[Goose]

I agree that we should think of roster management one year at a time rather than getting sucked in to thinking about three year projections for people who will face annual opportunities to leave. The problem I have is that even if we are simply optimizing for 2025 the evidence so far is that Cisse is a better receiver than Williams. I don't think it's a guarantee but if I had to bet I think Cisse would be the better receiver for us next year. Oh well.

I think it is (unfortunately) necessary to do both. Obviously you need a short-term plan but you will also need a multi-branched long term year by year plan. The long term plan will most probably show you who you really need to keep happy and let you plan a response if you fail. It will also point out where you really need to recruit and where you need a "plan B". That can't be ignored. Even your short-term plan has to consider the "art of the possible". Some guys are "gone" no matter what you do, and who those are may not be "obvious" until very late in the planning cycle.

IMO the OL is still the "key". Unfortunately what we need is a Daniels who is a good passer. We cannot "improve" with our projected OL and a QB who can't run. Indeed Daniels being a limited passer set a ceiling on our play. His running ability set a floor. A QB who can't be a credible running threat probably has a much lower floor given our OL. Maybe Bear can be a dual threat answer that checks both boxes, but that is asking a lot of a freshman. Brown OTOH is not known as a runner, so that will probably be a bigger reach.

While I agree that "old man strength" is almost a necessity (with a few exceptions) to be a successful OL player, being "old" is not sufficient to provide that success. There are lots of upperclassmen that play on various OLs in college football that are not good. If one looks at the "bottom tier" of teams in P5 football, their websites almost without exception lament their poor offensive lines. "Everybody" is looking for OL in the portal. Finding good ones at all, let alone ones that can get into Stanford is always going to be difficult. We need to recruit and retain as well as diligently mine the portal. Both are necessary. It isn't going to be easy no matter who the coach is. It will be easier if we become "competitive" again, but still not "easy".

[Goose]

I agree that we should think of roster management one year at a time rather than getting sucked in to thinking about three year projections for people who will face annual opportunities to leave. The problem I have is that even if we are simply optimizing for 2025 the evidence so far is that Cisse is a better receiver than Williams. I don't think it's a guarantee but if I had to bet I think Cisse would be the better receiver for us next year. Oh well.

I think it is (unfortunately) necessary to do both. Obviously you need a short-term plan but you will also need a multi-branched long term year by year plan. The long term plan will most probably show you who you really need to keep happy and let you plan a response if you fail. It will also point out where you really need to recruit and where you need a "plan B". That can't be ignored. Even your short-term plan has to consider the "art of the possible". Some guys are "gone" no matter what you do, and who those are may not be "obvious" until very late in the planning cycle.

IMO the OL is still the "key". Unfortunately what we need is a Daniels who is a good passer. We cannot "improve" with our projected OL and a QB who can't run. Indeed Daniels being a limited passer set a ceiling on our play. His running ability set a floor. A QB who can't be a credible running threat probably has a much lower floor given our OL. Maybe Bear can be a dual threat answer that checks both boxes, but that is asking a lot of a freshman. Brown OTOH is not known as a runner, so that will probably be a bigger reach.

While I agree that "old man strength" is almost a necessity (with a few exceptions) to be a successful OL player, being "old" is not sufficient to provide that success. There are lots of upperclassmen that play on various OLs in college football that are not good. If one looks at the "bottom tier" of teams in P5 football, their websites almost without exception lament their poor offensive lines. "Everybody" is looking for OL in the portal. Finding good ones at all, let alone ones that can get into Stanford is always going to be difficult. We need to recruit and retain as well as diligently mine the portal. Both are necessary. It isn't going to be easy no matter who the coach is. It will be easier if we become "competitive" again, but still not "easy".