[SamuelMcF]

Thanks a lot for this, OF. Want to "chew on" some of your points!

First of all, my overwhelming sense is this team is going to be better than most people have assumed.  I see Stanford being improved at every position in 2019 over 2018 except TE. But even TE has an All-American level talent. Now some may scoff at the notion Stanford could be better without Love, JJAW, K. Smith, and Bobby Okereke, but as I always say, all teams change from year-to-year.  Everybody loses players and must replace them. Some return more than others, but we also tend to lose sight of the fact new starters can actually lead to better teams than previous ostensibly superior starters had. Just two examples are Tee Martin leading Tennessee to National Title the year AFTER Peyton Manning left, and Kevin Hogan leading Stanford to Rose Bowl the year AFTER Andrew Luck left.

Bobby O and JJAW are bad losses. Smith blocked better than Park, but Tucker Fisk blocks better than Smith.

I'm not going to put down the contributions of JJAW and Trent Irwin, but I see the current WR group as deeper, with more better athletes than last year. The starting OL will be better if the projected starters stay intact. This will give a now veteran QB the opportunity to continue being a stalwart in the passing game. Love wasn't healthy or running behind a sound OL in 2018. Scarlett has been improving every year, and the True Frosh are great athletes.  Most important, the playbook is being simplified to allow the best talents on the field faster.  

The shambling husk of Bryce Love, able to be taken down by DL with one arm (yes, this happened multiple times), was a detriment to us last year with the horrid line play. Scarlett would've at least fought and fallen forwards for a couple yards, as we saw in El Paso. And Scarlett can actually catch out of the backfield too. My one worry is that KJ was really being bailed out by an amazing receiving corps last season. If you watch the film, he doesn't come out quite as NFL-ready as you might think. IMO he's a slightly more pro-looking, less mobile Kevin Hogan.

The Defense is where I see the biggest strides will be made. It seems to me Stanford has the most Front Seven depth it has had since the Gardner/Mauro/Murphy years. Swann, Williams, and Booker are backed by guys who have played and been in the program for a few years. To my surprise, Stanford was actually middle of the Pac in run D in 2018, and was just a tad under 4 YPC.  I see them improving on this mark, not only because the DL is better and more experienced, but also because contrary to what was assumed, the ILBs might not actually be the weakness people have been fearing, and the pass rush looks to be improved as well, with so much depth at OLB.

Agreed that DL will look better; maybe not INCREDIBLE, but better. Anderson said in an interview he has 5-6 guys he's comfortable with. We have no idea if ILB will be a weakness until Northwestern (attempts to) run it down our throats. Need to be stout in the middle; Toohill and J. Fox can contain the edge. Reid and/or A. Fox will come in to rush the passer.

Everyone knows about Paulson Adebo, but Obi Eboh has been receiving a lot of acclaim, not just in these August practices.  I saw an interview with JJAW in April in which he said Eboh was the guy to watch for in the secondary.  I will admit the Safety position seems to be the weak link, but with two very good CBs and what looks like a strong front seven that will get pressure on opposing QBs, that weakness is mitigated a bit. That said, I really liked what I saw from Kendall Williamson as a Frosh, and he looks to be having a much expanded role this season.

Safety is 100% the weak link (besides offensive playcalling), IMO. And you and I must have watched different Kendall Williamsons. He was picked on whenever he came into the game. Although a) he was a freshman so you expect him to take some lumps and grow, and b) switching to S from CB/NB may help here.

The other reason to believe this team will be better than people are assuming is the high end talent on the roster.  Stanford has three players on pre-season All-America lists in Little, Adebo, and Parkinson. Costello is projected as the #4 ranked NFL Draft QB. Yes, the schedule is brutal, almost unfair to the players, but that also means Stanford will likely play its first four games on national TV, which could inspire the team.  I don't think it likely they can win 9+ games because the schedule is so tough, but I do think 8-4 against this schedule will prove the 2019 team was better than the 2018 versions, and all things considered, such a record will constitute a successful season.

Agreed that 8-4 is a good season considering the SOS. I worry that we're looking more at 6-6, but also concede this could be considered somewhat of a "rebuilding year"...look how young most positions are slated to be, and not to mention we have a former 5* QB that many insiders feel is ALREADY BETTER than KJ waiting in the wings!

The biggest concern is the fact the 2nd team OL is 4/5 True Frosh.  How the hell was THAT allowed to happen?

Will post later about the whole breakdown of how we got to this point.

---

The biggest concern is the fact the 2nd team OL is 4/5 True Frosh.  How the hell was THAT allowed to happen?

Will post later about the whole breakdown of how we got to this point.

And here's the breakdown. Going in order of composite recruiting ranking since the class of 2015, who would be 5th year seniors now:

2015
Nick Wilson —> Retired, now a grad student in ME @ Stanford
Brian Chaffin —> Grad transferred to Rice for his MBA
Jack Dreyer —> Medical retirement
Austin Maihen —> Medical retirement

2016
Clark Yarbrough —> Medical retirement
Devery Hamilton
Henry Hattis
Nate Herbig —> Declared for NFL due to perceived extenuating non-football circumstances 
Dylan Powell

2017
Foster Sarell
Walker Little
Drew Dalman

2018
Trey Stratford —> likely medical retirement

There are 2 very simple reasons for why we got here: 
- 2015's OL class being a total flop
- The coaches inexplicably only recruiting 1 OL (who will probably never play!) in 2018, which is WAY more egregious and inexcusable. This should never have been the target number of OL for a class. Ever. Rumor has it Bloomgren completely checked out while on his way out the door, and Carberry was horrified when he arrived. This is also why I believe we're taking 4-5 OL this class, not just the 3 currently committed.

[SamuelMcF]

Thanks a lot for this, OF. Want to "chew on" some of your points!

First of all, my overwhelming sense is this team is going to be better than most people have assumed.  I see Stanford being improved at every position in 2019 over 2018 except TE. But even TE has an All-American level talent. Now some may scoff at the notion Stanford could be better without Love, JJAW, K. Smith, and Bobby Okereke, but as I always say, all teams change from year-to-year.  Everybody loses players and must replace them. Some return more than others, but we also tend to lose sight of the fact new starters can actually lead to better teams than previous ostensibly superior starters had. Just two examples are Tee Martin leading Tennessee to National Title the year AFTER Peyton Manning left, and Kevin Hogan leading Stanford to Rose Bowl the year AFTER Andrew Luck left.

Bobby O and JJAW are bad losses. Smith blocked better than Park, but Tucker Fisk blocks better than Smith.

I'm not going to put down the contributions of JJAW and Trent Irwin, but I see the current WR group as deeper, with more better athletes than last year. The starting OL will be better if the projected starters stay intact. This will give a now veteran QB the opportunity to continue being a stalwart in the passing game. Love wasn't healthy or running behind a sound OL in 2018. Scarlett has been improving every year, and the True Frosh are great athletes.  Most important, the playbook is being simplified to allow the best talents on the field faster.  

The shambling husk of Bryce Love, able to be taken down by DL with one arm (yes, this happened multiple times), was a detriment to us last year with the horrid line play. Scarlett would've at least fought and fallen forwards for a couple yards, as we saw in El Paso. And Scarlett can actually catch out of the backfield too. My one worry is that KJ was really being bailed out by an amazing receiving corps last season. If you watch the film, he doesn't come out quite as NFL-ready as you might think. IMO he's a slightly more pro-looking, less mobile Kevin Hogan.

The Defense is where I see the biggest strides will be made. It seems to me Stanford has the most Front Seven depth it has had since the Gardner/Mauro/Murphy years. Swann, Williams, and Booker are backed by guys who have played and been in the program for a few years. To my surprise, Stanford was actually middle of the Pac in run D in 2018, and was just a tad under 4 YPC.  I see them improving on this mark, not only because the DL is better and more experienced, but also because contrary to what was assumed, the ILBs might not actually be the weakness people have been fearing, and the pass rush looks to be improved as well, with so much depth at OLB.

Agreed that DL will look better; maybe not INCREDIBLE, but better. Anderson said in an interview he has 5-6 guys he's comfortable with. We have no idea if ILB will be a weakness until Northwestern (attempts to) run it down our throats. Need to be stout in the middle; Toohill and J. Fox can contain the edge. Reid and/or A. Fox will come in to rush the passer.

Everyone knows about Paulson Adebo, but Obi Eboh has been receiving a lot of acclaim, not just in these August practices.  I saw an interview with JJAW in April in which he said Eboh was the guy to watch for in the secondary.  I will admit the Safety position seems to be the weak link, but with two very good CBs and what looks like a strong front seven that will get pressure on opposing QBs, that weakness is mitigated a bit. That said, I really liked what I saw from Kendall Williamson as a Frosh, and he looks to be having a much expanded role this season.

Safety is 100% the weak link (besides offensive playcalling), IMO. And you and I must have watched different Kendall Williamsons. He was picked on whenever he came into the game. Although a) he was a freshman so you expect him to take some lumps and grow, and b) switching to S from CB/NB may help here.

The other reason to believe this team will be better than people are assuming is the high end talent on the roster.  Stanford has three players on pre-season All-America lists in Little, Adebo, and Parkinson. Costello is projected as the #4 ranked NFL Draft QB. Yes, the schedule is brutal, almost unfair to the players, but that also means Stanford will likely play its first four games on national TV, which could inspire the team.  I don't think it likely they can win 9+ games because the schedule is so tough, but I do think 8-4 against this schedule will prove the 2019 team was better than the 2018 versions, and all things considered, such a record will constitute a successful season.

Agreed that 8-4 is a good season considering the SOS. I worry that we're looking more at 6-6, but also concede this could be considered somewhat of a "rebuilding year"...look how young most positions are slated to be, and not to mention we have a former 5* QB that many insiders feel is ALREADY BETTER than KJ waiting in the wings!

The biggest concern is the fact the 2nd team OL is 4/5 True Frosh.  How the hell was THAT allowed to happen?

Will post later about the whole breakdown of how we got to this point.

---

The biggest concern is the fact the 2nd team OL is 4/5 True Frosh.  How the hell was THAT allowed to happen?

Will post later about the whole breakdown of how we got to this point.

And here's the breakdown. Going in order of composite recruiting ranking since the class of 2015, who would be 5th year seniors now:

2015
Nick Wilson —> Retired, now a grad student in ME @ Stanford
Brian Chaffin —> Grad transferred to Rice for his MBA
Jack Dreyer —> Medical retirement
Austin Maihen —> Medical retirement

2016
Clark Yarbrough —> Medical retirement
Devery Hamilton
Henry Hattis
Nate Herbig —> Declared for NFL due to perceived extenuating non-football circumstances 
Dylan Powell

2017
Foster Sarell
Walker Little
Drew Dalman

2018
Trey Stratford —> likely medical retirement

There are 2 very simple reasons for why we got here: 
- 2015's OL class being a total flop
- The coaches inexplicably only recruiting 1 OL (who will probably never play!) in 2018, which is WAY more egregious and inexcusable. This should never have been the target number of OL for a class. Ever. Rumor has it Bloomgren completely checked out while on his way out the door, and Carberry was horrified when he arrived. This is also why I believe we're taking 4-5 OL this class, not just the 3 currently committed.