[msqueri]

I think it's notable that arguably the two most damaging outbound transfers in Stanford's history unless I'm forgetting something were both this off-season - Jones and Reid.

I would certainly agree these were very notable transfers. Damaging is TBD. As I understand it Jones was sort of told that he wasn't going to be starting next year and that the team was going a different way running back wise. Whether such a change is a good idea remains to be seen, but IMHO leaving under those conditions is totally understandable. It appears that USC expects to use Jones as a third down back who is primarily a pass receiver.

Reid is a grad and we have talked about his reasons to leave before. While we really wanted him back, I can certainly see why leaving made overwhelming sense to him. IMHO he is a bigger loss than Jones.

Folks are free to believe what they want but to me that narrative with regard to Jones does not pass the smell test. There is no evidence ever that our coaches thought that EJ Smith or Casey Filkins was on the same level as Austin Jones. The coaches revealed their preferences with playing time every week for two years. Smith and Jones both played (i.e., were healthy) in ten games and in those games Smith was deemed good enough to get 26 carries while Jones was deemed good enough to get 123 carries. There is no credible argument our coaches thought Smith was better than Jones. I guess what you're suggesting boils down to a change in heart/change in direction. The Emmitt Smith dynamic does raise for me the possibility of undue influence/coaches tilting preferences in a new direction after the season, though that would be weird and arguably out of character compared to previous playing time decisions.

For what it's worth, my understanding of what happened is different from yours. What I've heard has more to do with coaches and changes that weren't made after the miserable 2021 season.

In any case, I don't think it's all that TBD that Jones' transfer was damaging. Very hard to imagine Smith, Filkins, Harris (can we get anything from Barrow? will we have to play a walk-on?) being a depth chart that makes it not damaging that Jones left. Jones was, conservatively, one of the 15 best players on the team. You don't have one of those transfer out and have it not hurt, not with a roster like ours.

Reid was one of the 10 best players on the team (top four according to Pro Football Focus). Definitely hurts regardless of whether it made sense to him.

[msqueri]

I think it's notable that arguably the two most damaging outbound transfers in Stanford's history unless I'm forgetting something were both this off-season - Jones and Reid.

I would certainly agree these were very notable transfers. Damaging is TBD. As I understand it Jones was sort of told that he wasn't going to be starting next year and that the team was going a different way running back wise. Whether such a change is a good idea remains to be seen, but IMHO leaving under those conditions is totally understandable. It appears that USC expects to use Jones as a third down back who is primarily a pass receiver.

Reid is a grad and we have talked about his reasons to leave before. While we really wanted him back, I can certainly see why leaving made overwhelming sense to him. IMHO he is a bigger loss than Jones.

Folks are free to believe what they want but to me that narrative with regard to Jones does not pass the smell test. There is no evidence ever that our coaches thought that EJ Smith or Casey Filkins was on the same level as Austin Jones. The coaches revealed their preferences with playing time every week for two years. Smith and Jones both played (i.e., were healthy) in ten games and in those games Smith was deemed good enough to get 26 carries while Jones was deemed good enough to get 123 carries. There is no credible argument our coaches thought Smith was better than Jones. I guess what you're suggesting boils down to a change in heart/change in direction. The Emmitt Smith dynamic does raise for me the possibility of undue influence/coaches tilting preferences in a new direction after the season, though that would be weird and arguably out of character compared to previous playing time decisions.

For what it's worth, my understanding of what happened is different from yours. What I've heard has more to do with coaches and changes that weren't made after the miserable 2021 season.

In any case, I don't think it's all that TBD that Jones' transfer was damaging. Very hard to imagine Smith, Filkins, Harris (can we get anything from Barrow? will we have to play a walk-on?) being a depth chart that makes it not damaging that Jones left. Jones was, conservatively, one of the 15 best players on the team. You don't have one of those transfer out and have it not hurt, not with a roster like ours.

Reid was one of the 10 best players on the team (top four according to Pro Football Focus). Definitely hurts regardless of whether it made sense to him.