04-25-2023, 04:29 PM
Four dimensional analysis on Ford:
Services: 247 composite #835 (#64 RB), On3 consensus #822 (#45 ATH), 247 #79 RB, On3 #22 ATH, Rivals 5.6 grade (same grade as Caleb Hampton, Nathaniel Peat, Usua Amanam, Ray Jones), ESPN NR
Offers: Stanford, James Madison, Maryland, Army, Connecticut, Old Dominion, Syracuse, Temple, Wake Forest, West Virginia
Production: As a junior against very poor competition (bottom 12 percent of Stanford recruits), Ford completely dominated, winning New Jersey's Gatorade Player of the Year (as well as several other state player of the year awards) as a dual-threat quarterback and being named first team all-state as a safety. He rushed for 2372 yards on 10.1 yards per carry (ninth best among the last 21 matriculating Stanford RB high school junior seasons I'm tracking) with 33 touchdowns. [The starting running back had 9.7 yards per carry] He had 35+ yard runs in nine of the 14 games in an undefeated state champion season. Throwing the ball he completed 57 of 89 passes (throwing only 6.4 times per game with a 64 percent completion percentage) for 1203 yards (13.5 yards per attempt) and 17 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. On defense he had 5.5 tackles per game (fourth on the team in total tackles, not going to calculate per game for all his teammates), 4 interceptions (second), 9 tackles for loss (tied for eighth), 4 passes defended, and a forced fumble. As mentioned, the competition was poor and only one game had a final score even within multiple touchdowns. They won the state championship by 21 points. As a sophomore, one source only reported stats for four games and in those Ford rushed for 505 yards (6.6 yards per carry) and 7 touchdowns while completing 19 of 29 passes (65.5 percent) for 362 yards (12.5 yards per attempt) and 5 touchdowns with only one interception; on defense he was credited with an interception; however, Ford's own highlights self-report stats and those may be more complete: 1,451 yards rushing, 944 yards passing, 25 combined touchdowns, 82 tackles, an interception, and 7 pass breakups. Ford also plays varsity basketball. As a junior he scored 14.4 points per game (team lead). As a sophomore he scored 7.1 points per game (third on the team).
Highlights: Ford's freshman highlights were modest. Given the low competition, being a freshman, and being during the pandemic I don't think there's much reason to focus on those. He showed some versatility and willingness, with a few plays showing blocking and tackling in addition to the runs and catches out of the backfield. The sophomore highlights are where the running QB emerges. He only put three throws on those highlights, all while scrambling so presumably plays where he could have had the option to either pass or run. The runs were your standard good high school running QB fare, using relative athleticism to break off sizable gains. The defensive highlights had a pass defended and forced fumble as well as a few other good tackles. The most talent he's ever faced in a game was his sophomore year against Donovan Catholic and the only highlight he posted in that game was an open field tackle of 2025 4-star WR Michael Thomas III for a gain of only a few yards on a sweep attempt (Old Dominion OL Caron McNair was on the far opposite side of the play and not relevant to it), which was also the first defensive highlight he posted on his season tape. Alas, Thomas' own highlights include another sweep where Ford was playing a deep center field and completely whiffed on an open field tackle attempt, with the result being getting roasted for a 51 yard touchdown run down Broadway. McNair's highlights include a play where Ford was again playing deep and took an angle to do damage control on a 30+ yard run; Ford caught up to the ballcarrier, Wagner (FCS) RB Nunes Bukula IV, about 25 yards down field and then rode him for 7 yards or so before taking him down. Bukula's highlights show a touchdown run where center fielder Ford committed inside and Bukula bounced outside to take advantage as well as a couple of assisted tackles by Ford on successful runs that got to Ford's level of the defense. The junior highlights were quite long, as one would expect from a Gatorade Player of the Year. One thing I was looking for was his degree of reliance on 2025 Penn State whale OL commit Jaelyne Matthews. There are a lot of plays in which big #79 springs Ford but I'd say the majority were either plays Matthews wasn't playing or wasn't noticeable. Mainly it was just a lot of Ford finding a gap and racing past people. On defense there's some good tackling, a pick six, and a few passes defended. Given that it's poor competition and we don't have any validation of how fast Ford is (as far as I know), hard to know what to make of all this and its translation to being a Pac-12 RB (or safety if this is more of an athlete recruitment). It would be interesting to check him out against more notable competition but that's not the case. He did play against Rutgers OL John Stone, but an OL isn't really competition for a DB and there weren't a lot of plays of Stone on DL to assess. Stone's highlights show one play where a receiver blocked Ford, sealing him off and helping spring a run. The only other game against notable individual players was the state championship game against Passaic County Tech. In that one Ford threw a touchdown bomb while scrambling to his left to evade a pass rush from Syracuse LB commit Travon Dye, who did not show up much on Ford's highlights and whose twin brother Trashon Dye had a 45+ yard touchdown run up the middle on which Ford was a non-factor/came up a bit hobbled; Ford had an open field tackle of Trashon Dye. I didn't watch the basketball highlights as closely but it looked like he has some thickness.
A Rorschach commitment. There are glass half full and glass half empty reads of this, both of which are fully accurate. Glass half full: this is a dominant high school player at a position I view as being in our upper half of needs (#5 on my position wish list for 2024 but a case can be made for higher). We have had a troubling run of running backs who weren't dominant in high school so this is arguably our best high school rusher since Austin Jones. I'll never sneeze at 10+ yards per carry, though it's no guarantee of success (see Barry J Sanders, Sione Lund, Kelsey Young, etc.). If RB doesn't work out, safety seems plausible. Glass half empty: it's another comedown in our recruiting acumen to take such an early commitment from a guy without impressive offers and who is widely viewed as far below the Stanford norm at RB. It feels odd to not even be in May of a recruit's junior year and be taking guys like this. The level of competition and the lack of impressive offers raises the specter that this is the classic high school big fish in a small pond/big man on campus who can bully slow high schoolers but doesn't have that Power Five gear. I have some concerns that our FCS offensive coaching staff may mis-calibrate on the level of talent that plays in the Pac-12. Ultimately, I see merit in both views of the glass but am happy about this commitment. The bottom line is we need players the coaches see fitting in their system and their culture and we're not good enough right now to turn our nose up at low Power Five level recruits, even if that's all this is. That RB was such a position of success at Sacramento State also gives me some confidence the Taylor-Agnew duo know how to make this work. In any case, recruiting is about the talent pipeline and in our case the group of Barrow, Butler, Irvin, and Hampton doesn't give me confidence going forward and I absolutely view Ford as a welcome addition.
Services: 247 composite #835 (#64 RB), On3 consensus #822 (#45 ATH), 247 #79 RB, On3 #22 ATH, Rivals 5.6 grade (same grade as Caleb Hampton, Nathaniel Peat, Usua Amanam, Ray Jones), ESPN NR
Offers: Stanford, James Madison, Maryland, Army, Connecticut, Old Dominion, Syracuse, Temple, Wake Forest, West Virginia
Production: As a junior against very poor competition (bottom 12 percent of Stanford recruits), Ford completely dominated, winning New Jersey's Gatorade Player of the Year (as well as several other state player of the year awards) as a dual-threat quarterback and being named first team all-state as a safety. He rushed for 2372 yards on 10.1 yards per carry (ninth best among the last 21 matriculating Stanford RB high school junior seasons I'm tracking) with 33 touchdowns. [The starting running back had 9.7 yards per carry] He had 35+ yard runs in nine of the 14 games in an undefeated state champion season. Throwing the ball he completed 57 of 89 passes (throwing only 6.4 times per game with a 64 percent completion percentage) for 1203 yards (13.5 yards per attempt) and 17 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. On defense he had 5.5 tackles per game (fourth on the team in total tackles, not going to calculate per game for all his teammates), 4 interceptions (second), 9 tackles for loss (tied for eighth), 4 passes defended, and a forced fumble. As mentioned, the competition was poor and only one game had a final score even within multiple touchdowns. They won the state championship by 21 points. As a sophomore, one source only reported stats for four games and in those Ford rushed for 505 yards (6.6 yards per carry) and 7 touchdowns while completing 19 of 29 passes (65.5 percent) for 362 yards (12.5 yards per attempt) and 5 touchdowns with only one interception; on defense he was credited with an interception; however, Ford's own highlights self-report stats and those may be more complete: 1,451 yards rushing, 944 yards passing, 25 combined touchdowns, 82 tackles, an interception, and 7 pass breakups. Ford also plays varsity basketball. As a junior he scored 14.4 points per game (team lead). As a sophomore he scored 7.1 points per game (third on the team).
Highlights: Ford's freshman highlights were modest. Given the low competition, being a freshman, and being during the pandemic I don't think there's much reason to focus on those. He showed some versatility and willingness, with a few plays showing blocking and tackling in addition to the runs and catches out of the backfield. The sophomore highlights are where the running QB emerges. He only put three throws on those highlights, all while scrambling so presumably plays where he could have had the option to either pass or run. The runs were your standard good high school running QB fare, using relative athleticism to break off sizable gains. The defensive highlights had a pass defended and forced fumble as well as a few other good tackles. The most talent he's ever faced in a game was his sophomore year against Donovan Catholic and the only highlight he posted in that game was an open field tackle of 2025 4-star WR Michael Thomas III for a gain of only a few yards on a sweep attempt (Old Dominion OL Caron McNair was on the far opposite side of the play and not relevant to it), which was also the first defensive highlight he posted on his season tape. Alas, Thomas' own highlights include another sweep where Ford was playing a deep center field and completely whiffed on an open field tackle attempt, with the result being getting roasted for a 51 yard touchdown run down Broadway. McNair's highlights include a play where Ford was again playing deep and took an angle to do damage control on a 30+ yard run; Ford caught up to the ballcarrier, Wagner (FCS) RB Nunes Bukula IV, about 25 yards down field and then rode him for 7 yards or so before taking him down. Bukula's highlights show a touchdown run where center fielder Ford committed inside and Bukula bounced outside to take advantage as well as a couple of assisted tackles by Ford on successful runs that got to Ford's level of the defense. The junior highlights were quite long, as one would expect from a Gatorade Player of the Year. One thing I was looking for was his degree of reliance on 2025 Penn State whale OL commit Jaelyne Matthews. There are a lot of plays in which big #79 springs Ford but I'd say the majority were either plays Matthews wasn't playing or wasn't noticeable. Mainly it was just a lot of Ford finding a gap and racing past people. On defense there's some good tackling, a pick six, and a few passes defended. Given that it's poor competition and we don't have any validation of how fast Ford is (as far as I know), hard to know what to make of all this and its translation to being a Pac-12 RB (or safety if this is more of an athlete recruitment). It would be interesting to check him out against more notable competition but that's not the case. He did play against Rutgers OL John Stone, but an OL isn't really competition for a DB and there weren't a lot of plays of Stone on DL to assess. Stone's highlights show one play where a receiver blocked Ford, sealing him off and helping spring a run. The only other game against notable individual players was the state championship game against Passaic County Tech. In that one Ford threw a touchdown bomb while scrambling to his left to evade a pass rush from Syracuse LB commit Travon Dye, who did not show up much on Ford's highlights and whose twin brother Trashon Dye had a 45+ yard touchdown run up the middle on which Ford was a non-factor/came up a bit hobbled; Ford had an open field tackle of Trashon Dye. I didn't watch the basketball highlights as closely but it looked like he has some thickness.
A Rorschach commitment. There are glass half full and glass half empty reads of this, both of which are fully accurate. Glass half full: this is a dominant high school player at a position I view as being in our upper half of needs (#5 on my position wish list for 2024 but a case can be made for higher). We have had a troubling run of running backs who weren't dominant in high school so this is arguably our best high school rusher since Austin Jones. I'll never sneeze at 10+ yards per carry, though it's no guarantee of success (see Barry J Sanders, Sione Lund, Kelsey Young, etc.). If RB doesn't work out, safety seems plausible. Glass half empty: it's another comedown in our recruiting acumen to take such an early commitment from a guy without impressive offers and who is widely viewed as far below the Stanford norm at RB. It feels odd to not even be in May of a recruit's junior year and be taking guys like this. The level of competition and the lack of impressive offers raises the specter that this is the classic high school big fish in a small pond/big man on campus who can bully slow high schoolers but doesn't have that Power Five gear. I have some concerns that our FCS offensive coaching staff may mis-calibrate on the level of talent that plays in the Pac-12. Ultimately, I see merit in both views of the glass but am happy about this commitment. The bottom line is we need players the coaches see fitting in their system and their culture and we're not good enough right now to turn our nose up at low Power Five level recruits, even if that's all this is. That RB was such a position of success at Sacramento State also gives me some confidence the Taylor-Agnew duo know how to make this work. In any case, recruiting is about the talent pipeline and in our case the group of Barrow, Butler, Irvin, and Hampton doesn't give me confidence going forward and I absolutely view Ford as a welcome addition.