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* The overall theme in evaluating the position units was that a lot of guys hadn't previously played and went through growing pains (not the phrase he used but the implication was clear as he alluded to things they didn't do well and said last season showed them how far they have to go). It was crystal clear he had OL top of mind for that, though the analysis applied generally. Taylor constantly comes back to the talking point that Rogers was really the only OL who had previously played. This is a bit of spin as it discounts the FCS experience of Mayberry and Bank (not totally unreasonably, but FCS is a lot better than high school) and erases Leyrer (which one can understand Taylor's psychology insofar as Leyrer didn't play much last year). But it's easy to understand his point. The OL faced a rough situation last year, and it's better heading into this year. Based on his reference to how far they have to go, it's not clear to me how much optimism he is mustering for 2024. I think he still views this as a long-term process and grind and isn't raising any expectations that his 2024 roster will be able to compete.
* Clardy highlighted Ayomanor, Karty, and Sinclair (eye roll from me but we don't need to talk about that further) as standouts last year and asked Taylor to talk about any unsung heroes not in that group. I like the framing of the question, clever way to get Taylor to talk about individual players. What's most interesting is that Taylor took the bait but only on one player by name, my guy Collin Wright. This squares with PFF's view that Ayomanor, Karty, and Wright were the only good players on the 2023 team. It's not surprising but a useful data point that the coaches think so highly of Wright. Ayomanor and Wright will both be draft-eligible after this season. Something to watch. At this stage I am hoping that we can arrest the trend under Shaw of guys leaving as soon as they have plausible draft stock, but I don't know if that's realistic.
* While not naming them by name, Taylor also used that answer to shout out the quarterbacks improving/developing/continuing to press forward, the line hanging in there, and young wide receivers doing a really good job. By context and that this flowed from a reference of young guys who had recently come into the program and the more expansive praise of Wright, I think this is an interesting answer identifying Ayomanor, Wright, Daniels, Bachmeier, and maybe some set of Pale, Baklenko, and Maikkula as the core group. Even in this answer Taylor brought it back to knowing we have a long way to go. Yeah, we have a long way to go.
* While Clardy didn't ask the "why was the defense so crappy" question I want answers to, he did ask the other $64,000 dollar question fans want to know, which is does Taylor expect 2024 to unveil his offense. Taylor responded that you have to adjust to where you're at as a program in terms of experience and skill - an obvious acknowledgement/reiteration accepting the premise of the question that 2023 wasn't his real offense - and that as we get more experienced and skilled the idea is to move closer to doing the things he'd like to do. He further said you can't force things on players they aren't ready to do. Without putting too fine a point on it, I think that referred to run blocking (and maybe a few other things, curious if others have thoughts on if there is something QB-related lurking in this answer). It's a pretty generic, obvious answer but I do think it's accurate and genuine. Taylor ended by saying "hopefully that will be this year." I've listened to it three times now and I'm not sure I have a confident read on whether "hopefully that will be this year" is optimistic or further expectation management that it may take longer. I think on my last listen I was leaning toward genuine optimism that he thinks this 2024 offense will look more like his offense. Here's hoping!
* Another good question by Clardy drawing Taylor specifically out on Daniels, especially considering the generic reference to quarterbacks earlier. This is another answer where I heard it differently on different listens and would be curious for others' takes. The first time it really raised my eyebrows that after praising Daniels Taylor emphasized good competition at the position and that every position on the roster will always be open as long as Taylor is here. To me that sounded like an unsolicited denial of Daniels being QB1, which will be very interesting to fans wondering about whither Elijah Brown. We also have to keep in mind Myles Jackson had his redshirt year and Lamson is still in the picture too. We may want to keep an open mind on how much to view Daniels as QB1, which isn't an earth-shattering revelation considering Daniels' mediocre performance in 2023. But on further listen the praise for Daniels sounded pretty genuine. Taylor said Daniels did some really good things and got a lot of good experience and that Taylor loves Daniels' toughness, preparation, and how important it is to him, but said Daniels needs to be more consistent. Before getting to the competition point, Taylor said Daniels is pushing it really hard. This sounds to me like a situation where we have open competition but Daniels is the frontrunner. Obviously this will merit close watching all off-season.
* Taylor highlighted the overall depth and quality of the 2024 class. I do think its contribution to filling out and stabilizing the pipeline is the main story. I personally don't think that highly of the overall quality but we are where we are as a program right now. It's a solid class and Taylor talked about it accordingly, with the optimism one would expect. Equally notable is that he emphasized being ahead of the game for 2025 and that given the nature of recruiting at Stanford we have to recruit players over multiple year periods. The clear implication is that the 2025 class will have even more of the staff's imprint on it than the 2024 class. The overall vibe of the recruiting answer was that it's a long haul requiring a lot of work, so like the overall vibe with regard to the program I think the bottom line is Taylor conceives of where we are as grinding. He's playing a long game, perhaps by necessity, and trying to get this roster in a more competitive spot. The only way out is through and he and his staff have a mentality of putting in the work to put us in a better spot. (A petty point: odd to hear how often Taylor is referencing almost all of our recruits being team captains. Doesn't seem that notable for a Power Five recruit to be a captain for his high school team. But I do get the point about leadership. Not a big deal.)
* The most interesting part about the recruiting discourse, however, was where Taylor meandered around to, focusing on how we need guys to be able to play right away. He said we told guys not to come here to redshirt and that we need them to play due to "the situations we're in and lack of depth." (Again with the depth reference). Yeah, Taylor thinks our roster sucks. It's not new per se but this is revealing into Taylor's mentality. It will be interesting to see how many of the true freshmen do play right away. Obviously we know two if not all three of the running backs are likely to play. Farrell seems likely to be worked in given speed. A DB or two isn't a bad bet. I wouldn't be shocked by a linebacker, especially on special teams and especially if one of the three main veteran LBs gets injured. Fans will be watching Umeh and Brown closely, of course. We'll see. From a big picture perspective what's important is less forecasting who individually plays and more recognizing that Taylor thinks poorly of the roster and is very much interested in a youth movement, which he is hoping his recruiting will enable.
