[washingtonismoney]

Shaw doesn't play freshmen ... and apparently doesn't give a lot of playing time to sophomores. I think he has said before that Stanford football is for upperclassmen.

Wellllllll.... he's said players are best as upperclassmen. Which is a no-shit statement if I've ever seen one.

The team does play freshmen -- it's started Montgomery, Yankey, Fleming, Williamson, Carter, Hogan, and Miller in recent years, and given significant minutes to Lyons and Peat as true freshmen... My issue with Shaw's treatment of freshmen is not so much the number but that he seems caught in between two models: you either redshirt almost all of them or redshirt comparatively fewer (and play those that don't heavily.) Shaw (and Harbaugh, previously) burns a lot of redshirts but seems to keep the burnt guys in a weird apprenticeship mode -- not getting much out of the year of eligibility. Owusu, Martinez, and Whitfield (among many others) were caught in this middle zone, and I think it's a mismanagement of resources.

[washingtonismoney]

Shaw doesn't play freshmen ... and apparently doesn't give a lot of playing time to sophomores. I think he has said before that Stanford football is for upperclassmen.

Wellllllll.... he's said players are best as upperclassmen. Which is a no-shit statement if I've ever seen one.

The team does play freshmen -- it's started Montgomery, Yankey, Fleming, Williamson, Carter, Hogan, and Miller in recent years, and given significant minutes to Lyons and Peat as true freshmen... My issue with Shaw's treatment of freshmen is not so much the number but that he seems caught in between two models: you either redshirt almost all of them or redshirt comparatively fewer (and play those that don't heavily.) Shaw (and Harbaugh, previously) burns a lot of redshirts but seems to keep the burnt guys in a weird apprenticeship mode -- not getting much out of the year of eligibility. Owusu, Martinez, and Whitfield (among many others) were caught in this middle zone, and I think it's a mismanagement of resources.