12-20-2023, 08:52 PM
* Very surprised but grateful we got a specific question about the lack of a scholarship kicker. Interesting insight that it will be Kenney competing with somebody we bring in. I assume this means a PWO true freshman but we'll see. Equally interesting that Taylor talks about two punters who will compete for the job, presumably Flintoft and Weselman again. Weselman being back makes me think again, where are our 85 scholarships going to come from? Maybe later we (fans, Taylor seems to/hopefully has a good handle on it) can start trying to count that. To my earlier point about tradeoffs of having scholarship specialists or not, Taylor talked about the model that's worked at Stanford for a very long time being bringing in walk-ons to compete and then whoever wins typically gets put on scholarship. He must have missed all the specialist scholarships Shaw gave. But the model does have a compelling logic. Again, though, have to get to 85.
* On OL, talking about Gunter, House, and Brown in that order is one of those things where you wonder if it was intentionally in reverse order of excitement (which is what recruiting profiles might indicate and also a rhetorical tactic Shaw often used in such settings), an indication our internal evaluation differs from recruiting services, or not meaningful in any way. I don't know. I also don't think I read Taylor-speak quite fluently enough to know whether his "it's just a great group" was protesting too much with regard to a relative weak spot for the class or genuine excitement. Also always have to wonder how much of all of this is coachspeak. The idea Gunter, for instance, has a chance to come in and play immediately (which Taylor said was the case for each), despite being 6'7" 265 right now, does not strike me as very credible.
* Very interesting that Taylor admitted that there are certain positions we're interested in scouring the transfer portal for but that he didn't want to go into that. Based on tea leaves uncovered by others, it seems like ILB and OL could be positions Taylor had in mind for that but I don't know. I continue to think we aren't good enough anywhere and are mediocre enough everywhere that our philosophy should be Best Player Available. But our actual transfer strategy appears to be much more targeted than that.
* Also interesting to say that there are certain positions we definitely would not bring a transfer in. I wonder if there are any positions other than QB for which that is the case. I am not sure what the logic could be anywhere else. At QB I can at least understand the logic. It would be interesting to know whether Taylor's determination we would not bring in a transfer QB is due to a philosophical opposition to rentals at the marquee position, a sense we have the guys we want, a long-term play that Brown is the future and we aren't messing with that mojo, or some combination. I can buy the logic for any of that, but I think a permanent philosophy of not renting QBs could be self-defeating if this transfer era continues for the foreseeable future. Taylor is putting a lot of faith in his own evaluation and coaching abilities if he thinks it will be a sustainable strategy to rely on high school QBs when everybody we play is shopping to get proven good QBs. We just saw in the Pac-12 the vast delta between our QB play and what the shoppers got to play with. Next year in the ACC we already know that Kyle McCord (Syracuse), Grayson McCall (NC State), Chandler Rogers (Cal), Tyler Shough (Louisville), and Max Johnson (North Carolina) are transferring in, with the really big prize Cam Ward reportedly a strong possibility as well as DJ Uiagalelei, among probably others. If the teams we play can get Ward and McCall or their equivalents to transfer in every year, it is really making a pretty audacious bet that we can compete with that strictly off of high school evaluation and college coaching. Of course, I feel better about it if we actually get good recruits so I am thrilled we have ended our high-end QB recruiting drought.
* I appreciated the process question on recruiting, framed around how Taylor handles defensive recruiting. Taylor said a reassuring thing about all hands on deck in recruiting and all the coaches being involved in recruiting, but also acknowledged that he trusts the defensive coaches and they know what they're looking for in their system. Taylor's praise of the defensive class of recruits eventually sounded pretty box-checking/coachspeaky but it started out sounding pretty genuine and I do think he thinks we got better with this defensive class.
* BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to Dave's question about whether there will be an emphasis on NorCal recruits down the line. GTFO with this parochial garbage and please do not press our coach to prioritize stupid things that make our team worse. Northern California is not good at football and it is so close-minded and stupid to think it should matter at all for Stanford whether a football player comes from the Bay Area as opposed to Nashville or Tampa. But YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY to Taylor shooting the question down for exactly the reason he should, that there are so few guys in Northern California who meet what we're looking for.
* Fun exchange on Mosley and his soccer player mom, like Christian McCaffrey. I wonder if Taylor had Julie Ertz in mind, though it's asking too much to think Taylor might be around for the class of 2041 when Madden is ready to sign. Also on Mosley, I have to say I was pretty surprised at how detailed and transparent Taylor was on numerous things in this press conference, and Mosley is one of the best examples. Talking openly about an ACL injury and the details of the recovery and the AP classes and other work needed to overcome hurdles to enroll early (read: not an advanced enough student that it was a no brainer) is not the talk of the feed 'em shit and keep 'em in the dark mentality it sometimes seemed like Taylor had in past press conferences. Just in general a very relaxed, honest Taylor in this press conference it seemed to me. He's always authentic but this seemed, yeah, relaxed.
* On OL, talking about Gunter, House, and Brown in that order is one of those things where you wonder if it was intentionally in reverse order of excitement (which is what recruiting profiles might indicate and also a rhetorical tactic Shaw often used in such settings), an indication our internal evaluation differs from recruiting services, or not meaningful in any way. I don't know. I also don't think I read Taylor-speak quite fluently enough to know whether his "it's just a great group" was protesting too much with regard to a relative weak spot for the class or genuine excitement. Also always have to wonder how much of all of this is coachspeak. The idea Gunter, for instance, has a chance to come in and play immediately (which Taylor said was the case for each), despite being 6'7" 265 right now, does not strike me as very credible.
* Very interesting that Taylor admitted that there are certain positions we're interested in scouring the transfer portal for but that he didn't want to go into that. Based on tea leaves uncovered by others, it seems like ILB and OL could be positions Taylor had in mind for that but I don't know. I continue to think we aren't good enough anywhere and are mediocre enough everywhere that our philosophy should be Best Player Available. But our actual transfer strategy appears to be much more targeted than that.
* Also interesting to say that there are certain positions we definitely would not bring a transfer in. I wonder if there are any positions other than QB for which that is the case. I am not sure what the logic could be anywhere else. At QB I can at least understand the logic. It would be interesting to know whether Taylor's determination we would not bring in a transfer QB is due to a philosophical opposition to rentals at the marquee position, a sense we have the guys we want, a long-term play that Brown is the future and we aren't messing with that mojo, or some combination. I can buy the logic for any of that, but I think a permanent philosophy of not renting QBs could be self-defeating if this transfer era continues for the foreseeable future. Taylor is putting a lot of faith in his own evaluation and coaching abilities if he thinks it will be a sustainable strategy to rely on high school QBs when everybody we play is shopping to get proven good QBs. We just saw in the Pac-12 the vast delta between our QB play and what the shoppers got to play with. Next year in the ACC we already know that Kyle McCord (Syracuse), Grayson McCall (NC State), Chandler Rogers (Cal), Tyler Shough (Louisville), and Max Johnson (North Carolina) are transferring in, with the really big prize Cam Ward reportedly a strong possibility as well as DJ Uiagalelei, among probably others. If the teams we play can get Ward and McCall or their equivalents to transfer in every year, it is really making a pretty audacious bet that we can compete with that strictly off of high school evaluation and college coaching. Of course, I feel better about it if we actually get good recruits so I am thrilled we have ended our high-end QB recruiting drought.
* I appreciated the process question on recruiting, framed around how Taylor handles defensive recruiting. Taylor said a reassuring thing about all hands on deck in recruiting and all the coaches being involved in recruiting, but also acknowledged that he trusts the defensive coaches and they know what they're looking for in their system. Taylor's praise of the defensive class of recruits eventually sounded pretty box-checking/coachspeaky but it started out sounding pretty genuine and I do think he thinks we got better with this defensive class.
* BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to Dave's question about whether there will be an emphasis on NorCal recruits down the line. GTFO with this parochial garbage and please do not press our coach to prioritize stupid things that make our team worse. Northern California is not good at football and it is so close-minded and stupid to think it should matter at all for Stanford whether a football player comes from the Bay Area as opposed to Nashville or Tampa. But YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY to Taylor shooting the question down for exactly the reason he should, that there are so few guys in Northern California who meet what we're looking for.
* Fun exchange on Mosley and his soccer player mom, like Christian McCaffrey. I wonder if Taylor had Julie Ertz in mind, though it's asking too much to think Taylor might be around for the class of 2041 when Madden is ready to sign. Also on Mosley, I have to say I was pretty surprised at how detailed and transparent Taylor was on numerous things in this press conference, and Mosley is one of the best examples. Talking openly about an ACL injury and the details of the recovery and the AP classes and other work needed to overcome hurdles to enroll early (read: not an advanced enough student that it was a no brainer) is not the talk of the feed 'em shit and keep 'em in the dark mentality it sometimes seemed like Taylor had in past press conferences. Just in general a very relaxed, honest Taylor in this press conference it seemed to me. He's always authentic but this seemed, yeah, relaxed.