12-17-2020, 08:03 AM
Several years ago, Solomon Thomas was the top recruit in the class. When he committed, he made a point to say his top priority was football, something we saw was the case, not only because he was Stanford's first Soph to declare for the NFL Draft, but because he won a Rose Bowl at Stanford with other football first players like Christian McCaffrey.
Contrast this to what Aaron Armitage said, as the top recruit in this miserable class. He literally said he's not playing because he loves football, something we know to have been the key to Stanford's championship contention in the previous decade. Instead, he said he is playing to "pay back his parents" for the sacrifices they made for him. As impressive as this may be to you, this is not the profile of a player who is going to go the extra mile because he wants it himself.
Stanford fans who don't want to acknowledge a potentially grim reality can point all they want to more offers out for 2022 recruits. I don't care if Stanford offered every Top 300 recruit in the world, the only number that matters is 7. That should send shockwaves all the way up the chain of command to the very top, that something is seriously amiss in Stanford's Football program right now.
What is amazing is that whatever it was/is that was/is going wrong was not/has not identified and addressed post-haste. Y'all have read me harp on the lack of urgency to address what is not working, as David Shaw's number one weakness as a coach. This embarrassingly terrible recruiting class in 2021 is proof positive of the damage that can be done when someone with that weakness in the hyper competitive, 365 day a year college football meat grinder, has nobody pressuring him to be better.
The only college head coach I can reference who had some success, stalled, and then pulled himself out of a flat spin to re-establish his performance is Kirk Ferenz at Iowa. Brian Kelly had one bad year at Notre Dame and made drastic changes before he really fell much. Literally every other coach who was at the top and sank, never recovers where they were. Ferenz has been willing to do the one thing only the strongest of leaders can do - admit they are wrong, say they need to learn, and get help. He even took time to say he was wrong and listened to other this off season on issues of white privilege, and making his program more welcoming for Black athletes. David Shaw always acts like he has all the answers. It's now evident he doesn't. He needs to admit it, identify his weaknesses, and get people to shore them up. His task might even be more difficult than Ferenz's, because I'm imagining Iowa had an AD who told him he had to improve and I don't have any confidence Shaw does.
Contrast this to what Aaron Armitage said, as the top recruit in this miserable class. He literally said he's not playing because he loves football, something we know to have been the key to Stanford's championship contention in the previous decade. Instead, he said he is playing to "pay back his parents" for the sacrifices they made for him. As impressive as this may be to you, this is not the profile of a player who is going to go the extra mile because he wants it himself.
Stanford fans who don't want to acknowledge a potentially grim reality can point all they want to more offers out for 2022 recruits. I don't care if Stanford offered every Top 300 recruit in the world, the only number that matters is 7. That should send shockwaves all the way up the chain of command to the very top, that something is seriously amiss in Stanford's Football program right now.
What is amazing is that whatever it was/is that was/is going wrong was not/has not identified and addressed post-haste. Y'all have read me harp on the lack of urgency to address what is not working, as David Shaw's number one weakness as a coach. This embarrassingly terrible recruiting class in 2021 is proof positive of the damage that can be done when someone with that weakness in the hyper competitive, 365 day a year college football meat grinder, has nobody pressuring him to be better.
The only college head coach I can reference who had some success, stalled, and then pulled himself out of a flat spin to re-establish his performance is Kirk Ferenz at Iowa. Brian Kelly had one bad year at Notre Dame and made drastic changes before he really fell much. Literally every other coach who was at the top and sank, never recovers where they were. Ferenz has been willing to do the one thing only the strongest of leaders can do - admit they are wrong, say they need to learn, and get help. He even took time to say he was wrong and listened to other this off season on issues of white privilege, and making his program more welcoming for Black athletes. David Shaw always acts like he has all the answers. It's now evident he doesn't. He needs to admit it, identify his weaknesses, and get people to shore them up. His task might even be more difficult than Ferenz's, because I'm imagining Iowa had an AD who told him he had to improve and I don't have any confidence Shaw does.
