Stanford Reloads With Outstanding Recruiting Class
by Scott Allen on Feb 1, 2026 7:49 PM PST
Email
PrintNational Signing Day couldn't have gone much better for Stanford, which received signed letters of intent from every player who had previously verbally committed to The Farm, and added a few highly touted recruits to that already impressive group.
The Cardinal received 22 national letters of intent in all. The first fax arrived at 4:45 a.m., from DT Jordan Watkins. The last one arrived at 3:19 p.m., from DE Aziz Shittu. In between, the Cardinal received signatures from WR Michael Rector and S Zach Hoffpauir, who flipped on verbal commitments to Pac-12 rivals Washington and Cal, respectively. Two of the biggest signees faxed their LOIs within 8 minutes of each other:
Back-to-back faxes from top two OTs in the nation!!! No. 20 @AndrusPeat at 1:48pm, No. 21 Kyle Murphy at 1:56pm. #cardclass12 #gostanford
— Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) February 1, 2026
Peat chose Stanford over USC and Nebraska. Fellow five-star recruit Murphy chose Stanford over USC. (How does it taste, Lane?) They join what must be the most impressive group of offensive line recruits ever. As Tyler Mabry tweeted, "The State of the Union is Strong!!!" That would be the Tunnel Workers Union, the Cardinal's primary purveyors of character and cruelty.
Head coach David Shaw said the class was one of the best in school history and said to "stay tuned" when asked if Stanford could sign more players for 2012. The Cardinal could still be in the running for QB Jameis Winston, who didn't make a decision today.
Here's how a few of the national sites rate the Cardinal's class:
Rivals - 5th
Scout - 6th
CBS Sports - 6th
You can check out videos of most of the recruits here.
14 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
TWU
Local 88 has a few new members paying union dues.
by dth1 on Feb 1, 2026 8:02 PM PST reply actions
Joshua Garnett, Kyle Murphy and Andrus Peat
That’s almost unfair.
But who will be throwing behind that line in a couple years, and to whom..
by Mindless on Feb 2, 2026 12:35 AM PST reply actions
QB better be tall
Murphy and Peat check in at 6-foot-7, and Garnett stands at an imposing 6-5.
by Cardinal&Orange; on Feb 2, 2026 6:20 AM PST up reply actions
Congrats on your class
What kind of special sauce was Stanford using this year? Do you guys have your own version of Tosh Lupoi (prior to his untimely departure)?
But now I hate UDub more.
by I hate $C on Feb 2, 2026 8:33 AM PST reply actions
Mike Sanford
He seemed to be pretty good. Even after Brian Polian, one of the main recruiting coaches, left to A&M, Sanford and the rest of the staff didn’t lose a lot of momentum, if any.
** Rule of Tree ** Pounding the Rock ** Battle of Cali ** Fear the Fin ** Athletics Nation ** Niners Nation **
by RedOscar on Feb 2, 2026 9:37 AM PST up reply actions
Don't think it was an individual recruiter
As much as a team effort. Really, a perfect storm of a few factors:
1) Best o-line class out west in years
2) How many of those o-linemen were admissable
3) How they were impressed by recent o-line success
4) etc.
I’d agree with Red Oscar that Sanford seems to get a lot of accolades and (seems to be) quite good, but I don’t think he was recruiting any of the offensive linemen.
by dth1 on Feb 2, 2026 10:17 AM PST up reply actions
Out of curiosity, what are the admission standards for athletes at Standord? Do you guys experience academic attrition like we do?
But now I hate UDub more.
by I hate $C on Feb 2, 2026 11:19 AM PST up reply actions
I answered your question below — short version is: we have admissions casualties every year, and our standards are fairly restrictive. But we don’t experience “academic attrition” in the sense of players failing out — that’s very, very rare. Can’t think of any off the top of my head.
by DAL9000 on Feb 2, 2026 3:15 PM PST up reply actions
Best o-line class out west in years
Yes, and you split all them with U$C. Did you Oline coach stay after Harbaugh left?
But now I hate UDub more.
by I hate $C on Feb 2, 2026 11:18 AM PST reply actions
Hm?
The guys SC got—Tuerk, Simmons, Banner, Wheeler—weren’t really Stanford targets. Likewise, most of the guys Stanford got weren’t SC targets. The Signing Day guys were contested and Stanford went 2 for 2.
Both o-line coaches went with Harbaugh. Judging by the performance of the RS Fr. linemen this year, the coaching is still pretty good there.
by dth1 on Feb 2, 2026 6:53 PM PST up reply actions
Yes. We always have admissions casualties. We had a bunch of guys rejected this year, including an OLB we really, REALLY wanted who went to Northwestern and a WR with track-star speed.
Recruits have to fill out the same application any other Stanford student does; standards for recruits are, however, much more lax than for general candidates for admission. The usual rule is that anything below a 3.0 is a non-starter; AP or honors classes are mandatory; any C’s will get you dinged; and as a rule of thumb, you need at least a 500 in all sections of the SAT or, again, you’ll get dinged.
Recruits’ essays and teacher recommendations also have to be good enough that Admissions thinks they’ll do well at Stanford.
by DAL9000 on Feb 2, 2026 3:11 PM PST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
- Start posting about the Cardinal
- Rule Of Tree on Facebook
- Follow @RuleofTree
- Follow Rule Of Tree on your Android Device!
- Subscribe to Rule Of Tree Stories
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
link
