05-09-2023, 03:17 PM
* From a fan perspective, the most notable thing about this press availability was probably that Taylor has seen enough of his players that he is willing to comment specifically about them in some non-boilerplate way. I wasn't sure when this was going to happen. For a while he would say something nice when specifically prompted but genuine insights were not forthcoming. Since I'm just getting to know him as a coach I was wondering how long it would take him to feel like he understand his personnel and even then how much he'd be willing to talk specifics. We still have much to learn about these things but quite notably in this interview Taylor didn't dodge a question on the QB competition. He said "it's not clear, they're both....they're pretty close." You could tell "pretty close" was a somewhat considered characterization because he took a beat to come up with the phrase and then repeated it at the end of the answer. I also noted that his body language and tone indicated it was basically a no brainer that nobody would be named at the end of the spring. One could read between the lines from "pretty close" (as opposed to "neck and neck" or "super close" or similar formulations that maybe somebody has a slight lead. I can't read Taylor well enough to opine on that but my hunch is that it's essentially even for all intents and purposes, especially since a transfer QB could still be coming in as Taylor acknowledged when asked. Also notable was that Taylor confirmed that he's open to playing two QBs like he did at Sacramento State. My guess is he's looking for separation (he said a two QB system is not the way he thinks about it going in but that it worked at Sacramento State and he's "not against it") but that may or may not be forthcoming.
* In particular, Taylor was forthcoming when asked who has jumped out this spring. That has to be the highlight of the press availability for fans starved for either positive vibes on our players or for insights into what the new staff thinks. The roster essentially has nobody who has played college football at a high level other than Karty and Yurosek and you can count on two hands the players who have proved really anything at all. Hearing about who jumps out to Taylor is something I've really been waiting for. Without further ado: Bailey was the first player mentioned and I imagine a poll of this board would overwhelmingly vote for Bailey as the most talented player in the program or in the recruiting pipeline; Gilman (interesting/sobering); Wyrick (encouraging.....very positive freshman year followed by a lost/redshirt sophomore year, so this is probably one of the top few players to expect big things from this year); Edwards (see Gilman I'd say); Manley (encouraging.....one of the five or so most proven players on the entire roster but after leaving the team entirely for a season presumably had a lot of catch-up and some degree of open question on what we have); Wright (personal favorite of mine, super encouraging especially as he joins Bailey as one of the two truly young players to get a shoutout); Phillips (no surprise, almost an obligatory mention as the senior statesman in the trenches). The main thing I take away from this is that Taylor expects the defensive secondary to be the strength of the defense. That's my personal view and I don't think our DB corps is bad at all compared to either other bad Stanford teams or what we're going to be trotting out there at some other positions. It seems like Taylor agrees. We have a competitive secondary.
* Taylor did not name a single offensive player in response to that question and instead emphasized, again, how it's just a bunch of young guys. My read is he's an offensive coach with higher standards for that side of the ball and praise will be much harder to earn. With Yurosek, Humphreys, Smith, Filkins, Rogers, Farrell, Mayberry, McLaughlin, and Pogorelc as old guys in the mix, I don't see how the offense is all that much younger than the defense. Looking at this objectively, SP+ rated our returning offensive production as #129 in the nation and returning defensive production as #128. You don't get younger or more inexperienced on either side of the ball in Power Five football than Stanford. Consequently, I view Taylor naming seven defensive players as impressing him and not singling anybody out on offense as saying much more about Taylor than it does our roster.
* While Taylor didn't single out offensive players, he was effusive about the tight end position, one of the most interesting parts of the press availability. He called them "very talented," opened his eyes wide/bobbled his head vigorously for emphasis/sincerity, and repeated that they're a "very talented group." The body language seems like he's really blown away by them and hasn't seen anything like it in his previous stops (no surprise as Utah supplanting us as a TE U contender came after Taylor departed and in fact may have been related to that as he didn't feature TEs much there and that may have been a philosophical difference with Whittingham contributing to the change). This is interesting to me not only because it's insight into Taylor's view of the clear strength of the offense but because, frankly, I don't view our current TE room as all that special by our standards. Yurosek is one of the most proven weapons in the country but not a complete TE. Roush has promise but had a disappointing freshman year. Hawkins has evident promise but reportedly may have switched to WR or at least is a bit of a wild card. Archer transferred out. Ungar is always hurt and was again this spring (again probably not the right word as it implies he's ever not). Position-wise Shield Taylor is a man without a country and spent chunks of the spring at RB. I think it's one of the top two or three TE rooms in the conference but not special by Stanford standards. But to me Taylor touting it like he did indicates that it is special by his standards and, probably suggests an arrow up on the backup TEs, which would not be shocking as, although Roush and Hawkins didn't excel last year, it's rare for true freshmen TEs to excel and we have a lot of promising depth.
* The other part of Taylor's giddiness about the TEs that jumped out was his reason why: "I'm not used to having so many talented tight ends that are good at the point of attack blocking and that's kind of a game changer on offense." Herein lies a major insight I think. Even when Taylor had a star TE last year, Marshel Martin was identical size as Mike Wilson. Big TEs who can block is a new wrinkle for Taylor. I've done past analyses showing how Taylor tends to give TEs less snaps than Shaw did or than Utah did after it replaced Taylor, but I wonder if due to available personnel we may see Taylor adapt his offense a bit and do more two TE sets than he used to. I just don't think he's used to the blocking at the point of attack he evidently feels Roush, Hawkins, and the Shield can offer (heck, maybe he thinks Yurosek has it in him too). I bet one of Taylor's homework assignments for himself the next three months is thinking about how Yurosek + Roush or Yurosek + Hawkins or Yurosek + Taylor (or if Hawkins is truly a WR permutations of three of them) can be used in his scheme.
* I wouldn't say Taylor's answer on Bachmeier changed my views one way or the other. I still think Bachmeier is in a unique spot to be in some respects the first player of the Troy Taylor era. I don't read too much into praise that's solicited but for what it's worth Taylor does talk about Bachmeier stepping in ready to play right away and talks about traits (competitiveness, hard work, for the most part being locked-in) that are kind of the standard Taylor boilerplate praise.
* In particular, Taylor was forthcoming when asked who has jumped out this spring. That has to be the highlight of the press availability for fans starved for either positive vibes on our players or for insights into what the new staff thinks. The roster essentially has nobody who has played college football at a high level other than Karty and Yurosek and you can count on two hands the players who have proved really anything at all. Hearing about who jumps out to Taylor is something I've really been waiting for. Without further ado: Bailey was the first player mentioned and I imagine a poll of this board would overwhelmingly vote for Bailey as the most talented player in the program or in the recruiting pipeline; Gilman (interesting/sobering); Wyrick (encouraging.....very positive freshman year followed by a lost/redshirt sophomore year, so this is probably one of the top few players to expect big things from this year); Edwards (see Gilman I'd say); Manley (encouraging.....one of the five or so most proven players on the entire roster but after leaving the team entirely for a season presumably had a lot of catch-up and some degree of open question on what we have); Wright (personal favorite of mine, super encouraging especially as he joins Bailey as one of the two truly young players to get a shoutout); Phillips (no surprise, almost an obligatory mention as the senior statesman in the trenches). The main thing I take away from this is that Taylor expects the defensive secondary to be the strength of the defense. That's my personal view and I don't think our DB corps is bad at all compared to either other bad Stanford teams or what we're going to be trotting out there at some other positions. It seems like Taylor agrees. We have a competitive secondary.
* Taylor did not name a single offensive player in response to that question and instead emphasized, again, how it's just a bunch of young guys. My read is he's an offensive coach with higher standards for that side of the ball and praise will be much harder to earn. With Yurosek, Humphreys, Smith, Filkins, Rogers, Farrell, Mayberry, McLaughlin, and Pogorelc as old guys in the mix, I don't see how the offense is all that much younger than the defense. Looking at this objectively, SP+ rated our returning offensive production as #129 in the nation and returning defensive production as #128. You don't get younger or more inexperienced on either side of the ball in Power Five football than Stanford. Consequently, I view Taylor naming seven defensive players as impressing him and not singling anybody out on offense as saying much more about Taylor than it does our roster.
* While Taylor didn't single out offensive players, he was effusive about the tight end position, one of the most interesting parts of the press availability. He called them "very talented," opened his eyes wide/bobbled his head vigorously for emphasis/sincerity, and repeated that they're a "very talented group." The body language seems like he's really blown away by them and hasn't seen anything like it in his previous stops (no surprise as Utah supplanting us as a TE U contender came after Taylor departed and in fact may have been related to that as he didn't feature TEs much there and that may have been a philosophical difference with Whittingham contributing to the change). This is interesting to me not only because it's insight into Taylor's view of the clear strength of the offense but because, frankly, I don't view our current TE room as all that special by our standards. Yurosek is one of the most proven weapons in the country but not a complete TE. Roush has promise but had a disappointing freshman year. Hawkins has evident promise but reportedly may have switched to WR or at least is a bit of a wild card. Archer transferred out. Ungar is always hurt and was again this spring (again probably not the right word as it implies he's ever not). Position-wise Shield Taylor is a man without a country and spent chunks of the spring at RB. I think it's one of the top two or three TE rooms in the conference but not special by Stanford standards. But to me Taylor touting it like he did indicates that it is special by his standards and, probably suggests an arrow up on the backup TEs, which would not be shocking as, although Roush and Hawkins didn't excel last year, it's rare for true freshmen TEs to excel and we have a lot of promising depth.
* The other part of Taylor's giddiness about the TEs that jumped out was his reason why: "I'm not used to having so many talented tight ends that are good at the point of attack blocking and that's kind of a game changer on offense." Herein lies a major insight I think. Even when Taylor had a star TE last year, Marshel Martin was identical size as Mike Wilson. Big TEs who can block is a new wrinkle for Taylor. I've done past analyses showing how Taylor tends to give TEs less snaps than Shaw did or than Utah did after it replaced Taylor, but I wonder if due to available personnel we may see Taylor adapt his offense a bit and do more two TE sets than he used to. I just don't think he's used to the blocking at the point of attack he evidently feels Roush, Hawkins, and the Shield can offer (heck, maybe he thinks Yurosek has it in him too). I bet one of Taylor's homework assignments for himself the next three months is thinking about how Yurosek + Roush or Yurosek + Hawkins or Yurosek + Taylor (or if Hawkins is truly a WR permutations of three of them) can be used in his scheme.
* I wouldn't say Taylor's answer on Bachmeier changed my views one way or the other. I still think Bachmeier is in a unique spot to be in some respects the first player of the Troy Taylor era. I don't read too much into praise that's solicited but for what it's worth Taylor does talk about Bachmeier stepping in ready to play right away and talks about traits (competitiveness, hard work, for the most part being locked-in) that are kind of the standard Taylor boilerplate praise.