[d4cohn]

I think the OL situation has been exacerbated by program losses.

Casey Tucker - grad transfer to ASU
Jack Dreyer - medical retirement
Austin Maihen - medical retirement
Clark Yarborough - medical retirement
Reilly Gibbons - signed but never enrolled; transferred to South Florida

But this is particularly telling:
In 2015, Stanford signed 4 O Linemen - Nick Wilson, Dreyer, Maihen and Brian Chaffin. I don't think any of them have started a game for Stanford (though Chaffin does play on short yardage situations).
In 2016, Stanford signed 5 O Linemen. Out of that group, we find one solid starter (Herbig) and a part-time player (Hamilton). No game contribution from Yarborough, Henry Hattis or Dylan Powell.

That's 9 players across two recruiting classes with one starter and one contributor. Leaves a big hole.

nice post Spiny.  

if anything you may be painting a rosy picture of our OL evaluation and offer strategy.  for instance, in 2015 class, Connor Williams, a future NFL 1st round draft pick, camped with Stanford, wanted an offer and had the academics.  Bloom, Shaw et al chose not to offer him in favor of Maihen and Dreyer.  same year no offer to Jerry Tillery, a top 150 guy.  of course, this may be not as bad as the QB evaluations that year -- Ricky Town, Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold.  all camped at Stanford, had the academics and we offer Town.  Town verbals elsewhere and we wait 6 months for the next offer, but not to Rosen or Darnold.  next guy is Wimbush.  2 NFL 1st round picks at QB and our evaluators chose to offer the other two?

lastly, after having the 9 OL guys for a couple of years and see the lack of collective progress (or early departure/retirement), we sign 3 OL in '17 and 1 OL in '18.  '18 included slow playing the #1 OT in the country -- someone flagged to staff by a former Stanford teammate a couple years prior.  just odd (especially as infrequently Stanford offers).  there are no awards for highest yield rates for football offers -- quality, quantity and position coverage/balance matter.

I think it is important to add, for some of our recruiting misses in terms of not offering certain guys (Tillery, Williams etc.), Foster Sarrell and Walker Little were 5-star recruits according to 24-7 Sports, and two of the best recruits we have ever landed at Stanford, both in the same class on the OL. It is not like we have missed on everyone.

[d4cohn]

I think the OL situation has been exacerbated by program losses.

Casey Tucker - grad transfer to ASU
Jack Dreyer - medical retirement
Austin Maihen - medical retirement
Clark Yarborough - medical retirement
Reilly Gibbons - signed but never enrolled; transferred to South Florida

But this is particularly telling:
In 2015, Stanford signed 4 O Linemen - Nick Wilson, Dreyer, Maihen and Brian Chaffin. I don't think any of them have started a game for Stanford (though Chaffin does play on short yardage situations).
In 2016, Stanford signed 5 O Linemen. Out of that group, we find one solid starter (Herbig) and a part-time player (Hamilton). No game contribution from Yarborough, Henry Hattis or Dylan Powell.

That's 9 players across two recruiting classes with one starter and one contributor. Leaves a big hole.

nice post Spiny.  

if anything you may be painting a rosy picture of our OL evaluation and offer strategy.  for instance, in 2015 class, Connor Williams, a future NFL 1st round draft pick, camped with Stanford, wanted an offer and had the academics.  Bloom, Shaw et al chose not to offer him in favor of Maihen and Dreyer.  same year no offer to Jerry Tillery, a top 150 guy.  of course, this may be not as bad as the QB evaluations that year -- Ricky Town, Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold.  all camped at Stanford, had the academics and we offer Town.  Town verbals elsewhere and we wait 6 months for the next offer, but not to Rosen or Darnold.  next guy is Wimbush.  2 NFL 1st round picks at QB and our evaluators chose to offer the other two?

lastly, after having the 9 OL guys for a couple of years and see the lack of collective progress (or early departure/retirement), we sign 3 OL in '17 and 1 OL in '18.  '18 included slow playing the #1 OT in the country -- someone flagged to staff by a former Stanford teammate a couple years prior.  just odd (especially as infrequently Stanford offers).  there are no awards for highest yield rates for football offers -- quality, quantity and position coverage/balance matter.

I think it is important to add, for some of our recruiting misses in terms of not offering certain guys (Tillery, Williams etc.), Foster Sarrell and Walker Little were 5-star recruits according to 24-7 Sports, and two of the best recruits we have ever landed at Stanford, both in the same class on the OL. It is not like we have missed on everyone.