12-16-2021, 12:54 PM
Another area of failure by the assembled reporters yesterday was not asking a single question about NIL as it relates to Stanford. It's simply amazing that nobody could ask a question on that topic given the current landscape.
That said, as evidenced by including early visits in his answer to the early enrollment question, David Shaw is certainly comfortable bringing up topics he finds important, even if the question doesn't ask about it specifically.
The fact Shaw did not mention NIL once in his comments, and he covered the ground he did, my takeaway is Stanford may not need to rely on NIL money as much as basically every other school in the country. What I mean is it seems to me guys like David Bailey and some others in the class could immediately make more money at other schools, yet despite this they are choosing Stanford.
So it might be that guys who are serious about Stanford can't be swayed by the promise of short-term cash puling recruits to other schools. It's theoretically possible that Stanford requiring X to come on early OVs, and emphasizing things other than NIL money, in addition to the academic requirements (that don't any longer include standardized test scores?), Stanford may have found a way to actually so differentiate itself from the recruiting pitches of other schools, that it might actually end up with a pool of potential admits with more talent in it than it has historically had.
Will be interesting to see how the 2023 class shapes up as Stanford's differentiation from other schools - already significant - becomes even more acute as most schools are trying to do their utmost to get as many pay deals in place for recruits as possible, and Stanford doesn't.
That said, as evidenced by including early visits in his answer to the early enrollment question, David Shaw is certainly comfortable bringing up topics he finds important, even if the question doesn't ask about it specifically.
The fact Shaw did not mention NIL once in his comments, and he covered the ground he did, my takeaway is Stanford may not need to rely on NIL money as much as basically every other school in the country. What I mean is it seems to me guys like David Bailey and some others in the class could immediately make more money at other schools, yet despite this they are choosing Stanford.
So it might be that guys who are serious about Stanford can't be swayed by the promise of short-term cash puling recruits to other schools. It's theoretically possible that Stanford requiring X to come on early OVs, and emphasizing things other than NIL money, in addition to the academic requirements (that don't any longer include standardized test scores?), Stanford may have found a way to actually so differentiate itself from the recruiting pitches of other schools, that it might actually end up with a pool of potential admits with more talent in it than it has historically had.
Will be interesting to see how the 2023 class shapes up as Stanford's differentiation from other schools - already significant - becomes even more acute as most schools are trying to do their utmost to get as many pay deals in place for recruits as possible, and Stanford doesn't.