[Austroturf]

Thanks for the insights, Matt, Goose and BC.  So on the whole, players that planned to complete their entire 5 years of eligibility simply delayed graduation in their bachelor's programs.  Got it.  

If I take Michael Rector as a classic 5th-year player, he came back after a very good 2015 to increase his draft stock in 2016 (which didn't really work out for him).  He got an undrafted free agent deal with the Lions, but was waived in the preseason of 2017.  He majored in Human Biology, so I have to imagine he simply delayed graduation to remain enrolled during the fall quarter of 2016.  Was that the way the vast majority of 5th-year players did it?  

Now let's take a current example.  Levani Damuni has been one of the better players this year on defense.  He redshirted as a freshman in 2019, so he has two more years of eligibility.  He would normally be a classic 5th-year player with his eye on the NFL draft.  Clearly, he decided that Stanford is not a place to position himself for a high draft pick.  He is also an LDS player, so is older than the standard 5th-year player, hence his sense of urgency.  But bottom-line: he probably would have done a Michael Rector if he thought the program was worth his time.  Clearly it isn't.  And that is the problem!

[Austroturf]

Thanks for the insights, Matt, Goose and BC.  So on the whole, players that planned to complete their entire 5 years of eligibility simply delayed graduation in their bachelor's programs.  Got it.  

If I take Michael Rector as a classic 5th-year player, he came back after a very good 2015 to increase his draft stock in 2016 (which didn't really work out for him).  He got an undrafted free agent deal with the Lions, but was waived in the preseason of 2017.  He majored in Human Biology, so I have to imagine he simply delayed graduation to remain enrolled during the fall quarter of 2016.  Was that the way the vast majority of 5th-year players did it?  

Now let's take a current example.  Levani Damuni has been one of the better players this year on defense.  He redshirted as a freshman in 2019, so he has two more years of eligibility.  He would normally be a classic 5th-year player with his eye on the NFL draft.  Clearly, he decided that Stanford is not a place to position himself for a high draft pick.  He is also an LDS player, so is older than the standard 5th-year player, hence his sense of urgency.  But bottom-line: he probably would have done a Michael Rector if he thought the program was worth his time.  Clearly it isn't.  And that is the problem!