[terry]

I agree that it's unlikely that a freshman OL would start. However, if depth is the issue, it's not unreasonable to think that one would play.

As for not having a stellar OL class, we have commitments fro two offensive linemen so far. Oregon has zero. School near Oakland has two. the University of South Central had two, and is probably close to being finished. Washington has two, one of whom is a two-star center.

We're in the finals with six four- and five-star linemen. I sincerely doubt that we will either entirely whiff on evaluating or fail to sign fewer than two of those guys. Thus, we will most likely replenish the number of linemen we are losing. The quality may drop, but we're looking at a drop from All-America to All-Conference.

I would hardly characterize that as "poor."

It's pretty unusual for Stanford to have a true freshman OL who makes a meaningful contribution. My records show that in the last 18 seasons (1994-2011), Stanford has had only 3 offensive linemen who played as true freshmen -- Eric Heitmann, Kwame Harris, and Mike Holman (who later transferred to Rice). None of them was a starter. So far as I can recall at the moment, the last true freshman to start on the OL for Stanford was Bob Whitfield in 1989. Given that we've had only 3 offensive linemen in 18 seasons who played as true freshmen, I don't think it's a good idea to assume that any of the true freshmen will be significant contributors this fall. If some of them are so good that they can play right away, that would be great, but I wouldn't bank on it.

By the way, Yvonne, I didn't characterize our OL recruiting this year as "poor." I said based on current commitments, our OL recruiting is not impressive. I hope we land some of those highly regarded prospects, but as I said, I'll believe it when I see it.

P.S. Some sources indicate that Kirk Chambers started for Stanford as a true freshman, but that's not correct. He redshirted in the fall of 1997 as a true freshman, left for his mission after fall quarter, was gone on mission in 1998 and 1999, and became a starter in 2000. By that time, he was 3 years out of high school.

[terry]

I agree that it's unlikely that a freshman OL would start. However, if depth is the issue, it's not unreasonable to think that one would play.

As for not having a stellar OL class, we have commitments fro two offensive linemen so far. Oregon has zero. School near Oakland has two. the University of South Central had two, and is probably close to being finished. Washington has two, one of whom is a two-star center.

We're in the finals with six four- and five-star linemen. I sincerely doubt that we will either entirely whiff on evaluating or fail to sign fewer than two of those guys. Thus, we will most likely replenish the number of linemen we are losing. The quality may drop, but we're looking at a drop from All-America to All-Conference.

I would hardly characterize that as "poor."

It's pretty unusual for Stanford to have a true freshman OL who makes a meaningful contribution. My records show that in the last 18 seasons (1994-2011), Stanford has had only 3 offensive linemen who played as true freshmen -- Eric Heitmann, Kwame Harris, and Mike Holman (who later transferred to Rice). None of them was a starter. So far as I can recall at the moment, the last true freshman to start on the OL for Stanford was Bob Whitfield in 1989. Given that we've had only 3 offensive linemen in 18 seasons who played as true freshmen, I don't think it's a good idea to assume that any of the true freshmen will be significant contributors this fall. If some of them are so good that they can play right away, that would be great, but I wouldn't bank on it.

By the way, Yvonne, I didn't characterize our OL recruiting this year as "poor." I said based on current commitments, our OL recruiting is not impressive. I hope we land some of those highly regarded prospects, but as I said, I'll believe it when I see it.

P.S. Some sources indicate that Kirk Chambers started for Stanford as a true freshman, but that's not correct. He redshirted in the fall of 1997 as a true freshman, left for his mission after fall quarter, was gone on mission in 1998 and 1999, and became a starter in 2000. By that time, he was 3 years out of high school.