05-19-2020, 12:11 PM
Linebacking hasn't sustained excellence since Blake Martinez, and one wonders how bad the LB corps would have been if not for BMart's presence. Peter Hansen finally left Stanford, so we'll get a chance to see if Eric Sanders can be a better LB coach.
Stanford hasn't recruited enough DL since Solly Thomas -- he was the star of the DL and didn't have a great supporting cast. Randy Hart's presence is missed both as a player development coach and as a recruiter. Jury's still out on Diron Reynolds, waiting for him to show us a great stable of DL.
"Moving the pile" is not an inherent skill for RBs, and "pounding up the gut" (which was implied as equivalent to running inside) is not a successful RB tactic, and that is an eminently defensible hill I will take. This begins and ends with OL capability. It's probably easier to keep 5* OL recruits healthy and strong rather than attempt to recruit hyped RB recruits who are successful at running into piles.
None of this matters if we don't have a season though.
Stanford hasn't recruited enough DL since Solly Thomas -- he was the star of the DL and didn't have a great supporting cast. Randy Hart's presence is missed both as a player development coach and as a recruiter. Jury's still out on Diron Reynolds, waiting for him to show us a great stable of DL.
"Moving the pile" is not an inherent skill for RBs, and "pounding up the gut" (which was implied as equivalent to running inside) is not a successful RB tactic, and that is an eminently defensible hill I will take. This begins and ends with OL capability. It's probably easier to keep 5* OL recruits healthy and strong rather than attempt to recruit hyped RB recruits who are successful at running into piles.
None of this matters if we don't have a season though.