[washingtonismoney]

This Rosen vs. Town issue isn't new. You only have to look back at last year to see something similar. By all accounts, Max Browne, the top-ranked quarterback in the country, was hoping to play for the Cardinal, but the coaching staff favored a lower-ranked kid, Ryan Burns. Browne never received an offer and ended up at U SC. (We'll see how that works out soon enough.)

Obviously, we aren't privy to most of the variables related to decisions like this. Coaches have to evaluate leadership skills, maturity, work ethic, intelligence, and coachability, amongst a host of other qualities, not the least of which is academic prowess. The recruiting rankings tell us about arm strength and accuracy and mobility, but they don't tell us which players best fit the Stanford system. If the coaches think Ricky Town is the better quarterback, then that's enough for me.

The weird thing about this controversy is that it's not even clear Rosen is the higher-rated guy overall. Town has better offers than Rosen. 247 thinks Town is the #1 QB; ESPN thinks Rosen is. So it's not as if Shaw et al. are making some out-of-left-field choice.

It's a big risk based on current public information to take, given Rosen's enthusiasm for Stanford (and Town's like of SEC schools).

What makes evaluation difficult here is the Plan B. A lot of people are suggesting that the options are Rosen vs. Town-or-nothing. But of course this may happen (if the coaches have decided they don't want to take a QB if Town falls through and Rosen is uninterested). But it might not! They can offer another quarterback. Most accounts have the 2015 CA QB class as very strong collectively, and a few of them have already worked out for Stanford. It could be that the coaching staff simply does not see the downside scenario as having all that much downside.

[washingtonismoney]

This Rosen vs. Town issue isn't new. You only have to look back at last year to see something similar. By all accounts, Max Browne, the top-ranked quarterback in the country, was hoping to play for the Cardinal, but the coaching staff favored a lower-ranked kid, Ryan Burns. Browne never received an offer and ended up at U SC. (We'll see how that works out soon enough.)

Obviously, we aren't privy to most of the variables related to decisions like this. Coaches have to evaluate leadership skills, maturity, work ethic, intelligence, and coachability, amongst a host of other qualities, not the least of which is academic prowess. The recruiting rankings tell us about arm strength and accuracy and mobility, but they don't tell us which players best fit the Stanford system. If the coaches think Ricky Town is the better quarterback, then that's enough for me.

The weird thing about this controversy is that it's not even clear Rosen is the higher-rated guy overall. Town has better offers than Rosen. 247 thinks Town is the #1 QB; ESPN thinks Rosen is. So it's not as if Shaw et al. are making some out-of-left-field choice.

It's a big risk based on current public information to take, given Rosen's enthusiasm for Stanford (and Town's like of SEC schools).

What makes evaluation difficult here is the Plan B. A lot of people are suggesting that the options are Rosen vs. Town-or-nothing. But of course this may happen (if the coaches have decided they don't want to take a QB if Town falls through and Rosen is uninterested). But it might not! They can offer another quarterback. Most accounts have the 2015 CA QB class as very strong collectively, and a few of them have already worked out for Stanford. It could be that the coaching staff simply does not see the downside scenario as having all that much downside.