Lamson:
* The interview started with indication Lamson is of course happy to be back closer to home and his family and then near the end he reflected on his time at Syracuse. By all indications he seemed to enjoy his time at Syracuse, though the tone in this interview was more about learning about football and living on his own and not so gushing about Syracuse itself, though I've heard positive things about Syracuse in other interviews. I view this transfer as just too good an opportunity to pass up when it came to a slightly easier path to playing time, being closer to home, and getting the Stanford degree. Does not appear to have any bad thoughts about his Syracuse experience. In fact, this is a reminder that in this day and age of transfers outbound transfers don't necessarily indicate any dissatisfaction at all. It's a brave new world of low barriers to transfer, more cavalierly jumping around for slightly greener grass, low judgment for doing so, etc. This is going to be hard for Taylor to navigate but I hope he does it better than Shaw's "go forth, young man" blithe resignation to mass attrition.
* I think this is probably the most detail we've gotten on the arc of Lamson's relationship with Taylor - knowing who Taylor was basically from the cradle due to being a Sacramento legend/Folsom coach, working with him (presumably some kind of camp type event) at a super young age, being recruited to Sacramento State by the whole staff there. The main takeaway is just Lamson being happy to play for Taylor (duh). It goes without saying that the relationship and efficacy of Taylor-QB interactions will be one of the defining things for the program, for better or worse but Taylor's QB track record to date creates a good amount of confidence.
* Lamson talked about it being humbling to be the new guy, like being a freshman again, but said it's been really cool how accepting the guys are. More acknowledgement, which we'd already heard from Taylor, of an adjustment/getting to know you phase. Work in progress/transition vibes, which isn't a surprise at this stage. It does feel to me like Taylor and Lamson have both been waiting for something to click and are just putting in work, knowing that it's a process and we need to be patient. [By the way, Lamson gives very crisp, minimally revealing answers generally so there's a risk of over-interpretation on my end, but I am reacting to multiple data points, including multiple interviews with Lamson.]
* I really appreciated getting a chance to hear this interview with Lamson being so recent as I do think he opened up a bit more and was more confident to provide insights than some past interviews I've heard. One example is talking about the offense, which he describes as diverse and having a lot of 12 (two tight end), 11 (three receivers), 21 (two running backs), "anything you can imagine" in terms of personnel. I think this is the first I've heard that sentiment. One downside of how dominant a story the offense's pace has been is that other interviews aren't really shedding light on the what of the offense, just the how fast. Here we at least heard about some personnel alignments. It wasn't earth-shattering stuff as obviously we run different personnel alignments and that's hardly a style/personality to an offense, but to the extent I'm wondering how much 12 there will be it's interesting Lamson mentioned that first and 21 personnel is a bit surprising in light of not having a fullback. I wonder if this means a TE lined up out of the backfield (I'm sure it means this at least some of the time) or, intriguingly, some plays with two running backs on the field at the same time. I don't know if others recall what it looked like at Sacramento State, but when I look at snap counts for the Hornets it looks possible to me that there would be plays with two running backs on the field. In 2021 Taylor had four RBs with significant snaps and in 2022 the main RBs were seventh and 13th on the offense in snaps. Both of those data points seem like a lot of RB snaps to me. I'm hard-pressed to think of Stanford doling out RB snaps like that. The closest I can think of is 2016 with McCaffrey sixth on the offense in snaps and Love 15th. I think there's a pretty fair chance we see more RB snaps under Taylor, including plays with Filkins and Smith on the field simultaneously.
* Lamson was also revealing in saying they're still doing installs on Day 18 of camp. This is interesting to me on two levels. First, he said it with a note of wonder/incredulity, which just subjectively strikes me as showing his personality/reactions more than in some other interviews I've seen. Second, it's a reminder that this interview and a lot of the data points we've been getting on the QB competition have been in camp mode, with much of that still installing the offense. Being in install mode reminds that it's early days. While I've tended to think tea leaves have been pointing toward Lamson in the QB competition, we should keep in mind Taylor's rightful admonitions from the spring that a lot of what you need to evaluate at QB can't come until real games. It's still possible my early vision of multiple QBs getting a chance early in the season is where all this is going. That's where I'd be going if I were in charge.
* In another interview, Lamson very clearly did not want to go there in naming receivers he has chemistry with but, with presumably a few more days' comfort, answered the question on standout receivers. He highlighted John Humphreys and Silas Starr as veterans and Mudia Reuben and Elic Ayomanor as younger guys. Humphreys is obviously a lock to be a key contributor, as he was each of the last two years even with all the NFL WRs on the roster. Starr hasn't been getting much discussion in camp but should not be written off. I was surprised to remind myself that Starr and Bryce Farrell got significant snaps in 2021 with all the injuries we had. It's probably notable that nobody is talking about Farrell, but on the flip side Starr getting mentioned seems notable too. It seems clear Reuben and Ayomanor are in line for big steps up in how they're relied on (obviously so with Ayomanor as he was hurt for his first year). It may be a somewhat notable omission that Bachmeier wasn't mentioned. At the very least I think Starr may get some chances. Lamson felt bad starting to name guys because he'd be leaving people out, but I think that he even answered the question rather than dodging (as he's done elsewhere and as players/coaches often do with such questions) indicated some greater comfort.
* Lamson says he needs to work on being quicker and more decisive in his decisions. This is a commonality with another interview in terms of a point of emphasis. We've heard that before from Taylor and Lamson appears to be taking to heart the need to know who's going to be where and being on top of things. I do wonder a bit how much quick processing and decision-making is a muscle that can be trained versus an innate ability and I hope processing isn't a significant limitation for Lamson. If it is, we have some depth at QB and I'd like to see multiple guys get action with live bullets.
* The interview started with indication Lamson is of course happy to be back closer to home and his family and then near the end he reflected on his time at Syracuse. By all indications he seemed to enjoy his time at Syracuse, though the tone in this interview was more about learning about football and living on his own and not so gushing about Syracuse itself, though I've heard positive things about Syracuse in other interviews. I view this transfer as just too good an opportunity to pass up when it came to a slightly easier path to playing time, being closer to home, and getting the Stanford degree. Does not appear to have any bad thoughts about his Syracuse experience. In fact, this is a reminder that in this day and age of transfers outbound transfers don't necessarily indicate any dissatisfaction at all. It's a brave new world of low barriers to transfer, more cavalierly jumping around for slightly greener grass, low judgment for doing so, etc. This is going to be hard for Taylor to navigate but I hope he does it better than Shaw's "go forth, young man" blithe resignation to mass attrition.
* I think this is probably the most detail we've gotten on the arc of Lamson's relationship with Taylor - knowing who Taylor was basically from the cradle due to being a Sacramento legend/Folsom coach, working with him (presumably some kind of camp type event) at a super young age, being recruited to Sacramento State by the whole staff there. The main takeaway is just Lamson being happy to play for Taylor (duh). It goes without saying that the relationship and efficacy of Taylor-QB interactions will be one of the defining things for the program, for better or worse but Taylor's QB track record to date creates a good amount of confidence.
* Lamson talked about it being humbling to be the new guy, like being a freshman again, but said it's been really cool how accepting the guys are. More acknowledgement, which we'd already heard from Taylor, of an adjustment/getting to know you phase. Work in progress/transition vibes, which isn't a surprise at this stage. It does feel to me like Taylor and Lamson have both been waiting for something to click and are just putting in work, knowing that it's a process and we need to be patient. [By the way, Lamson gives very crisp, minimally revealing answers generally so there's a risk of over-interpretation on my end, but I am reacting to multiple data points, including multiple interviews with Lamson.]
* I really appreciated getting a chance to hear this interview with Lamson being so recent as I do think he opened up a bit more and was more confident to provide insights than some past interviews I've heard. One example is talking about the offense, which he describes as diverse and having a lot of 12 (two tight end), 11 (three receivers), 21 (two running backs), "anything you can imagine" in terms of personnel. I think this is the first I've heard that sentiment. One downside of how dominant a story the offense's pace has been is that other interviews aren't really shedding light on the what of the offense, just the how fast. Here we at least heard about some personnel alignments. It wasn't earth-shattering stuff as obviously we run different personnel alignments and that's hardly a style/personality to an offense, but to the extent I'm wondering how much 12 there will be it's interesting Lamson mentioned that first and 21 personnel is a bit surprising in light of not having a fullback. I wonder if this means a TE lined up out of the backfield (I'm sure it means this at least some of the time) or, intriguingly, some plays with two running backs on the field at the same time. I don't know if others recall what it looked like at Sacramento State, but when I look at snap counts for the Hornets it looks possible to me that there would be plays with two running backs on the field. In 2021 Taylor had four RBs with significant snaps and in 2022 the main RBs were seventh and 13th on the offense in snaps. Both of those data points seem like a lot of RB snaps to me. I'm hard-pressed to think of Stanford doling out RB snaps like that. The closest I can think of is 2016 with McCaffrey sixth on the offense in snaps and Love 15th. I think there's a pretty fair chance we see more RB snaps under Taylor, including plays with Filkins and Smith on the field simultaneously.
* Lamson was also revealing in saying they're still doing installs on Day 18 of camp. This is interesting to me on two levels. First, he said it with a note of wonder/incredulity, which just subjectively strikes me as showing his personality/reactions more than in some other interviews I've seen. Second, it's a reminder that this interview and a lot of the data points we've been getting on the QB competition have been in camp mode, with much of that still installing the offense. Being in install mode reminds that it's early days. While I've tended to think tea leaves have been pointing toward Lamson in the QB competition, we should keep in mind Taylor's rightful admonitions from the spring that a lot of what you need to evaluate at QB can't come until real games. It's still possible my early vision of multiple QBs getting a chance early in the season is where all this is going. That's where I'd be going if I were in charge.
* In another interview, Lamson very clearly did not want to go there in naming receivers he has chemistry with but, with presumably a few more days' comfort, answered the question on standout receivers. He highlighted John Humphreys and Silas Starr as veterans and Mudia Reuben and Elic Ayomanor as younger guys. Humphreys is obviously a lock to be a key contributor, as he was each of the last two years even with all the NFL WRs on the roster. Starr hasn't been getting much discussion in camp but should not be written off. I was surprised to remind myself that Starr and Bryce Farrell got significant snaps in 2021 with all the injuries we had. It's probably notable that nobody is talking about Farrell, but on the flip side Starr getting mentioned seems notable too. It seems clear Reuben and Ayomanor are in line for big steps up in how they're relied on (obviously so with Ayomanor as he was hurt for his first year). It may be a somewhat notable omission that Bachmeier wasn't mentioned. At the very least I think Starr may get some chances. Lamson felt bad starting to name guys because he'd be leaving people out, but I think that he even answered the question rather than dodging (as he's done elsewhere and as players/coaches often do with such questions) indicated some greater comfort.
* Lamson says he needs to work on being quicker and more decisive in his decisions. This is a commonality with another interview in terms of a point of emphasis. We've heard that before from Taylor and Lamson appears to be taking to heart the need to know who's going to be where and being on top of things. I do wonder a bit how much quick processing and decision-making is a muscle that can be trained versus an innate ability and I hope processing isn't a significant limitation for Lamson. If it is, we have some depth at QB and I'd like to see multiple guys get action with live bullets.