Think Bailey will start as a true freshman?

Good looking class. I love the depth on the D-Line. The Cardinal have repeatedly turned these three star guys into big time stars, and depth is huge.

By Tim Eckert-Fong on 02.04.15 9:50am

Well, it is either Bailey or Ukropina, right?

My guess is it will be Bailey.

By RickeySteals on 02.04.15 10:45am

Looking like a really solid DB class too

4 on the books and one more potentially yet to sign.

Good thing – could use some help in the secondary next year…

By RickeySteals on 02.04.15 10:57am

Justin Reid picked Stanford!

https://twitter.com/NHollingsworth_/status/563045285430317056

By randalthor on 02.04.15 11:07am

Meeks picks Stanford!

Wooooo. That’s a good class.

By Tim Eckert-Fong on 02.04.15 2:15pm

It All Starts Up Front

The problem i see for the Tree next year, will be on DEFENSE. Stanford loses 7 of it’s top 10 tacklers from last year. That’s a very significant hit for any team !
Yes, thanks to good recruiting, Stanford should be set at DB and LB for several years, even if a little young and inexperienced in ‘15.
However, i’m VERY concerned about the DL, not only for this year, but for the next and coming years.
Counting new recruits (DT) Wesley Annan and (DE) Dylan Jackson, if they play as freshmen, Stanford has 11 DLinemen on the roster available for next season. That sounds like reasonably good depth for a 3-man position group (2 DEs and 1 DT)… until you look at it a little closer.
In truth, there are only 3 DLinemen who will have played any significant minutes prior to the upcoming season. They are A) DL, Azziz "Eattu" Shittu, (13 tkls, 1.5 tfls – including 1 sk, & 2 passes batted down or defended) who was injured for the last 7-8 games of last season and will reportedly be rehabbing that injury all the way into spring; B) DE, Luke "Cool Hand" Kaumatule (10 tkls, 1.5 sks, 1 qbh, 1 bk) who started out as a TE and switched to DE a year and a half ago vs UCLA.. his minutes are increasing and he has great size and length at 6’7" 276 lbs, but he may still be a little raw in his new role; C) DE, Harrison "Ford" Phillips (9 tkls, 2 sks) in 6 games. Harrison shook off his red shirt as a freshman after Shittu went down and played well down the stretch, but he’s still youngish.
If you add up all the above players’ tackles they account for only HALF (32) of those graduated senior DE Hank Anderson alone recorded (65) last season.
Meanwhile DT David Parry (34) and DE Blake Leuders (26) recorded another 60 ! Anderson, Parry and Leuders also accounted for 27.5 tfls, including 14.5 sks, and 17 qbhs, while Shittu, Phillips, and Luke K had 5 tfls, including 4.5 sks, and 1 qbh. That kind of drop-off is a major cause for concern, imo.
But what about depth on the DL, you might ask ? — Well, 5*, 2014 recruit, DE, Solomon Thomas is very, very promising, but has yet to play a down; and DT Lance Callihan, DT Alex Yazdi, DE Nate Lohn, DE Jordan Watkins, and DT/OL Anthony Hayes (whom are all seniors in the last year of their eligibility, if i’m not mistaken) have recorded 4 tackles, and 1.5 tfls total, in about 23 games played, amongst the 5 of them.
To me, that all adds up to literally, about a ton of inexperience.
How will this group perform against the gashing runs of Oregon’s Thomas Tyner and "Rolls" Royce Freeman, or ’Zona’s QB Solomon and their stud RB Nick Wilson ? How will they manage to put enough pressure on Cal’s Jared Goff, and Trojan Man’s Kessler to disrupt their pinpoint passing games to some extraordinarily athletic WRs ? Not to mention, how will they hold up to the punishing out of conference sched this year that features Northwestern (in Evanston), Central Florida, and Notre Dame !? There is also only ONE bye this year, not two as in the past, so not only will the season be more grueling, it will be more demanding of these less experienced players. How will the DL hold up ?
Those questions will only be answered by superhuman work in the coming off-season, from now through spring practice to the pre-season two-a-days.
i’m cautiously optimistic, but at the same time Tree fans should remain realistic, and prepare yourselves for the possible disappointment of another 8-5 or 7-6 type season.

By maddogsfavsnpiks on 02.04.15 7:36pm

Watkins could be the real deal. 4 or 5* recruit. Also, he has two years of eligibility left. Thomas should be very good as well.

The inexperience and lack of depth is concerning and will almost certainly be a problem, but going against a solid O-Line in practices for many years should help.

By Tim Eckert-Fong on 02.04.15 9:07pm

thanks dog

Watkins has 2 years left.. still..
..are stars really a good judge of team strength and chem ?
Evidence I’ve weighed suggests not, but i’d be relieved if Jordan crosses over and makes a major contribution this year… ‘n if Shittu’s healthy ‘n a force again.. ’n if Solomon Thomas lives up to his promise.. n if Luke K becomes an unstoppable power.. n Harrison "Ford" Phillips takes on an even stronger role… an’ if Lance Callihan blossoms..?
Can a grinder, a pounder, a man of three hundred pounds blossom ? Should we send flowers ?
i’d say there’s depth this year, but inexperienced depth..
Can Randy Hart develop this group in the off-season ?
Alotta questions and ifs.
and d’ya know if.. injuries are the primary cause for Watkin’s no-stat career so far? ’cept for some time played vs Maryland, Cal, and a couple other blowouts.

Furthermore, looking ahead to next year, after 6 of 11 from the DL graduate, leaving only Watkins, Phillips, Thomas, Annan, and Jackson, that’s another BIG graduation hit, wouldn’t you say ?

By maddogsfavsnpiks on 02.05.15 9:09pm

Stars certainly don't make up for experience, but this isn't the first time we've gone through this.

Last year we lost Mauro/Murphy/Skov/Gardner and our defense improved. The drop this year will be more, but if we can handle it similarly to last year, we should be above average on D.

Watkins hasn’t played because he’s been behind a defensive line that was probably #2 or so in CFB. Not much of an indictment on him.

By Tim Eckert-Fong on 02.06.15 10:02am

While this indeed isn't the "first time", that also doesn't guarantee resolution of the problem this time.

Imo, each year presents different problems.. so expectations based on past years are not necessarily convincing to me.
Furthermore, i contend the extent of the DL graduation problem this year, is deeper and far more intractable than at ANY time in recent memory.
For instance, after the ‘12 season the Tall Fir lost DL stalwarts T. Stephens and Chase Thomas. Those two alone were responsible for 136 tackles ! But not losing sight of the forest for the trees, we also returned a bevy of experienced DLinemen, (including "rush" LB/DE hybrids) T. Murphy, H. Anderson, B. Gardner, D. Parry, J. Vaughters, and J. Mauro whose combined experience accounted for 229 tackles. Formidable returns !
Then next year, the DL grad. hit was big, as you’ve pointed out above, losing Mauro, Gardner and Murphy’s 132 tackles, but also returning DL Lueders, Parry, H Anderson, J. Vaughters, Shittu and Luke K, who had recorded 108 tackles in ‘13, suggesting a more or less comforting sense of continuity for ’14.
Most disconcerting this year is the loss of H. Anderson, D. Parry, B. Lueders, J. Vaughters et al and their 176 tackles, while we, the Tree, only return Luke K, Azziz Shittu (IF he’s healthy), Harrison Phillips, and the inexperienced Yazdi, Lohn, Callihan, Watkins and S. Thomas, whom all-totaled, had 35, that’s thirty-five tackles last year !
Do you detect a trend of decline in those years ?
From returning 229 tkls in ‘13,
to those who had 108 tkls in ’14,
to a paltry returning 35 tkls in ’15.
I’m not a Chicken-Little type guy, so while i don’t think the sky is falling in ‘15, it’s still hard to argue, productivity of the Tree DL is not.
With respect to Jordan Watkins, for the most part, i’m aware of the depth and experience, or lack thereof, on the DL. I’m still not convinced there’s not something else going on. I mean, why was 1st-year frosh Harrison Phillips inserted into the starting line-up ahead of him when Shittu went down, especially when J. Wat. was way more experienced and in his 3rd year ? And why was Luke K promoted ahead of him even tho most of Luke’s experience was at TE ? And why is J. Wat. still yet to record his first tackle, when back-ups Nate Lohn, Lance Callihan and Alex Yazdi have each recorded their first ?
Maybe it’s a matter of a nagging injury ? ..or something else ?
PS – I will be elated if Watkins emerges as a mighty man-bear..ur…make that, man-tree-beast on the DL this year.

By maddogsfavsnpiks on 02.08.15 8:31pm

Have to grow up sometime

The transition isn’t always going to be smooth. But somebody has to step up and knowing the coaching staff on the defensive side of the football, I have more confidence that they get them back on track. Any logical fan (any stanford fan ie) understands that there will be growing pains and if we end up losing a couple of matches because of those mistakes then it’s easy to forgive them. Last year the OL clearly underperformed to start the year but the dissent among stanford fans was directed towards the coaching staff for failing to understand and adjust to your personnel. If stanford comes next year and starts punting at the 30 yard line then we will have serious problems unlike this year. Shaw has to come to terms with the fact that he will be playing with a defense that will bend and occasionally break and start opening up the playbook (more like tearing/trimming it up) and unleashing playmakers on offense to get the job done.

By layman on 02.04.15 9:56pm

Haha layman..

..is that what you’d say face to face… ?
to one of the "underperforming" OL ?
All 300+ fast lbs, broad, towering wingspan, 6 and a half feet of him..
"grow up ! ?"
hahaha…
If i liked violence, i’d like to see that..
but i don’t

By maddogsfavsnpiks on 02.05.15 7:17pm

Much rather them than this guy

http://www.vanquishthefoe.com/byu-cougars-football/2015/2/4/7977451/recruiting-class-2015-signing-day-huge-tonga-motekiai-langi-video

By layman on 02.06.15 3:44pm

LOL ..i know ..i saw that.. personally, i'd never ask Motekiai, "Hey big boy, where's the beef ?"

And, layman, if you’re under 6ft and 200 lbs like most of us, does it really matter if your assailant is 300, 400 or 500 lbs ? The outcome is essentially the same in any case, unless you’re a sprinter with endurance and in shape to boot…
At about 5’8", 145lbs, in my first 2 years of college ball, I played at Contra Costa JC. In ‘66 we played against SFCC when they had OJ Simpson and a massive OLine, back when 250lbs was VERY LARGE, in fact our biggest player was an all-league, DT, named Dennis De Silva, at 240-245lbs max (our other DT was 215lbs).. but Dennis was goin’ up against an OT who weighed a monstrously outlandish, for the times, 290lbs, plus the guy, leading OJ on those patented power sweeps was nimble and agile, with good quickness… The guy’s name was Ruby Jackson !
After the game, some of us kiddingly asked Dennis what he said to "Ruby" during the game.. "Did you talk to him, and what did you say to him?", we demanded.
"Hello Sir", he replied.

By maddogsfavsnpiks on 02.06.15 4:58pm