[msqueri]

Thanks Langdude. I think you're misreading what Gilman and Porter playing vis-a-vis Wyrick and Slocum at the end of last season meant. As SamuelMcF noted, there's a pretty obvious elective redshirt explanation for the latter two not being in the playing time mix at the end of last season. If you're going to put so much stock into playing time at Stanford, Gilman has played 523 defensive stats, Wyrick 510, Slocum 275, Porter 116, and Edwards 30 (by the way, SamuelMcF, PFF says Edwards played seven games on special teams). In terms of snaps per game available, Wyrick is BY FAR the top dog. He was the starting nickel back for three quarters of his true freshman season.

In any case, I think it's a real mistake to put so much stock into Akina's playing time decisions when it came to the scraps at the end of last year. Akina is gone and, as you noted, those "decisions" were really just throwing healthy bodies out there in the face of a dearth of options. We now have two new DB coaches and two DB rooms in which there isn't a single player who's ever been a bona fide college starter aside from Wyrick. (I know you're not taking Bonner off your chart yet, but I've seen no evidence whatsoever he's back, thought I saw a pretty well connected poster on TOS saw Bonner is gone, and I believe Bonner posted an Instagram thank you/wouldn't change a thing kind of post about Stanford) To say this competition is wide open is an understatement.

Forced to hazard a guess about the two DB rooms, for my money Collin Wright and Wyrick are probably the two players most likely to start. In addition to the big open questions of corner competition and safety competition, there's also a big open question of the new staff's philosophy and evaluation when it comes to nickel. That has a big bearing on the safety competition whether Wyrick, another "safety," or somebody not in that room at all becomes the nickel. Regardless of all of this, the one thing I think we know is pretty much nobody is proven or a sure thing (arguable exception of Wyrick, but it's a new staff and that matters) and it will be a competition. I chafed at you listing Gilman and Porter as starters as I think there's essentially no reason to assume they have a leg up over Slocum and Leigber, for instance, not to mention the real stretch in assuming Porter is the starting nickel back.

[msqueri]

Thanks Langdude. I think you're misreading what Gilman and Porter playing vis-a-vis Wyrick and Slocum at the end of last season meant. As SamuelMcF noted, there's a pretty obvious elective redshirt explanation for the latter two not being in the playing time mix at the end of last season. If you're going to put so much stock into playing time at Stanford, Gilman has played 523 defensive stats, Wyrick 510, Slocum 275, Porter 116, and Edwards 30 (by the way, SamuelMcF, PFF says Edwards played seven games on special teams). In terms of snaps per game available, Wyrick is BY FAR the top dog. He was the starting nickel back for three quarters of his true freshman season.

In any case, I think it's a real mistake to put so much stock into Akina's playing time decisions when it came to the scraps at the end of last year. Akina is gone and, as you noted, those "decisions" were really just throwing healthy bodies out there in the face of a dearth of options. We now have two new DB coaches and two DB rooms in which there isn't a single player who's ever been a bona fide college starter aside from Wyrick. (I know you're not taking Bonner off your chart yet, but I've seen no evidence whatsoever he's back, thought I saw a pretty well connected poster on TOS saw Bonner is gone, and I believe Bonner posted an Instagram thank you/wouldn't change a thing kind of post about Stanford) To say this competition is wide open is an understatement.

Forced to hazard a guess about the two DB rooms, for my money Collin Wright and Wyrick are probably the two players most likely to start. In addition to the big open questions of corner competition and safety competition, there's also a big open question of the new staff's philosophy and evaluation when it comes to nickel. That has a big bearing on the safety competition whether Wyrick, another "safety," or somebody not in that room at all becomes the nickel. Regardless of all of this, the one thing I think we know is pretty much nobody is proven or a sure thing (arguable exception of Wyrick, but it's a new staff and that matters) and it will be a competition. I chafed at you listing Gilman and Porter as starters as I think there's essentially no reason to assume they have a leg up over Slocum and Leigber, for instance, not to mention the real stretch in assuming Porter is the starting nickel back.