[msqueri]

* The answer on corners, Wright and Manley specifically, was interesting. He talked about how this week is a tremendous challenge for them (I'd say so with McMillan) but that he's excited about them and it's a strength for our team. It is indeed. I'd put corner in the running for our best position, just as I predicted in the off-season. So why did Taylor's answer unsettle me so deeply? Without prompting, Taylor inserted Slocum into the conversation (implying that Slocum's complete absence against Sacramento State was health-related and that he will be healthy enough to "be in the mix and ready to roll" against Arizona) and pretty clearly delineating a drop from the top three to the rest of the room. Given Slocum's struggles, I have been very much hoping that it's a drop from the top two to the rest of the room and that somebody like Williams, Thompson, or a true freshman could challenge Slocum. Williams playing solidly against USC fueled those hopes. For Taylor to say in the same breath as hoping to get Slocum back in the mix that there's "not a ton of depth in that group" was depressing. For this season, I'd rather have somebody supplant Slocum. Beyond this season, Manley is a fifth year player right now and Slocum is a fourth year player, so if we don't have anybody pushing them that's a bad omen for who's around to help Wright. Paul Williams is a proven corners coach and is somewhat obsessed with athleticism, so I thought the plus on paper athleticism guys like Thompson and Morris (plus Frausto-Ramos, who we have fewer athletic data points for but he was a bigger recruit than anybody in the room) would be fun toys for him to work with. I'm really disturbed if Slocum is such clear separation from the younger guys. I can't decide if I'm hoping Taylor has a bad read - I'd like him to be wrong corner lacks depth, but I'd also like him to have a good read of his team.

* Shout out to Gregory and his assistants for the onside kick call and execution. Fun to see Taylor really gush (rightfully of course) about how remarkable Karty is. I'm glad Taylor gets at least one sublime national superstar to coach this season. I hope in future years we have more players Taylor can talk about like he talks about Karty. Yurosek is our closest. Would be nice to have several.

* Taylor said we'd like to get more explosive runs. Personally I think this is in the category of offensive coach perfectionism (which is good) and being steered into the answer by the question's framing. Explosive plays in the run game may be the single thing that is most going right for Stanford football in 2023. We are 17th in the nation in 20+ yard runs (and 15th on a per game basis), 16th in 30+ yard runs, 12th in 40+ yard runs, and 18th in 50+ yard runs. Smith and Filkins are running explosively. I took Ben's question more as saying this is going well so should we be giving these guys more touches, but Taylor took it in terms of wanting more explosive runs. I think this level of explosion with this level of offensive talent and experience is great. Single thing on the team (aside from Karty) we're getting most right and something I hope is leading to confidence-building attaboys for an OL that needs something positive. Nothing wrong with Taylor saying there have been good moments and we just need to do it on a more consistent basis, but I hope somebody is pointing out to the OL/RBs that despite our incredibly inexperienced OL we are one of the most explosive running teams in the nation so far and are 50th in yards per carry (really impressive when you consider both the OL inexperience but also that we are #103 in sacks allowed and that detracts from rushing stats). We need to encourage, nurture, and build on the successes and right now the run game is one of our successes.

* It's troubling that the press conference almost concluded without any questions on injuries. Professional media attending these should operate under the convention common elsewhere that the first person to be called on asks the obligatory question. It's the first question you ask in a football press conference. I appreciate Troy Clardy for making sure the topic did not go unaddressed. It would have been better if in addition to asking about Humphreys by name he also asked about Wyrick by name, but I can't fault Troy too much as he's often the guy asking about injuries and depth chart developments. Wyrick's absence is a big deal for the defense so it's a bummer I have literally no clue if he's playing Saturday or not. I've seen others disagree with this, but my read of Taylor's comments and body language on Humphreys was that he's going to be out on Saturday. That didn't sound like game-time decision to me. If so, hopefully Ayomanor and Reuben can continue to build on their good games against Sacramento State.

[msqueri]

* The answer on corners, Wright and Manley specifically, was interesting. He talked about how this week is a tremendous challenge for them (I'd say so with McMillan) but that he's excited about them and it's a strength for our team. It is indeed. I'd put corner in the running for our best position, just as I predicted in the off-season. So why did Taylor's answer unsettle me so deeply? Without prompting, Taylor inserted Slocum into the conversation (implying that Slocum's complete absence against Sacramento State was health-related and that he will be healthy enough to "be in the mix and ready to roll" against Arizona) and pretty clearly delineating a drop from the top three to the rest of the room. Given Slocum's struggles, I have been very much hoping that it's a drop from the top two to the rest of the room and that somebody like Williams, Thompson, or a true freshman could challenge Slocum. Williams playing solidly against USC fueled those hopes. For Taylor to say in the same breath as hoping to get Slocum back in the mix that there's "not a ton of depth in that group" was depressing. For this season, I'd rather have somebody supplant Slocum. Beyond this season, Manley is a fifth year player right now and Slocum is a fourth year player, so if we don't have anybody pushing them that's a bad omen for who's around to help Wright. Paul Williams is a proven corners coach and is somewhat obsessed with athleticism, so I thought the plus on paper athleticism guys like Thompson and Morris (plus Frausto-Ramos, who we have fewer athletic data points for but he was a bigger recruit than anybody in the room) would be fun toys for him to work with. I'm really disturbed if Slocum is such clear separation from the younger guys. I can't decide if I'm hoping Taylor has a bad read - I'd like him to be wrong corner lacks depth, but I'd also like him to have a good read of his team.

* Shout out to Gregory and his assistants for the onside kick call and execution. Fun to see Taylor really gush (rightfully of course) about how remarkable Karty is. I'm glad Taylor gets at least one sublime national superstar to coach this season. I hope in future years we have more players Taylor can talk about like he talks about Karty. Yurosek is our closest. Would be nice to have several.

* Taylor said we'd like to get more explosive runs. Personally I think this is in the category of offensive coach perfectionism (which is good) and being steered into the answer by the question's framing. Explosive plays in the run game may be the single thing that is most going right for Stanford football in 2023. We are 17th in the nation in 20+ yard runs (and 15th on a per game basis), 16th in 30+ yard runs, 12th in 40+ yard runs, and 18th in 50+ yard runs. Smith and Filkins are running explosively. I took Ben's question more as saying this is going well so should we be giving these guys more touches, but Taylor took it in terms of wanting more explosive runs. I think this level of explosion with this level of offensive talent and experience is great. Single thing on the team (aside from Karty) we're getting most right and something I hope is leading to confidence-building attaboys for an OL that needs something positive. Nothing wrong with Taylor saying there have been good moments and we just need to do it on a more consistent basis, but I hope somebody is pointing out to the OL/RBs that despite our incredibly inexperienced OL we are one of the most explosive running teams in the nation so far and are 50th in yards per carry (really impressive when you consider both the OL inexperience but also that we are #103 in sacks allowed and that detracts from rushing stats). We need to encourage, nurture, and build on the successes and right now the run game is one of our successes.

* It's troubling that the press conference almost concluded without any questions on injuries. Professional media attending these should operate under the convention common elsewhere that the first person to be called on asks the obligatory question. It's the first question you ask in a football press conference. I appreciate Troy Clardy for making sure the topic did not go unaddressed. It would have been better if in addition to asking about Humphreys by name he also asked about Wyrick by name, but I can't fault Troy too much as he's often the guy asking about injuries and depth chart developments. Wyrick's absence is a big deal for the defense so it's a bummer I have literally no clue if he's playing Saturday or not. I've seen others disagree with this, but my read of Taylor's comments and body language on Humphreys was that he's going to be out on Saturday. That didn't sound like game-time decision to me. If so, hopefully Ayomanor and Reuben can continue to build on their good games against Sacramento State.