[Goose]

Add a fullback, start the QB taking snaps under center.  If you want to recruit OL, commit to running the ball in this way, and OL will take Stanford seriously just as they did under JH.

No they won't. College football has changed. So has pro football. Some people say the NFL changed at least partly due to the kind of linemen the colleges were providing. Others say the game changed because the rules now favor the pass so much running anything but a spread formation is disadvantageous. In any case, the JH smash mouth approach is no longer "in". Wider line splits and more spread formations have won the day, that ship has sailed. Most teams don't even have a fullback. They use tight ends/linemen in the backfield when additional pass protection is desired. Even the Chargers under JH use this guy as their FB when they need one. https://www.chargers.com/team/players-ro...t-matlock/ Even when JH used a run-heavy tight formation smash mouth offense many years ago at Stanford, it was considered an anachronism. Stanford was one of the very few teams that did it at the college level. It was more common in the NFL. Today, that is not the case. The Ravens are probably the closest, and even they use wider line splits than previously. Their fullback (https://www.baltimoreravens.com/team/pla...ck-ricard/) is totally a blocker. He has had several seasons where he never carried the ball at all.

[Goose]

Add a fullback, start the QB taking snaps under center.  If you want to recruit OL, commit to running the ball in this way, and OL will take Stanford seriously just as they did under JH.

No they won't. College football has changed. So has pro football. Some people say the NFL changed at least partly due to the kind of linemen the colleges were providing. Others say the game changed because the rules now favor the pass so much running anything but a spread formation is disadvantageous. In any case, the JH smash mouth approach is no longer "in". Wider line splits and more spread formations have won the day, that ship has sailed. Most teams don't even have a fullback. They use tight ends/linemen in the backfield when additional pass protection is desired. Even the Chargers under JH use this guy as their FB when they need one. https://www.chargers.com/team/players-ro...t-matlock/ Even when JH used a run-heavy tight formation smash mouth offense many years ago at Stanford, it was considered an anachronism. Stanford was one of the very few teams that did it at the college level. It was more common in the NFL. Today, that is not the case. The Ravens are probably the closest, and even they use wider line splits than previously. Their fullback (https://www.baltimoreravens.com/team/pla...ck-ricard/) is totally a blocker. He has had several seasons where he never carried the ball at all.