[SamuelMcF]

* Normally I would say that there's a plausible chance Stanford could leap frog one or more of those teams on the logic competitors might have weak links who undermine the play of the proven guys. Alas, Stanford is at as big of a risk of that as anybody, as Hinton looks in line to start and is one of the worst "proven" players in America at any position (691 of 693 OL in America!).

* If I'm right Stanford should be expected to have the #4 line in the conference (closer to #3 than #5 on paper I'd say), that's not dominant but it's good. I think it's really notable that among all returning starter Pac-12 linemen every single one of our non-Hinton starters is middle of the road or better. There shouldn't be an excuse for this line to struggle....unless it really becomes Hinton torpedoing things, which shouldn't be allowed to fester with Hornibrook waiting in the wings.

What would be great, of course, is if we can somehow have one of the two best lines in the conference. That would unlock a lot. We'd most likely need multiple if not all three of Nugent, Rouse, and Bragg to be all-conference for that.

Bragg took Hinton's starting spot last season before his injury. Seems plausible he'll be the day one starter at RT.

[SamuelMcF]

* Normally I would say that there's a plausible chance Stanford could leap frog one or more of those teams on the logic competitors might have weak links who undermine the play of the proven guys. Alas, Stanford is at as big of a risk of that as anybody, as Hinton looks in line to start and is one of the worst "proven" players in America at any position (691 of 693 OL in America!).

* If I'm right Stanford should be expected to have the #4 line in the conference (closer to #3 than #5 on paper I'd say), that's not dominant but it's good. I think it's really notable that among all returning starter Pac-12 linemen every single one of our non-Hinton starters is middle of the road or better. There shouldn't be an excuse for this line to struggle....unless it really becomes Hinton torpedoing things, which shouldn't be allowed to fester with Hornibrook waiting in the wings.

What would be great, of course, is if we can somehow have one of the two best lines in the conference. That would unlock a lot. We'd most likely need multiple if not all three of Nugent, Rouse, and Bragg to be all-conference for that.

Bragg took Hinton's starting spot last season before his injury. Seems plausible he'll be the day one starter at RT.