For more Stanford videos featuring all of the members of #CardClass16 check out Stanford Athletic Communications on YouTube.
It is safe to say Coach David Shaw is excited about the potential of #CardClass16 and has plans to fully develop this elite group of kids. When looking at college football recruiting it is easy to get caught up in the rankings, and how many stars a player has, or how many highly rated recruits a team brings in. To be sure Stanford recruited one of the highest rated classes in the nation this year but it is important to keep in mind that rankings are not everything. What you do with those players once they are on the team is also important. One quote in particular from Shaw stood out that speaks to this:
"I'm a big fan of ranking classes after they graduate . . . we always try to look at these guys as projections, what do we think is going to happen with them throughout their time here"
Shaw addressed whether K.J. Costello could start at quarterback as a freshman:
"For us the at the quarterback position we haven't had a true freshman play for us and we'll see how things go. We have a quarterback competition and there is a lot of information that needs to be digested at the quarterback position so without saying that K.J. is definitely going to redshirt or that he is definitely going to play . . . it is going to be tough to play as a freshman but at the same time his long-term prognosis is pretty dog gone good.
You never say impossible, you never say impossible. You say unlikely, you know because part of it is the mental aspect of it, its probably the biggest part but at the same time to physically prepare for playing college football as a quarterback, that pounding that quarterbacks can take you want to make sure the guy's physically ready as well. K.J. is very bright, he's going to pick up the system I'm sure as well as anybody that we've had but at the same time I do want to put that much pressure on him to say 'you're gonna get it as a freshman' whereas we haven't had a guy that was ready to play first year. . . . I'm not going to speed up K.J.'s progress. His progress is going to be whatever his progress is, and when he gets to that point where he's ready to play he's going to be outstanding."
Shaw also addressed the quarterback competition to replace Kevin Hogan:
"With one guy two years in and one guy three years in they are in the meat of the offense, they get it. Both guys can go out there and operate the game plan. To what extent? Well, we're going to find out. Because we're going to give them a great opportunity this Spring to really get out there and play but in training camp we're going to overload them and we're going to see how much they can take and then before we play a game we'll back off and see how it goes. You guys know from a few years ago, I'm not going to give you daily or weekly updates. It's just not going to happen. It's going to be a long-term project before we either one, announce a starter or number two, say 'hey you know what, we're going to play two quarterbacks. Only these guys' productions will bear out exactly what we do and exactly when we make that decision but I don't anticipate it happening before 10 days before we play the first game. It's not going to stop you guys from asking, I know that, but don't anticipate me making any declarations more than 10 days or so before the first game of the year."