Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - Printable Version
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Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - msqueri - 05-09-2023
I have been quite busy with things outside of Stanford football in recent weeks and just realized I never even watched Coach Taylor's post-Spring Showcase press availability. My reactions to that:
* Taylor's tone and attitude are totally consistent in this press availability and from what I can tell in general, with the two hallmarks being an upbeat take on the team's energy, focus, and buy-in and a realistic acknowledgement that there's a lot of work to do. He manages to be pretty relentlessly positive - but not going much beyond boilerplate - when asked for reactions on aspects of the team while also sprinkling in lots of language that makes clear this is a process and we've got a long way to go. More on each below.
* When asked to highlight a concern he did not hesitate: depth. He clearly finds it remarkable how low the team's numbers are and how many upperclassmen transferred out. He noted that everybody feels light in the spring, so maybe he expects depth to feel more manageable when the incoming freshmen arrive, but it seems to me that depends on how many of those guys are ready/playable. No matter how good that class is (and remember that it wasn't one this staff built and on paper it looks really bad), that doesn't fix the abject lack of seniority, something else Taylor clearly finds astounding. One of the most vivid parts came when Taylor marveled that we're not going to have any seniors this year. That's not something Shaw would have said (Sinclair, for instance, will be a fifth year player and numerous guys will be academic seniors) but we're returning to the days when our football coach thinks of his players as football players and can read the eligibility chart showing nobody is a football senior. That is startling realization for a coach and you can tell that it's made quite an impression on Taylor. He expects growing pains and plainly does not view this as a hale roster.
* Taylor mentioned that with the lack of numbers young linemen have gotten an enormous amount of reps. I am guessing he specifically has offensive line in mind. That's a position where the lion's share of the reps this spring went to guys who have played very little major college football. My hunch is this jumped out to Taylor as a position group that has a lot of growing to do, reinforced by the later comment about how many young guys there are on offense.
* When discussing Patu and Daniels, Taylor talked up the intangibles (e.g., desire) in some detail and also said they have a lot of talent (without providing detail), noting that the big differentiator (my word, not his, but he referenced why NFL QBs make the big money so I think it's a fair word) for QBs is "processing" and especially being able to put it all together amidst chaos and pressure. Reading between the lines I think his view is neither Patu nor Daniels are there yet, though in fairness as a ball coach who played QB in the NFL and has coached high-level offenses there probably isn't a scenario in which he'd be satisfied on this front, least of all in April. I also think it was interesting he observed that you can only simulate the complexity and pressure and on some level need to wait until the games to know what you have. I have said this before but will say it again: I don't think Troy Taylor is making any major judgments about any of his QBs until live bullets start flying in the fall. He may or may not name a single starter but in my view it won't be settled until somebody earns it on Saturdays, in pads, taking some shots from people who don't love them.
* Taylor kept returning to the theme that the players have bought in and he's pleased with that, including when asked about any adjustments from the ancien regime. But what I found more interesting about that answer was him starting with the tempo being "a brobdingnagian adjustment." Yet more confirmation that the tempo is going to be dramatically different than what we're used to and also as much of an acknowledgment of growing pains as we're likely to get. The emphasis on "brobdingnagian" leads me to believe that the offense was very much not firing on all cylinders this spring. That's no surprise, I just find it noteworthy to hear a specific area where Taylor assesses a growing pain. I don't know if we can read anything into this. If anything, I find it moderately encouraging that Taylor has high enough standards he isn't satisfied and is critical enough that he notices what an adjustment it is.
RE: Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - msqueri - 05-09-2023
* From a fan perspective, the most notable thing about this press availability was probably that Taylor has seen enough of his players that he is willing to comment specifically about them in some non-boilerplate way. I wasn't sure when this was going to happen. For a while he would say something nice when specifically prompted but genuine insights were not forthcoming. Since I'm just getting to know him as a coach I was wondering how long it would take him to feel like he understand his personnel and even then how much he'd be willing to talk specifics. We still have much to learn about these things but quite notably in this interview Taylor didn't dodge a question on the QB competition. He said "it's not clear, they're both....they're pretty close." You could tell "pretty close" was a somewhat considered characterization because he took a beat to come up with the phrase and then repeated it at the end of the answer. I also noted that his body language and tone indicated it was basically a no brainer that nobody would be named at the end of the spring. One could read between the lines from "pretty close" (as opposed to "neck and neck" or "super close" or similar formulations that maybe somebody has a slight lead. I can't read Taylor well enough to opine on that but my hunch is that it's essentially even for all intents and purposes, especially since a transfer QB could still be coming in as Taylor acknowledged when asked. Also notable was that Taylor confirmed that he's open to playing two QBs like he did at Sacramento State. My guess is he's looking for separation (he said a two QB system is not the way he thinks about it going in but that it worked at Sacramento State and he's "not against it") but that may or may not be forthcoming.
* In particular, Taylor was forthcoming when asked who has jumped out this spring. That has to be the highlight of the press availability for fans starved for either positive vibes on our players or for insights into what the new staff thinks. The roster essentially has nobody who has played college football at a high level other than Karty and Yurosek and you can count on two hands the players who have proved really anything at all. Hearing about who jumps out to Taylor is something I've really been waiting for. Without further ado: Bailey was the first player mentioned and I imagine a poll of this board would overwhelmingly vote for Bailey as the most talented player in the program or in the recruiting pipeline; Gilman (interesting/sobering); Wyrick (encouraging.....very positive freshman year followed by a lost/redshirt sophomore year, so this is probably one of the top few players to expect big things from this year); Edwards (see Gilman I'd say); Manley (encouraging.....one of the five or so most proven players on the entire roster but after leaving the team entirely for a season presumably had a lot of catch-up and some degree of open question on what we have); Wright (personal favorite of mine, super encouraging especially as he joins Bailey as one of the two truly young players to get a shoutout); Phillips (no surprise, almost an obligatory mention as the senior statesman in the trenches). The main thing I take away from this is that Taylor expects the defensive secondary to be the strength of the defense. That's my personal view and I don't think our DB corps is bad at all compared to either other bad Stanford teams or what we're going to be trotting out there at some other positions. It seems like Taylor agrees. We have a competitive secondary.
* Taylor did not name a single offensive player in response to that question and instead emphasized, again, how it's just a bunch of young guys. My read is he's an offensive coach with higher standards for that side of the ball and praise will be much harder to earn. With Yurosek, Humphreys, Smith, Filkins, Rogers, Farrell, Mayberry, McLaughlin, and Pogorelc as old guys in the mix, I don't see how the offense is all that much younger than the defense. Looking at this objectively, SP+ rated our returning offensive production as #129 in the nation and returning defensive production as #128. You don't get younger or more inexperienced on either side of the ball in Power Five football than Stanford. Consequently, I view Taylor naming seven defensive players as impressing him and not singling anybody out on offense as saying much more about Taylor than it does our roster.
* While Taylor didn't single out offensive players, he was effusive about the tight end position, one of the most interesting parts of the press availability. He called them "very talented," opened his eyes wide/bobbled his head vigorously for emphasis/sincerity, and repeated that they're a "very talented group." The body language seems like he's really blown away by them and hasn't seen anything like it in his previous stops (no surprise as Utah supplanting us as a TE U contender came after Taylor departed and in fact may have been related to that as he didn't feature TEs much there and that may have been a philosophical difference with Whittingham contributing to the change). This is interesting to me not only because it's insight into Taylor's view of the clear strength of the offense but because, frankly, I don't view our current TE room as all that special by our standards. Yurosek is one of the most proven weapons in the country but not a complete TE. Roush has promise but had a disappointing freshman year. Hawkins has evident promise but reportedly may have switched to WR or at least is a bit of a wild card. Archer transferred out. Ungar is always hurt and was again this spring (again probably not the right word as it implies he's ever not). Position-wise Shield Taylor is a man without a country and spent chunks of the spring at RB. I think it's one of the top two or three TE rooms in the conference but not special by Stanford standards. But to me Taylor touting it like he did indicates that it is special by his standards and, probably suggests an arrow up on the backup TEs, which would not be shocking as, although Roush and Hawkins didn't excel last year, it's rare for true freshmen TEs to excel and we have a lot of promising depth.
* The other part of Taylor's giddiness about the TEs that jumped out was his reason why: "I'm not used to having so many talented tight ends that are good at the point of attack blocking and that's kind of a game changer on offense." Herein lies a major insight I think. Even when Taylor had a star TE last year, Marshel Martin was identical size as Mike Wilson. Big TEs who can block is a new wrinkle for Taylor. I've done past analyses showing how Taylor tends to give TEs less snaps than Shaw did or than Utah did after it replaced Taylor, but I wonder if due to available personnel we may see Taylor adapt his offense a bit and do more two TE sets than he used to. I just don't think he's used to the blocking at the point of attack he evidently feels Roush, Hawkins, and the Shield can offer (heck, maybe he thinks Yurosek has it in him too). I bet one of Taylor's homework assignments for himself the next three months is thinking about how Yurosek + Roush or Yurosek + Hawkins or Yurosek + Taylor (or if Hawkins is truly a WR permutations of three of them) can be used in his scheme.
* I wouldn't say Taylor's answer on Bachmeier changed my views one way or the other. I still think Bachmeier is in a unique spot to be in some respects the first player of the Troy Taylor era. I don't read too much into praise that's solicited but for what it's worth Taylor does talk about Bachmeier stepping in ready to play right away and talks about traits (competitiveness, hard work, for the most part being locked-in) that are kind of the standard Taylor boilerplate praise.
RE: Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - msqueri - 05-09-2023
* The answer on transfers confirms that we're out there shopping and hoping for more help for the roster. He deftly sidestepped the issue of shopping for a QB specifically by saying "our job is to get the team better" and that for the most part we're open to help at every position. I suspect that's genuine, truly a beggars can't be choosers type of situation, though it may also be true we're particularly interested in some positions and QB is on or atop that list. Also notable is the expectation management of how strict the criteria is for transfers - great football players, long-term help, great students, and fit for us in terms of character. On one level none of that is a surprise but I do think it accentuates that transfers will be infrequent for us compared to many programs as a lot has to align, and it's extremely interesting that Taylor explicitly lists long-term help as a criteria for transfers. He specifically said "we're not looking for short-term stuff." This is the strategizing of somebody who knows the rebuild won't happen overnight and an Isaiah Sanders/Patrick Fields type transfer does not particularly help the program. We need players who will help us in 2024, 2025, and beyond. It may also indicate, as I have hypothesized for months, that undergraduate transfers are significantly easier to recruit. Now watch a bunch of grad transfers join Alec Bank. (Can't rule it out...at the end of the day the art of the possible will reign. I just think we're more likely to see one, two, or three more undergrad transfers and call it a roster) "We are looking everyday" with a broad smile also says a lot in terms of the coaches' interest in improving the roster, and makes me happy as somebody who has said for years that coaches need to be recruiting (which now includes transfers) every single day.
* Got a bit of a proud coach/lighting up moment when asked about Sacramento State superstar Marte Mapu (drafted as a linebacker, listed on the Hornets roster as a nickel back), who subsequently got drafted in the third round by the Patriots (higher than any Stanford player got drafted this year and the same exact slot Paulson Adebo got drafted, which is the highest drafted Stanford defensive player in the last five drafts). It was interesting that Taylor's reaction was a cryptic but seemingly genuinely affectionate laugh about what a good kid Mapu is followed by an emphasis on how important football is to Mapu, how hard he works, and how professionally he treats his body. This may provide insight into the characteristics Taylor wants for players/thinks succeeds, reinforced by similar compliments being how he has described Stanford players so far. The lack of specifics about Mapu's football attributes could indicate an offensive coach relatively less engaged on the defensive side of the ball and/or a head coach keeping sight of the big picture that Mapu is living a dream because of the work and focus he put in.
* Taylor talks about the academic part of the job as being very easy and being a coaches' dream. Kind of funny to hear about the academic meeting being very short because not many people are on it (I wonder who is or if this is more of a reference to meetings he had at Sacramento State and Utah not being as much of the routine at Stanford). I also noted that he said we apparently had a record high GPA (presumably winter quarter). I'm going to be a turd in the punch bowl on this one: if true, Stanford's football team having a record high GPA the literal quarter David Shaw departed is a chef's kiss perfect encapsulation of the transformation of Stanford football's roster and culture he wrought, and not something I hope to see repeated. If everybody on our roster is knocking their academics out of the ballpark, it may indicate we're not pressing the envelope enough/impressing upon admissions enough the importance of getting some borderline academic guys who could significantly help the football program. If the academic performance is so high as to be a "record" compared to many decades of excellent student-athletes at Stanford, perhaps that indicates that the pendulum swung pretty far toward the student part of the equation. It was a horrifying development to see Drake Metcalf transfer out (not to mention all the other offensive linemen, but something especially shocking about somebody being on the football team for 27 months and then transferring with his degree). David Shaw presided over a program where players wanted to spend more time in the library than the weight room. This was corrosive to the football program, its culture, and its competitive prospects. It needs to change. Quite literally in my view one of the most important things that needs to happen. It feels weird to lament extreme academic achievement but I do feel strongly more balance is needed in the program and, if players are going to be unbalanced in any direction it should be the dimension that got them into Stanford in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I swell with pride when I hear about our student-athletes too, but if winter quarter 2022-2023 turns out to be a high water mark for academic achievement that Taylor can't replicate as he starts to shape the roster in his vision, I won't view that as a bad thing.
* I alluded to this before but the answer on something he'd feel good about and something that needs work if he had to play Hawaii today gave a window into Taylor's mentality and expectation management. He focused on youth, no seniors, and problematic depth. No mention of something he feels good about. The overriding mentality is clearly a lot of work to do and it's a process and right now we're a program that doesn't have a hale roster. He's not setting the bar high for that opener. I would say he isn't focusing on anything right now other than the process and how to make the team better but that's not quite right - he's acutely aware and reminds those who will listen about how young the team is and how little depth it has. I don't blame him. Shaw left a putrid bequest. But if the coach keeps saying how young and inexperienced the team is and how there's no substitute for experience, that should influence one's expectations. It will be a shock if this team isn't rough this fall.
RE: Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - msqueri - 05-09-2023
* Taylor acknowledged that it's going to be tough to get to the 85 man scholarship limit this fall. My guess is we leave about five open. He started to say "there's definitely more..." and then trailed off. It's unclear to me whether he was saying there are more transfers we plan to take, more transfers we are recruiting and hoping to take, more current walk-ons we plan to elevate, and/or more current walk-ons we could consider elevating. He thought better of that sentence and didn't continue. On balance my guess would be we get one, two, or three more transfers and elevate one or two more walk-ons. Taylor also noted that he isn't going to take guys just to get to 85 because he won't sacrifice the long-term, specifically saying we want to be able to sign a great class. I suppose it's obvious stuff, but I love that he's trying to think dynamically in terms of the tradeoffs between the fall 2023 scholarship count and what he may have space for in the 2024 class. Depending on how successful he is in reversing the upperclassmen attrition trends that have plagued Stanford football, I am not convinced that we have as much breathing space for 2024 recruiting as some assume. Personally I do view marginal scholarship fillers as rivalrous and potentially undermining of our recruiting goals. I will be just fine if we go into the fall with only 80 scholarships used.
* There was an interesting follow-up question about if he thinks this will be resolved by Year Two. He said he thinks so and with attrition it takes a while to build the roster. I'm glad he's optimistic about that as he knows a heck of a lot more than I do about how it's shaping up internally. I find it interesting that when asked questions like this Shaw would rhetorically throw his hands up and say how the new era makes roster management impossible and you're always guessing, whereas Taylor projects confidence on this. It's not like Taylor doesn't manage expectations in other areas where he thinks the going will be tough, as I covered above, so Taylor does seem to think he can "build" a roster and get it into a healthier place a year from now. We'll see. My hope is that he and his staff think deeply about the dynamics of roster management and update their models continually, as I always called on Shaw to do to mixed results at best. Perhaps an even greater hope is that Taylor feels - and has legitimate reason to feel - like he has a pulse on the roster and will be better able to manage and forecast attrition than Shaw was. I felt like Shaw was imperial (not building communicative open-door dialogue with players) and laissez faire (roster management too hard!). Hopefully Taylor has a plan for who he wants to return in 2024, how that's going to happen, how to adjust when thrown curve balls, and so forth. Ultimately, I'm not sure Taylor will be able to "build" the 2024 roster like he says but I hope he can.
* Taylor talked about how his points of emphasis are the same every day: playing with great energy, being really competitive but staying on our feet, learning how to practice, progressing/growing/not making the same mistakes, and understanding the scheme. I like the steadiness and the ethos of stacking good days on top of each other. I also like the consistency and what that hopefully augurs for culture building. Taylor's repeated mention of "learning how to practice" (another time saying "learning how to practice aggressively and physically") makes me wonder if he thinks we, ummm, didn't know how to do that previously. I don't think he means it, or anything, in a sardonic way directed at Shaw, but at the same time I do think he's trying to build something different than what we've had and knows it. You can tell from the end of the interview that he believes the number of reps and intensity of his practices are big adjustments that haven't fully sunk in with the players ("we've got to learn how to do it").
* Music to my ears: when asked what his next three months look like he said "recruiting never stops." We knew coaches went on the road but still I like to hear this. Recruiting is most of the game in college football. We need to build a better roster and I have more uncertainty about recruiting than I do about Taylor's ability to do the other parts of his job. We know he can build a culture. We know, at least at the FCS level, that he can do the basics of being a head coach and running a staff. But how good is Stanford's roster going to be in 2024, 2025, 2026? Really don't know that. Need to recruit every day and start turning this around.
* The other pieces of his answer on what's next were end of spring meetings with the players to talk to them about where they're at and what they need to improve on (no idea if Shaw did this....if so I hope Taylor's staff does it better and if not this could be an example of having better sense of the pulse of the roster), and the players training really hard in the off-season. The closing note on training really hard jumped out. He said it with some emphasis/intensity and said it's "going to be a difference-maker for us." Taylor has been around and knows other programs work out too, so for him to say this is going to differentiate us caught my attention. I think Deatrick is a really big part of our theory of the case. So far I'm encouraged but ultimately this is something we just have to have faith in and hope for the best. I also think the emphasis Taylor put on this suggests how important he thinks this is - the team he just coached in the spring isn't good enough and now it's time to level up and build better bodies. Finally, Taylor mentioned that new rules allow the coaches to be on the field a bit this summer and work with the players more.
RE: Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - gailtate - 05-09-2023
During Shaw's Last Stand it was painfully obvious in games that the weight room was ignored. I saw HS teams in Sacramento in better form and condition and I am not exaggerating. Pitiful.
RE: Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - TonyLima - 05-09-2023
Thanks to both of you.
RE: Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - qwerty49 - 05-09-2023
Thank you Matt once again.
Re tempo, here's hoping we've seen the last of the DOGs. I think that was actually the most annoying part of the Shawvita offense.
RE: Belated Spring Showcase press availability reactions - newguy - 05-10-2023
(05-09-2023, 03:18 PM)msqueri Wrote: Taylor's repeated mention of "learning how to practice" (another time saying "learning how to practice aggressively and physically") makes me wonder if he thinks we, ummm, didn't know how to do that previously.
i'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're probably right.