[CTcard]

Here's the comments from opposing coaches: https://www.si.com/college-football/2017...ng-reports

Nothing Stanford fans haven't said about Stanford, which means either we're way more insightful than we think or coaches are much less.

I think that there are comments in there worth looking at, though mostly they point in the direction of the coaches being much less insightful (at least whomever they got to comment for the article).

Bryce Love [a 5' 10", 196-pound junior running back] has a lot of speed, but he never seems to be healthy.

While Love has had some health issues, it's not clear to me they have been beyond average. He's missed one game in two years. He was brought along slowly at the start of 2016, and I think had a small setback after the und game (at least he didn't seem sprightly vs Colorado). That doesn't seem particularly injury prone for a RB.

Last year their O-line wasn’t anywhere near as good as it’s been, but I expect them to get a lot better because they’ve been recruiting well up front.

I do expect the OL to be better. However, given that we are apparently looking at starting 4/5 of the same guys with the 5th having had lots of playing time, it's not so clear that the immediate reason for improvement is likely to be because of recruiting. The good recruiting is key for the long term outlook.

The guy who doesn’t get enough credit is [6' 3", 241-pound senior outside linebacker] Joey Alfieri. He’s savvy and anticipates well. He makes a lot of plays for them.

I think that is true. I hope that ILB is a good home for him.

Brandon Simmons, the free safety [who’s 6 feet, 199], is a really good player too.

That would seem to be a comment from somebody who cannot remember the names of our guys. One would think the comment is really about Reid, though that would require the quoted coach having both the position and name wrong. If it was meant to be a comment about Simmons, that's pretty strange for a guy who's mainly played on special teams. My guess is that whomever said this vaguely remembered there was a safety at Stanford who was pretty good. He went to the roster, found the most senior guy (by class) at a safety position and came up with Simmons. (Though Franklin is also a senior, he has played even less.)

Of course it would be a great story, and good development, if indeed it turns out that Simmons becomes a top player at safety.

[CTcard]

Here's the comments from opposing coaches: https://www.si.com/college-football/2017...ng-reports

Nothing Stanford fans haven't said about Stanford, which means either we're way more insightful than we think or coaches are much less.

I think that there are comments in there worth looking at, though mostly they point in the direction of the coaches being much less insightful (at least whomever they got to comment for the article).

Bryce Love [a 5' 10", 196-pound junior running back] has a lot of speed, but he never seems to be healthy.

While Love has had some health issues, it's not clear to me they have been beyond average. He's missed one game in two years. He was brought along slowly at the start of 2016, and I think had a small setback after the und game (at least he didn't seem sprightly vs Colorado). That doesn't seem particularly injury prone for a RB.

Last year their O-line wasn’t anywhere near as good as it’s been, but I expect them to get a lot better because they’ve been recruiting well up front.

I do expect the OL to be better. However, given that we are apparently looking at starting 4/5 of the same guys with the 5th having had lots of playing time, it's not so clear that the immediate reason for improvement is likely to be because of recruiting. The good recruiting is key for the long term outlook.

The guy who doesn’t get enough credit is [6' 3", 241-pound senior outside linebacker] Joey Alfieri. He’s savvy and anticipates well. He makes a lot of plays for them.

I think that is true. I hope that ILB is a good home for him.

Brandon Simmons, the free safety [who’s 6 feet, 199], is a really good player too.

That would seem to be a comment from somebody who cannot remember the names of our guys. One would think the comment is really about Reid, though that would require the quoted coach having both the position and name wrong. If it was meant to be a comment about Simmons, that's pretty strange for a guy who's mainly played on special teams. My guess is that whomever said this vaguely remembered there was a safety at Stanford who was pretty good. He went to the roster, found the most senior guy (by class) at a safety position and came up with Simmons. (Though Franklin is also a senior, he has played even less.)

Of course it would be a great story, and good development, if indeed it turns out that Simmons becomes a top player at safety.