05-09-2023, 03:17 PM
* The answer on transfers confirms that we're out there shopping and hoping for more help for the roster. He deftly sidestepped the issue of shopping for a QB specifically by saying "our job is to get the team better" and that for the most part we're open to help at every position. I suspect that's genuine, truly a beggars can't be choosers type of situation, though it may also be true we're particularly interested in some positions and QB is on or atop that list. Also notable is the expectation management of how strict the criteria is for transfers - great football players, long-term help, great students, and fit for us in terms of character. On one level none of that is a surprise but I do think it accentuates that transfers will be infrequent for us compared to many programs as a lot has to align, and it's extremely interesting that Taylor explicitly lists long-term help as a criteria for transfers. He specifically said "we're not looking for short-term stuff." This is the strategizing of somebody who knows the rebuild won't happen overnight and an Isaiah Sanders/Patrick Fields type transfer does not particularly help the program. We need players who will help us in 2024, 2025, and beyond. It may also indicate, as I have hypothesized for months, that undergraduate transfers are significantly easier to recruit. Now watch a bunch of grad transfers join Alec Bank. (Can't rule it out...at the end of the day the art of the possible will reign. I just think we're more likely to see one, two, or three more undergrad transfers and call it a roster) "We are looking everyday" with a broad smile also says a lot in terms of the coaches' interest in improving the roster, and makes me happy as somebody who has said for years that coaches need to be recruiting (which now includes transfers) every single day.
* Got a bit of a proud coach/lighting up moment when asked about Sacramento State superstar Marte Mapu (drafted as a linebacker, listed on the Hornets roster as a nickel back), who subsequently got drafted in the third round by the Patriots (higher than any Stanford player got drafted this year and the same exact slot Paulson Adebo got drafted, which is the highest drafted Stanford defensive player in the last five drafts). It was interesting that Taylor's reaction was a cryptic but seemingly genuinely affectionate laugh about what a good kid Mapu is followed by an emphasis on how important football is to Mapu, how hard he works, and how professionally he treats his body. This may provide insight into the characteristics Taylor wants for players/thinks succeeds, reinforced by similar compliments being how he has described Stanford players so far. The lack of specifics about Mapu's football attributes could indicate an offensive coach relatively less engaged on the defensive side of the ball and/or a head coach keeping sight of the big picture that Mapu is living a dream because of the work and focus he put in.
* Taylor talks about the academic part of the job as being very easy and being a coaches' dream. Kind of funny to hear about the academic meeting being very short because not many people are on it (I wonder who is or if this is more of a reference to meetings he had at Sacramento State and Utah not being as much of the routine at Stanford). I also noted that he said we apparently had a record high GPA (presumably winter quarter). I'm going to be a turd in the punch bowl on this one: if true, Stanford's football team having a record high GPA the literal quarter David Shaw departed is a chef's kiss perfect encapsulation of the transformation of Stanford football's roster and culture he wrought, and not something I hope to see repeated. If everybody on our roster is knocking their academics out of the ballpark, it may indicate we're not pressing the envelope enough/impressing upon admissions enough the importance of getting some borderline academic guys who could significantly help the football program. If the academic performance is so high as to be a "record" compared to many decades of excellent student-athletes at Stanford, perhaps that indicates that the pendulum swung pretty far toward the student part of the equation. It was a horrifying development to see Drake Metcalf transfer out (not to mention all the other offensive linemen, but something especially shocking about somebody being on the football team for 27 months and then transferring with his degree). David Shaw presided over a program where players wanted to spend more time in the library than the weight room. This was corrosive to the football program, its culture, and its competitive prospects. It needs to change. Quite literally in my view one of the most important things that needs to happen. It feels weird to lament extreme academic achievement but I do feel strongly more balance is needed in the program and, if players are going to be unbalanced in any direction it should be the dimension that got them into Stanford in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I swell with pride when I hear about our student-athletes too, but if winter quarter 2022-2023 turns out to be a high water mark for academic achievement that Taylor can't replicate as he starts to shape the roster in his vision, I won't view that as a bad thing.
* I alluded to this before but the answer on something he'd feel good about and something that needs work if he had to play Hawaii today gave a window into Taylor's mentality and expectation management. He focused on youth, no seniors, and problematic depth. No mention of something he feels good about. The overriding mentality is clearly a lot of work to do and it's a process and right now we're a program that doesn't have a hale roster. He's not setting the bar high for that opener. I would say he isn't focusing on anything right now other than the process and how to make the team better but that's not quite right - he's acutely aware and reminds those who will listen about how young the team is and how little depth it has. I don't blame him. Shaw left a putrid bequest. But if the coach keeps saying how young and inexperienced the team is and how there's no substitute for experience, that should influence one's expectations. It will be a shock if this team isn't rough this fall.
* Got a bit of a proud coach/lighting up moment when asked about Sacramento State superstar Marte Mapu (drafted as a linebacker, listed on the Hornets roster as a nickel back), who subsequently got drafted in the third round by the Patriots (higher than any Stanford player got drafted this year and the same exact slot Paulson Adebo got drafted, which is the highest drafted Stanford defensive player in the last five drafts). It was interesting that Taylor's reaction was a cryptic but seemingly genuinely affectionate laugh about what a good kid Mapu is followed by an emphasis on how important football is to Mapu, how hard he works, and how professionally he treats his body. This may provide insight into the characteristics Taylor wants for players/thinks succeeds, reinforced by similar compliments being how he has described Stanford players so far. The lack of specifics about Mapu's football attributes could indicate an offensive coach relatively less engaged on the defensive side of the ball and/or a head coach keeping sight of the big picture that Mapu is living a dream because of the work and focus he put in.
* Taylor talks about the academic part of the job as being very easy and being a coaches' dream. Kind of funny to hear about the academic meeting being very short because not many people are on it (I wonder who is or if this is more of a reference to meetings he had at Sacramento State and Utah not being as much of the routine at Stanford). I also noted that he said we apparently had a record high GPA (presumably winter quarter). I'm going to be a turd in the punch bowl on this one: if true, Stanford's football team having a record high GPA the literal quarter David Shaw departed is a chef's kiss perfect encapsulation of the transformation of Stanford football's roster and culture he wrought, and not something I hope to see repeated. If everybody on our roster is knocking their academics out of the ballpark, it may indicate we're not pressing the envelope enough/impressing upon admissions enough the importance of getting some borderline academic guys who could significantly help the football program. If the academic performance is so high as to be a "record" compared to many decades of excellent student-athletes at Stanford, perhaps that indicates that the pendulum swung pretty far toward the student part of the equation. It was a horrifying development to see Drake Metcalf transfer out (not to mention all the other offensive linemen, but something especially shocking about somebody being on the football team for 27 months and then transferring with his degree). David Shaw presided over a program where players wanted to spend more time in the library than the weight room. This was corrosive to the football program, its culture, and its competitive prospects. It needs to change. Quite literally in my view one of the most important things that needs to happen. It feels weird to lament extreme academic achievement but I do feel strongly more balance is needed in the program and, if players are going to be unbalanced in any direction it should be the dimension that got them into Stanford in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I swell with pride when I hear about our student-athletes too, but if winter quarter 2022-2023 turns out to be a high water mark for academic achievement that Taylor can't replicate as he starts to shape the roster in his vision, I won't view that as a bad thing.
* I alluded to this before but the answer on something he'd feel good about and something that needs work if he had to play Hawaii today gave a window into Taylor's mentality and expectation management. He focused on youth, no seniors, and problematic depth. No mention of something he feels good about. The overriding mentality is clearly a lot of work to do and it's a process and right now we're a program that doesn't have a hale roster. He's not setting the bar high for that opener. I would say he isn't focusing on anything right now other than the process and how to make the team better but that's not quite right - he's acutely aware and reminds those who will listen about how young the team is and how little depth it has. I don't blame him. Shaw left a putrid bequest. But if the coach keeps saying how young and inexperienced the team is and how there's no substitute for experience, that should influence one's expectations. It will be a shock if this team isn't rough this fall.