[Goose]

I get that it's going out of style, which makes it, in the mold of Georgia Tech's previous triple-option offense, much more difficult to prepare for and defend.  There's a greater premium on blocking rather than speed, correct recognition and gap discipline, etc etc.  A commitment to that offense means that OL get to show off their fundamentals.

Those power-running fundamentals aren't nearly as relevant in the NFL today. The ability to move quickly and react to the defensive rush in a set of wider line splits are the "fundamentals" of today's OL play. The transition from man blocking to zone blocking is only the tip of the iceberg. There is lots more to it. Right now of course Stanford can't play either style very well but even David Shaw realized the tight formation tunnel workers were no longer viable. Today very few high schools run the "smash mouth" style. Therefore it very difficult to recruit OL based on a promise of playing this style.

An OL coming out of Stanford in the early 2010s would probably be thought of as likely having all the skills necessary to succeed at the next level.

Nope. At best they would be considered "projects" until they showed they could play in a spread offense. Of course, there are players (very few) who are so physically talented they clearly can excel in any OL scheme. Most college players realize they aren't in that category and opt for colleges playing more "current" offense.

I'm not saying Stanford's OL should neglect pass protection.  But if QB1 has a problem recognizing blitz schemes and pre-snap reads, then maybe we need to do something to help Stanford win.

If Stanford could recruit an OL to play the game JH played at Stanford, that might be a way to minimize the limitations of a poor QB1. Unfortunately we proved from 2017 on that we couldn't. We had some good linemen during that period, just way too few of them. It is even more difficult today.

[Goose]

I get that it's going out of style, which makes it, in the mold of Georgia Tech's previous triple-option offense, much more difficult to prepare for and defend.  There's a greater premium on blocking rather than speed, correct recognition and gap discipline, etc etc.  A commitment to that offense means that OL get to show off their fundamentals.

Those power-running fundamentals aren't nearly as relevant in the NFL today. The ability to move quickly and react to the defensive rush in a set of wider line splits are the "fundamentals" of today's OL play. The transition from man blocking to zone blocking is only the tip of the iceberg. There is lots more to it. Right now of course Stanford can't play either style very well but even David Shaw realized the tight formation tunnel workers were no longer viable. Today very few high schools run the "smash mouth" style. Therefore it very difficult to recruit OL based on a promise of playing this style.

An OL coming out of Stanford in the early 2010s would probably be thought of as likely having all the skills necessary to succeed at the next level.

Nope. At best they would be considered "projects" until they showed they could play in a spread offense. Of course, there are players (very few) who are so physically talented they clearly can excel in any OL scheme. Most college players realize they aren't in that category and opt for colleges playing more "current" offense.

I'm not saying Stanford's OL should neglect pass protection.  But if QB1 has a problem recognizing blitz schemes and pre-snap reads, then maybe we need to do something to help Stanford win.

If Stanford could recruit an OL to play the game JH played at Stanford, that might be a way to minimize the limitations of a poor QB1. Unfortunately we proved from 2017 on that we couldn't. We had some good linemen during that period, just way too few of them. It is even more difficult today.