294401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Starting? He didn't play in 2019. He finishes his career there with 95 rushes for 363 yds for 3.8 yds per carry in the two years he played. He may not have wanted to be behind Austin Jones. Speights will have two years to play and is a grad transfer. Maddox, RB may also leave for a fifth year elsewhere. With Adebo returning and Kyu Kelly the other starting CB, will Butler in addition to Ebuh transfer?

Also,
Report says a 10th UCLA football player has entered transfer portal

 

[IrishLax]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Some good news for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Stanford?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Stanford</a> as CB Paulson Adebo will return in 2020. Mel Kiper ranks him No. 14 overall and the No. 2 draft-eligible cornerback for 2020.</p>— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNRittenberg/status/1215726225408385030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Huntr]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Stanford LB coach Peter Hansen named UNLV DC</p>— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1219761325859131395?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2020</a></blockquote>

heh