[msqueri]

SamuelMcF may have a different perspective but I am not sure I view “commitable offers” as that useful of a concept anymore. I think the impulse is to judge by the old offer theory and that’s certainly my rationale for reporting offers in these analyses. The revealed preferences of actual college coaches with wins/jobs on the line is one of the most revealing signals we get in the recruiting process. No doubt. But offers don’t hew to old notions and any one or two given schools offering does not contain the information it used to, and not just because some offers are commitable and some aren’t. Much more than a binary it’s really a spectrum. Some prospects get offered because they’d help the graduation rate and locker room and are acceptable takes from s football perspective and some get offered because coaches view them as big-time difference makers. Some get offered when they have a lot of potential ahead of them, others when boards clarify, others as outright backup plans. Some get offered and then get occasional touch points to keep them on the hook if needed, others are priorities such that they get a full court press. Some get genuine commitable offers until a class/position ostensibly fills up, but others would have a commitable offer no matter what no matter when they commit.

In light of all of these, I take the offer portion of my four dimensions in terms of overall impression rather than as a mathematical counting exercise. Is a recruit strictly regional or somewhat national or bona fide national? Are there any red flags in terms of programs you’d think would offer not offering? Are the offers predominantly from teams that wall paper the country with offers or are they some really selective ones?

---

What I'd say about Farrell's profile beyond what I already said:

I don't think there's much doubt his profile has declined over time. In August 2021, 247 ran an article about Farrell just missing the cut for top 100 prospects nationally. Two years later they don't even have him top 100 wide receivers in the nation. We're talking about somebody dropping from borderline whale in very early estimations to borderline top 1000. It's somewhat akin to the drop we saw for Silas Starr and, obviously, estimations of somebody as they're finishing their junior year mean a lot more than estimations of somebody as they're finishing their freshman year. For similar reasons, the Washington, Washington State, and Arizona offers mean very little to me.

If you read all the 247 and Rivals articles all time about Farrell (something I do as part of my analyses for these commitments) you'd also pick up that recruiting services and colleges were very intrigued by Farrell because of potential, namely that elite speed could eventually unlock much greater play. As three successive high school seasons passed without ever breaking 15 yards per catch (and only once breaking 12.5!), the enthusiasm dissipated. It's harder to be excited about potential the closer you get to fruition rather than just being able to dream about the road ahead. Put bluntly, Farrell has shown in a high-profile competitive environment that his speed does not translate to the football field and he does not stretch defenses.

The more you dig into Farrell the more clear the comparisons become: Warren Reuland, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Bryce Farrell, Silas Starr....none of that is super encouraging. The best I can do by way of an optimistic comparison is Michael Rector, and the real reason for optimism is Troy Taylor. Maybe our new coach and his emphasis on spacing and finding different uses for different talents/body types/skills will unlock something here. We got usefulness out of Rector and I think Taylor and Osborne can arguably inspire at least as much confidence as Shaw and Sanford/Pritchard did back in the day.

[msqueri]

SamuelMcF may have a different perspective but I am not sure I view “commitable offers” as that useful of a concept anymore. I think the impulse is to judge by the old offer theory and that’s certainly my rationale for reporting offers in these analyses. The revealed preferences of actual college coaches with wins/jobs on the line is one of the most revealing signals we get in the recruiting process. No doubt. But offers don’t hew to old notions and any one or two given schools offering does not contain the information it used to, and not just because some offers are commitable and some aren’t. Much more than a binary it’s really a spectrum. Some prospects get offered because they’d help the graduation rate and locker room and are acceptable takes from s football perspective and some get offered because coaches view them as big-time difference makers. Some get offered when they have a lot of potential ahead of them, others when boards clarify, others as outright backup plans. Some get offered and then get occasional touch points to keep them on the hook if needed, others are priorities such that they get a full court press. Some get genuine commitable offers until a class/position ostensibly fills up, but others would have a commitable offer no matter what no matter when they commit.

In light of all of these, I take the offer portion of my four dimensions in terms of overall impression rather than as a mathematical counting exercise. Is a recruit strictly regional or somewhat national or bona fide national? Are there any red flags in terms of programs you’d think would offer not offering? Are the offers predominantly from teams that wall paper the country with offers or are they some really selective ones?

---

What I'd say about Farrell's profile beyond what I already said:

I don't think there's much doubt his profile has declined over time. In August 2021, 247 ran an article about Farrell just missing the cut for top 100 prospects nationally. Two years later they don't even have him top 100 wide receivers in the nation. We're talking about somebody dropping from borderline whale in very early estimations to borderline top 1000. It's somewhat akin to the drop we saw for Silas Starr and, obviously, estimations of somebody as they're finishing their junior year mean a lot more than estimations of somebody as they're finishing their freshman year. For similar reasons, the Washington, Washington State, and Arizona offers mean very little to me.

If you read all the 247 and Rivals articles all time about Farrell (something I do as part of my analyses for these commitments) you'd also pick up that recruiting services and colleges were very intrigued by Farrell because of potential, namely that elite speed could eventually unlock much greater play. As three successive high school seasons passed without ever breaking 15 yards per catch (and only once breaking 12.5!), the enthusiasm dissipated. It's harder to be excited about potential the closer you get to fruition rather than just being able to dream about the road ahead. Put bluntly, Farrell has shown in a high-profile competitive environment that his speed does not translate to the football field and he does not stretch defenses.

The more you dig into Farrell the more clear the comparisons become: Warren Reuland, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Bryce Farrell, Silas Starr....none of that is super encouraging. The best I can do by way of an optimistic comparison is Michael Rector, and the real reason for optimism is Troy Taylor. Maybe our new coach and his emphasis on spacing and finding different uses for different talents/body types/skills will unlock something here. We got usefulness out of Rector and I think Taylor and Osborne can arguably inspire at least as much confidence as Shaw and Sanford/Pritchard did back in the day.

[BobK]

New commit

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jacobi_murray/status/1640092944144162818?s=46&t=hbAUGpzNaRK0D-jBbhrpNw[/tweet]

[BobK]

New commit

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jacobi_murray/status/1640092944144162818?s=46&t=hbAUGpzNaRK0D-jBbhrpNw[/tweet]

[martyup]

New commit

https://twitter.com/jacobi_murray/status...D-jBbhrpNw

I like this guy.  He keeps a low center of gravity, does a good job of shedding blocks, is quick off the snap, and has a high motor.  Also, he can run the ball on offense.  He might be a weapon in short yardage situations.  He's gotta get bigger though.

[martyup]

New commit

https://twitter.com/jacobi_murray/status...D-jBbhrpNw

I like this guy.  He keeps a low center of gravity, does a good job of shedding blocks, is quick off the snap, and has a high motor.  Also, he can run the ball on offense.  He might be a weapon in short yardage situations.  He's gotta get bigger though.

[SamuelMcF]

New commit

https://twitter.com/jacobi_murray/status...D-jBbhrpNw

I like this guy.  He keeps a low center of gravity, does a good job of shedding blocks, is quick off the snap, and has a high motor.  Also, he can run the ball on offense.  He might be a weapon in short yardage situations.  He's gotta get bigger though.

Wisconsin under Kolodziej has a very good recent track record of taking 250-270lb DL and beefing them up into monsters over a couple years.

ALL of the trench commits, please!

[SamuelMcF]

New commit

https://twitter.com/jacobi_murray/status...D-jBbhrpNw

I like this guy.  He keeps a low center of gravity, does a good job of shedding blocks, is quick off the snap, and has a high motor.  Also, he can run the ball on offense.  He might be a weapon in short yardage situations.  He's gotta get bigger though.

Wisconsin under Kolodziej has a very good recent track record of taking 250-270lb DL and beefing them up into monsters over a couple years.

ALL of the trench commits, please!

[BostonCard]

I like early offers and commitments, especially from defensive linemen.  I don't like it when the competition for these guys is Appalachian State.  It seems like this would have been a good Plan B, and that maybe Taylor ought to be aiming higher?  Of course, it is always possible that Taylor is a unique judge of under-the-radar talent, and that Murray is better than anyone else we could reasonably target, in which case, great.  But somehow, I feel like Matt's 365 degree eval will come up like most of the other 365 degree evals from the Taylor era.  When all the commitments are three stars at best (Murray is not even rated by 24/7), it doesn't bode well for the future.

BC

[BostonCard]

I like early offers and commitments, especially from defensive linemen.  I don't like it when the competition for these guys is Appalachian State.  It seems like this would have been a good Plan B, and that maybe Taylor ought to be aiming higher?  Of course, it is always possible that Taylor is a unique judge of under-the-radar talent, and that Murray is better than anyone else we could reasonably target, in which case, great.  But somehow, I feel like Matt's 365 degree eval will come up like most of the other 365 degree evals from the Taylor era.  When all the commitments are three stars at best (Murray is not even rated by 24/7), it doesn't bode well for the future.

BC

[SamuelMcF]

I like early offers and commitments, especially from defensive linemen.  I don't like it when the competition for these guys is Appalachian State.  It seems like this would have been a good Plan B, and that maybe Taylor ought to be aiming higher?  Of course, it is always possible that Taylor is a unique judge of under-the-radar talent, and that Murray is better than anyone else we could reasonably target, in which case, great.  But somehow, I feel like Matt's 365 degree eval will come up like most of the other 365 degree evals from the Taylor era.  When all the commitments are three stars at best (Murray is not even rated by 24/7), it doesn't bode well for the future.

BC

After seeing high-rated DL fail to develop over and over again under Reynolds, I really don't care what their star rating was. Kolodziej's track record with (pretty much exclusively) low-rated DL at Wisconsin was fantastic, and he offered 7 DL in the span of just over a month.

A nit: Murray had 6 other P5 offers, all but one of which came in the past couple months. The competition wasn't Appalachian State, it was either UVA or Georgia Tech.

[SamuelMcF]

I like early offers and commitments, especially from defensive linemen.  I don't like it when the competition for these guys is Appalachian State.  It seems like this would have been a good Plan B, and that maybe Taylor ought to be aiming higher?  Of course, it is always possible that Taylor is a unique judge of under-the-radar talent, and that Murray is better than anyone else we could reasonably target, in which case, great.  But somehow, I feel like Matt's 365 degree eval will come up like most of the other 365 degree evals from the Taylor era.  When all the commitments are three stars at best (Murray is not even rated by 24/7), it doesn't bode well for the future.

BC

After seeing high-rated DL fail to develop over and over again under Reynolds, I really don't care what their star rating was. Kolodziej's track record with (pretty much exclusively) low-rated DL at Wisconsin was fantastic, and he offered 7 DL in the span of just over a month.

A nit: Murray had 6 other P5 offers, all but one of which came in the past couple months. The competition wasn't Appalachian State, it was either UVA or Georgia Tech.

[CompSci87]

I like early offers and commitments, especially from defensive linemen.  I don't like it when the competition for these guys is Appalachian State.  It seems like this would have been a good Plan B, and that maybe Taylor ought to be aiming higher?  Of course, it is always possible that Taylor is a unique judge of under-the-radar talent, and that Murray is better than anyone else we could reasonably target, in which case, great.  But somehow, I feel like Matt's 365 degree eval will come up like most of the other 365 degree evals from the Taylor era.  When all the commitments are three stars at best (Murray is not even rated by 24/7), it doesn't bode well for the future.

BC

365 degrees is impressive. That's even more than the guy who turned his life around 360 degrees.

[CompSci87]

I like early offers and commitments, especially from defensive linemen.  I don't like it when the competition for these guys is Appalachian State.  It seems like this would have been a good Plan B, and that maybe Taylor ought to be aiming higher?  Of course, it is always possible that Taylor is a unique judge of under-the-radar talent, and that Murray is better than anyone else we could reasonably target, in which case, great.  But somehow, I feel like Matt's 365 degree eval will come up like most of the other 365 degree evals from the Taylor era.  When all the commitments are three stars at best (Murray is not even rated by 24/7), it doesn't bode well for the future.

BC

365 degrees is impressive. That's even more than the guy who turned his life around 360 degrees.

[BostonCard]

Wasn’t that Jason Kidd?

Clearly 24/7’s branding is working on me.

BC

[BostonCard]

Wasn’t that Jason Kidd?

Clearly 24/7’s branding is working on me.

BC

[CompSci87]

Wasn’t that Jason Kidd?

Clearly 24/7’s branding is working on me.

BC

Yes I think so.

[CompSci87]

Wasn’t that Jason Kidd?

Clearly 24/7’s branding is working on me.

BC

Yes I think so.

[msqueri]

Four dimensional analysis on Murray:

Services: 247 composite NR, On3 consensus NR, 247 NR, On3 NR, Rivals NR, ESPN NR

Offers: Stanford, Appalachian State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Massachusetts, Memphis, Minnesota, Virginia, Wake Forest, Kansas, Liberty, UAB

Production: As a junior against below-average competition (bottom 27 percent of Stanford players), Murray was named Player of the Year in region 6-4A in Georgia (among all offensive and defensive players) and 4A all state. His team unfortunately does not do a great job reporting stats, reporting a bit less than half of the games from his junior year and only a couple of games from his sophomore year. Among what was reported for his junior year, he had 3.7 tackles per game (most among those with more than two games reported), 10 tackles for loss (next closest was 4), and 3 sacks (nobody else with more than one in those games). It was also interesting to see that in those games at least he was his team's second or third leading rusher, with 40.3 yards rushing per game on 6.7 yards per carry (most of anybody with more than ten carries) and nearly a touchdown per game (more than double the next closest in the reported stats). His freshman highlights claim 13 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in five games. In December 2021 he participated in the Georgia Elite Classic postseason all star game and was touted in one report as "maybe the biggest surprise of the week" "that came out of nowhere to dominate practices and played very well in the game as well." A few weeks later 247 named him as an honorable mention performer at the All American Bowl National Combine, making him the fifth to 13th most standout DL at an event that included 2023, 2024, 2025, and even some 2026 prospects; he was the top 2024 DL, with one 2026 also getting honorable mention. In track and field, Murray has a 46'2" personal record in the shot put and a 103' 3" in the discus. The shot put is middling and the discus is totally uncompetitive but very few meets are reported.

Highlights: Murray does not post single game highlights, aside from single highlights of touchdown runs and such, so I can't dig in like I normally would and need to work for these tidbits. His freshman, sophomore, and junior highlights all show him playing DE out of a four point stance, making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage on both pass and run plays and getting bigger and more dominant each year. The sophomore highlights also show a fair amount of him carrying the ball. Specific highlights that stood out were a tackle for loss against North Cobb Christian but not against Georgia Tech DL signee Gabe Fortson, who was playing center and thus not matched up against Murray, and a tackle for loss against Eagle's Landing Christian Academy after holding his ground/eventually shedding LSU whale OL signee DJ Chester (whose own highlights show three or four pass block sets against Murray). That latter game tape would be the one to get a hold of to see Murray against an elite player older than him. The junior year highlights ramp up further but again don't have much to dig into in terms of notable matchups. There was a run stop against Ensworth, but Duke OL Caleb Dorris blocked another guy leaving Murray to a relative shrimp. Similarly, a run stop against Pace Academy was on a play not matched up against South Carolina OL signee Trovon Baugh. One neat play came against Ensworth when Dorris ran away from Murray, ostensibly because the run play was sweeping to the other side of the line, but Murray chased down the running back for a loss in no time. 

This is quite an enigma. There's more to be excited about here than with Taylor's previous DL commitment, 2023 end of cycle class filler Braden Marceau-Olayinka but as with that case this is a guy with not a single service that rates him at the time of commitment, not a particularly attractive look for a Power Five team. However, one can reasonably scratch one's head about why that's the case with Murray. The plaudits Murray got in the showcases following his sophomore year would seem to have put him on radars and then he went out and had a productive junior year. Following his junior year he's gotten a dozen major college football offers in very short order. That seems easily lower tier Power Five level, so it's odd not to have any services rating him. I'm having trouble coming to a hypothesis (definitely don't have a sense to have more than that) on whether Murray's recruitment is best characterized as a late bloomer or undersized/tweener or a bit of both. One way to think about this may be that it's an odd recruitment to have close in March of the recruit's junior year. Perhaps Murray is the kind of recruit who will eventually be squarely viewed as a solid 3-star (I see obvious similarities with Zach Rowell) but we're getting this weird snapshot because Stanford offered/hauled him in earlier than was our previous norm for this kind of recruit. This isn't the kind of recruit who got an early offer under Shaw but he would have eventually gotten an offer. A pessimist's read would be that Taylor doesn't have an informed/high standard calibration of Power Five talent and offered prematurely. An optimist's would be that Taylor decisively assessed this guy would help and didn't dither. Given that we're talking about a DL and Koldziej has seen what he's seen/done what he's done at Wisconsin, I'm going to choose optimism. Murray plays with a motor and has been tough to block in high school and in postseason showcases. Stanford needs to bring in DL in significantly greater numbers to effectuate the scheme change we're looking at and, while I have questions about how much size is possible for him, it's good news to start giving Koldziej and Deatrick guys to work with.

[msqueri]

Four dimensional analysis on Murray:

Services: 247 composite NR, On3 consensus NR, 247 NR, On3 NR, Rivals NR, ESPN NR

Offers: Stanford, Appalachian State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Massachusetts, Memphis, Minnesota, Virginia, Wake Forest, Kansas, Liberty, UAB

Production: As a junior against below-average competition (bottom 27 percent of Stanford players), Murray was named Player of the Year in region 6-4A in Georgia (among all offensive and defensive players) and 4A all state. His team unfortunately does not do a great job reporting stats, reporting a bit less than half of the games from his junior year and only a couple of games from his sophomore year. Among what was reported for his junior year, he had 3.7 tackles per game (most among those with more than two games reported), 10 tackles for loss (next closest was 4), and 3 sacks (nobody else with more than one in those games). It was also interesting to see that in those games at least he was his team's second or third leading rusher, with 40.3 yards rushing per game on 6.7 yards per carry (most of anybody with more than ten carries) and nearly a touchdown per game (more than double the next closest in the reported stats). His freshman highlights claim 13 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in five games. In December 2021 he participated in the Georgia Elite Classic postseason all star game and was touted in one report as "maybe the biggest surprise of the week" "that came out of nowhere to dominate practices and played very well in the game as well." A few weeks later 247 named him as an honorable mention performer at the All American Bowl National Combine, making him the fifth to 13th most standout DL at an event that included 2023, 2024, 2025, and even some 2026 prospects; he was the top 2024 DL, with one 2026 also getting honorable mention. In track and field, Murray has a 46'2" personal record in the shot put and a 103' 3" in the discus. The shot put is middling and the discus is totally uncompetitive but very few meets are reported.

Highlights: Murray does not post single game highlights, aside from single highlights of touchdown runs and such, so I can't dig in like I normally would and need to work for these tidbits. His freshman, sophomore, and junior highlights all show him playing DE out of a four point stance, making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage on both pass and run plays and getting bigger and more dominant each year. The sophomore highlights also show a fair amount of him carrying the ball. Specific highlights that stood out were a tackle for loss against North Cobb Christian but not against Georgia Tech DL signee Gabe Fortson, who was playing center and thus not matched up against Murray, and a tackle for loss against Eagle's Landing Christian Academy after holding his ground/eventually shedding LSU whale OL signee DJ Chester (whose own highlights show three or four pass block sets against Murray). That latter game tape would be the one to get a hold of to see Murray against an elite player older than him. The junior year highlights ramp up further but again don't have much to dig into in terms of notable matchups. There was a run stop against Ensworth, but Duke OL Caleb Dorris blocked another guy leaving Murray to a relative shrimp. Similarly, a run stop against Pace Academy was on a play not matched up against South Carolina OL signee Trovon Baugh. One neat play came against Ensworth when Dorris ran away from Murray, ostensibly because the run play was sweeping to the other side of the line, but Murray chased down the running back for a loss in no time. 

This is quite an enigma. There's more to be excited about here than with Taylor's previous DL commitment, 2023 end of cycle class filler Braden Marceau-Olayinka but as with that case this is a guy with not a single service that rates him at the time of commitment, not a particularly attractive look for a Power Five team. However, one can reasonably scratch one's head about why that's the case with Murray. The plaudits Murray got in the showcases following his sophomore year would seem to have put him on radars and then he went out and had a productive junior year. Following his junior year he's gotten a dozen major college football offers in very short order. That seems easily lower tier Power Five level, so it's odd not to have any services rating him. I'm having trouble coming to a hypothesis (definitely don't have a sense to have more than that) on whether Murray's recruitment is best characterized as a late bloomer or undersized/tweener or a bit of both. One way to think about this may be that it's an odd recruitment to have close in March of the recruit's junior year. Perhaps Murray is the kind of recruit who will eventually be squarely viewed as a solid 3-star (I see obvious similarities with Zach Rowell) but we're getting this weird snapshot because Stanford offered/hauled him in earlier than was our previous norm for this kind of recruit. This isn't the kind of recruit who got an early offer under Shaw but he would have eventually gotten an offer. A pessimist's read would be that Taylor doesn't have an informed/high standard calibration of Power Five talent and offered prematurely. An optimist's would be that Taylor decisively assessed this guy would help and didn't dither. Given that we're talking about a DL and Koldziej has seen what he's seen/done what he's done at Wisconsin, I'm going to choose optimism. Murray plays with a motor and has been tough to block in high school and in postseason showcases. Stanford needs to bring in DL in significantly greater numbers to effectuate the scheme change we're looking at and, while I have questions about how much size is possible for him, it's good news to start giving Koldziej and Deatrick guys to work with.

[SamuelMcF]

3/19/2023 WR Emanuel Ross (NJ)
3/20/2023 OL Gemyel Allen (GA)
3/20/2023 OL Garrett Sexton (WI)
3/22/2023 OL Brandon Baker (CA)
3/22/2023 OL Grant Brix (IA)
3/27/2023 S Paul Mencke (TX)
3/28/2023 OL Ellis Davis (TX)

[SamuelMcF]

3/19/2023 WR Emanuel Ross (NJ)
3/20/2023 OL Gemyel Allen (GA)
3/20/2023 OL Garrett Sexton (WI)
3/22/2023 OL Brandon Baker (CA)
3/22/2023 OL Grant Brix (IA)
3/27/2023 S Paul Mencke (TX)
3/28/2023 OL Ellis Davis (TX)

[SamuelMcF]

4/3/2023 RB Micah Ford (NJ)
4/4/2023 RB Nate Palmer (GA)
4/6/2023 ILB Bodie Kahoun (VA)
4/6/2023 ILB Michael Boganowski (KS)
4/6/2023 OL Ryan Cory (PA)

[SamuelMcF]

4/3/2023 RB Micah Ford (NJ)
4/4/2023 RB Nate Palmer (GA)
4/6/2023 ILB Bodie Kahoun (VA)
4/6/2023 ILB Michael Boganowski (KS)
4/6/2023 OL Ryan Cory (PA)

[BobK]

Sadly our first commit is no more

https://twitter.com/allcardinal/status/1...D-jBbhrpNw

[BobK]

Sadly our first commit is no more

https://twitter.com/allcardinal/status/1...D-jBbhrpNw

[BobK]

New commit

https://twitter.com/MicahFord17/status/1...56832?s=20

https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/win...ford/39376

[BobK]

New commit

https://twitter.com/MicahFord17/status/1...56832?s=20

https://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com/win...ford/39376

[PVTree]

Seems like a terrific get for coach Taylor.

His profile on the second link mentions that he's a QB and Safety. He was recruited as a RB?

[PVTree]

Seems like a terrific get for coach Taylor.

His profile on the second link mentions that he's a QB and Safety. He was recruited as a RB?

[washingtonismoney]

ESPN floats ND QB Buchner as a transfer possibility: https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...fer-portal

[washingtonismoney]

ESPN floats ND QB Buchner as a transfer possibility: https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...fer-portal

[msqueri]

Four dimensional analysis on Ford:

Services: 247 composite #835 (#64 RB), On3 consensus #822 (#45 ATH), 247 #79 RB, On3 #22 ATH, Rivals 5.6 grade (same grade as Caleb Hampton, Nathaniel Peat, Usua Amanam, Ray Jones), ESPN NR

Offers: Stanford, James Madison, Maryland, Army, Connecticut, Old Dominion, Syracuse, Temple, Wake Forest, West Virginia

Production: As a junior against very poor competition (bottom 12 percent of Stanford recruits), Ford completely dominated, winning New Jersey's Gatorade Player of the Year (as well as several other state player of the year awards) as a dual-threat quarterback and being named first team all-state as a safety. He rushed for 2372 yards on 10.1 yards per carry (ninth best among the last 21 matriculating Stanford RB high school junior seasons I'm tracking) with 33 touchdowns. [The starting running back had 9.7 yards per carry] He had 35+ yard runs in nine of the 14 games in an undefeated state champion season. Throwing the ball he completed 57 of 89 passes (throwing only 6.4 times per game with a 64 percent completion percentage) for 1203 yards (13.5 yards per attempt) and 17 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. On defense he had 5.5 tackles per game (fourth on the team in total tackles, not going to calculate per game for all his teammates), 4 interceptions (second), 9 tackles for loss (tied for eighth), 4 passes defended, and a forced fumble. As mentioned, the competition was poor and only one game had a final score even within multiple touchdowns. They won the state championship by 21 points. As a sophomore, one source only reported stats for four games and in those Ford rushed for 505 yards (6.6 yards per carry) and 7 touchdowns while completing 19 of 29 passes (65.5 percent) for 362 yards (12.5 yards per attempt) and 5 touchdowns with only one interception; on defense he was credited with an interception; however, Ford's own highlights self-report stats and those may be more complete: 1,451 yards rushing, 944 yards passing, 25 combined touchdowns, 82 tackles, an interception, and 7 pass breakups. Ford also plays varsity basketball. As a junior he scored 14.4 points per game (team lead). As a sophomore he scored 7.1 points per game (third on the team).

Highlights: Ford's freshman highlights were modest. Given the low competition, being a freshman, and being during the pandemic I don't think there's much reason to focus on those. He showed some versatility and willingness, with a few plays showing blocking and tackling in addition to the runs and catches out of the backfield. The sophomore highlights are where the running QB emerges. He only put three throws on those highlights, all while scrambling so presumably plays where he could have had the option to either pass or run. The runs were your standard good high school running QB fare, using relative athleticism to break off sizable gains. The defensive highlights had a pass defended and forced fumble as well as a few other good tackles. The most talent he's ever faced in a game was his sophomore year against Donovan Catholic and the only highlight he posted in that game was an open field tackle of 2025 4-star WR Michael Thomas III for a gain of only a few yards on a sweep attempt (Old Dominion OL Caron McNair was on the far opposite side of the play and not relevant to it), which was also the first defensive highlight he posted on his season tape. Alas, Thomas' own highlights include another sweep where Ford was playing a deep center field and completely whiffed on an open field tackle attempt, with the result being getting roasted for a 51 yard touchdown run down Broadway. McNair's highlights include a play where Ford was again playing deep and took an angle to do damage control on a 30+ yard run; Ford caught up to the ballcarrier, Wagner (FCS) RB Nunes Bukula IV, about 25 yards down field and then rode him for 7 yards or so before taking him down. Bukula's highlights show a touchdown run where center fielder Ford committed inside and Bukula bounced outside to take advantage as well as a couple of assisted tackles by Ford on successful runs that got to Ford's level of the defense. The junior highlights were quite long, as one would expect from a Gatorade Player of the Year. One thing I was looking for was his degree of reliance on 2025 Penn State whale OL commit Jaelyne Matthews. There are a lot of plays in which big #79 springs Ford but I'd say the majority were either plays Matthews wasn't playing or wasn't noticeable. Mainly it was just a lot of Ford finding a gap and racing past people. On defense there's some good tackling, a pick six, and a few passes defended. Given that it's poor competition and we don't have any validation of how fast Ford is (as far as I know), hard to know what to make of all this and its translation to being a Pac-12 RB (or safety if this is more of an athlete recruitment). It would be interesting to check him out against more notable competition but that's not the case. He did play against Rutgers OL John Stone, but an OL isn't really competition for a DB and there weren't a lot of plays of Stone on DL to assess. Stone's highlights show one play where a receiver blocked Ford, sealing him off and helping spring a run. The only other game against notable individual players was the state championship game against Passaic County Tech. In that one Ford threw a touchdown bomb while scrambling to his left to evade a pass rush from Syracuse LB commit Travon Dye, who did not show up much on Ford's highlights and whose twin brother Trashon Dye had a 45+ yard touchdown run up the middle on which Ford was a non-factor/came up a bit hobbled; Ford had an open field tackle of Trashon Dye. I didn't watch the basketball highlights as closely but it looked like he has some thickness.

A Rorschach commitment. There are glass half full and glass half empty reads of this, both of which are fully accurate. Glass half full: this is a dominant high school player at a position I view as being in our upper half of needs (#5 on my position wish list for 2024 but a case can be made for higher). We have had a troubling run of running backs who weren't dominant in high school so this is arguably our best high school rusher since Austin Jones. I'll never sneeze at 10+ yards per carry, though it's no guarantee of success (see Barry J Sanders, Sione Lund, Kelsey Young, etc.). If RB doesn't work out, safety seems plausible. Glass half empty: it's another comedown in our recruiting acumen to take such an early commitment from a guy without impressive offers and who is widely viewed as far below the Stanford norm at RB. It feels odd to not even be in May of a recruit's junior year and be taking guys like this. The level of competition and the lack of impressive offers raises the specter that this is the classic high school big fish in a small pond/big man on campus who can bully slow high schoolers but doesn't have that Power Five gear. I have some concerns that our FCS offensive coaching staff may mis-calibrate on the level of talent that plays in the Pac-12. Ultimately, I see merit in both views of the glass but am happy about this commitment. The bottom line is we need players the coaches see fitting in their system and their culture and we're not good enough right now to turn our nose up at low Power Five level recruits, even if that's all this is. That RB was such a position of success at Sacramento State also gives me some confidence the Taylor-Agnew duo know how to make this work. In any case, recruiting is about the talent pipeline and in our case the group of Barrow, Butler, Irvin, and Hampton doesn't give me confidence going forward and I absolutely view Ford as a welcome addition.

[msqueri]

Four dimensional analysis on Ford:

Services: 247 composite #835 (#64 RB), On3 consensus #822 (#45 ATH), 247 #79 RB, On3 #22 ATH, Rivals 5.6 grade (same grade as Caleb Hampton, Nathaniel Peat, Usua Amanam, Ray Jones), ESPN NR

Offers: Stanford, James Madison, Maryland, Army, Connecticut, Old Dominion, Syracuse, Temple, Wake Forest, West Virginia

Production: As a junior against very poor competition (bottom 12 percent of Stanford recruits), Ford completely dominated, winning New Jersey's Gatorade Player of the Year (as well as several other state player of the year awards) as a dual-threat quarterback and being named first team all-state as a safety. He rushed for 2372 yards on 10.1 yards per carry (ninth best among the last 21 matriculating Stanford RB high school junior seasons I'm tracking) with 33 touchdowns. [The starting running back had 9.7 yards per carry] He had 35+ yard runs in nine of the 14 games in an undefeated state champion season. Throwing the ball he completed 57 of 89 passes (throwing only 6.4 times per game with a 64 percent completion percentage) for 1203 yards (13.5 yards per attempt) and 17 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. On defense he had 5.5 tackles per game (fourth on the team in total tackles, not going to calculate per game for all his teammates), 4 interceptions (second), 9 tackles for loss (tied for eighth), 4 passes defended, and a forced fumble. As mentioned, the competition was poor and only one game had a final score even within multiple touchdowns. They won the state championship by 21 points. As a sophomore, one source only reported stats for four games and in those Ford rushed for 505 yards (6.6 yards per carry) and 7 touchdowns while completing 19 of 29 passes (65.5 percent) for 362 yards (12.5 yards per attempt) and 5 touchdowns with only one interception; on defense he was credited with an interception; however, Ford's own highlights self-report stats and those may be more complete: 1,451 yards rushing, 944 yards passing, 25 combined touchdowns, 82 tackles, an interception, and 7 pass breakups. Ford also plays varsity basketball. As a junior he scored 14.4 points per game (team lead). As a sophomore he scored 7.1 points per game (third on the team).

Highlights: Ford's freshman highlights were modest. Given the low competition, being a freshman, and being during the pandemic I don't think there's much reason to focus on those. He showed some versatility and willingness, with a few plays showing blocking and tackling in addition to the runs and catches out of the backfield. The sophomore highlights are where the running QB emerges. He only put three throws on those highlights, all while scrambling so presumably plays where he could have had the option to either pass or run. The runs were your standard good high school running QB fare, using relative athleticism to break off sizable gains. The defensive highlights had a pass defended and forced fumble as well as a few other good tackles. The most talent he's ever faced in a game was his sophomore year against Donovan Catholic and the only highlight he posted in that game was an open field tackle of 2025 4-star WR Michael Thomas III for a gain of only a few yards on a sweep attempt (Old Dominion OL Caron McNair was on the far opposite side of the play and not relevant to it), which was also the first defensive highlight he posted on his season tape. Alas, Thomas' own highlights include another sweep where Ford was playing a deep center field and completely whiffed on an open field tackle attempt, with the result being getting roasted for a 51 yard touchdown run down Broadway. McNair's highlights include a play where Ford was again playing deep and took an angle to do damage control on a 30+ yard run; Ford caught up to the ballcarrier, Wagner (FCS) RB Nunes Bukula IV, about 25 yards down field and then rode him for 7 yards or so before taking him down. Bukula's highlights show a touchdown run where center fielder Ford committed inside and Bukula bounced outside to take advantage as well as a couple of assisted tackles by Ford on successful runs that got to Ford's level of the defense. The junior highlights were quite long, as one would expect from a Gatorade Player of the Year. One thing I was looking for was his degree of reliance on 2025 Penn State whale OL commit Jaelyne Matthews. There are a lot of plays in which big #79 springs Ford but I'd say the majority were either plays Matthews wasn't playing or wasn't noticeable. Mainly it was just a lot of Ford finding a gap and racing past people. On defense there's some good tackling, a pick six, and a few passes defended. Given that it's poor competition and we don't have any validation of how fast Ford is (as far as I know), hard to know what to make of all this and its translation to being a Pac-12 RB (or safety if this is more of an athlete recruitment). It would be interesting to check him out against more notable competition but that's not the case. He did play against Rutgers OL John Stone, but an OL isn't really competition for a DB and there weren't a lot of plays of Stone on DL to assess. Stone's highlights show one play where a receiver blocked Ford, sealing him off and helping spring a run. The only other game against notable individual players was the state championship game against Passaic County Tech. In that one Ford threw a touchdown bomb while scrambling to his left to evade a pass rush from Syracuse LB commit Travon Dye, who did not show up much on Ford's highlights and whose twin brother Trashon Dye had a 45+ yard touchdown run up the middle on which Ford was a non-factor/came up a bit hobbled; Ford had an open field tackle of Trashon Dye. I didn't watch the basketball highlights as closely but it looked like he has some thickness.

A Rorschach commitment. There are glass half full and glass half empty reads of this, both of which are fully accurate. Glass half full: this is a dominant high school player at a position I view as being in our upper half of needs (#5 on my position wish list for 2024 but a case can be made for higher). We have had a troubling run of running backs who weren't dominant in high school so this is arguably our best high school rusher since Austin Jones. I'll never sneeze at 10+ yards per carry, though it's no guarantee of success (see Barry J Sanders, Sione Lund, Kelsey Young, etc.). If RB doesn't work out, safety seems plausible. Glass half empty: it's another comedown in our recruiting acumen to take such an early commitment from a guy without impressive offers and who is widely viewed as far below the Stanford norm at RB. It feels odd to not even be in May of a recruit's junior year and be taking guys like this. The level of competition and the lack of impressive offers raises the specter that this is the classic high school big fish in a small pond/big man on campus who can bully slow high schoolers but doesn't have that Power Five gear. I have some concerns that our FCS offensive coaching staff may mis-calibrate on the level of talent that plays in the Pac-12. Ultimately, I see merit in both views of the glass but am happy about this commitment. The bottom line is we need players the coaches see fitting in their system and their culture and we're not good enough right now to turn our nose up at low Power Five level recruits, even if that's all this is. That RB was such a position of success at Sacramento State also gives me some confidence the Taylor-Agnew duo know how to make this work. In any case, recruiting is about the talent pipeline and in our case the group of Barrow, Butler, Irvin, and Hampton doesn't give me confidence going forward and I absolutely view Ford as a welcome addition.

[washingtonismoney]

New commit...looks like another coach-'em-up unheralded type: https://twitter.com/ConnorBachh/status/1...0650767363

[washingtonismoney]

New commit...looks like another coach-'em-up unheralded type: https://twitter.com/ConnorBachh/status/1...0650767363

[msqueri]

Four dimensional analysis on Bachhuber:

Services: 247 composite #1117 (#93 OT), On3 consensus #1091 (#77 OT), 247 #103 OT, Rivals NR (given past practice a Rivals 5.5 or 5.6 is probably most likely, in which case that would be the same range as Jacobi Murray, Braden Marceau-Olayinka, Pat Caughey, Anthony Franklin, Anthony Hayes, Lance Callihan, Josh Mauro, Zach Rowell, Jaxson Moi, Zach Buckey, Lance Keneley, Dalyn Wade-Perry, Jovan Swann, Bo Peek, Thomas Schaffer, Harrison Phillips, Nate Lohn, Ikenna Nwafor, and JB Salem among DL and the same range as Charlie Symonds, Luke Baklenko, Allen Thomason, Simione Pale, Jake Maikkula, Austin Uke, Jack Leyrer, Barrett Miller, Drake Nugent, Drew Dalman, Dylan Powell, Henry Hattis, Nate Herbig, Austin Maihen, Brian Chaffin, David Bright, Kevin Reihner, and Brad Hallick among OL), ESPN NR [N.B. The "same grade" comparables are imprecise here because I'm including both DL and OL given what seems at least a modicum of positional uncertainty and conflating 5.5 and 5.6 grade levels as Rivals hasn't graded him yet, so certainly take with a grain of salt. Given what we know the DL group seems like the more salient set of comparisons]

Offers: Stanford, Utah, Air Force, Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, San Jose State, UNLV, Washington

Production: As a junior against good competition (top 41 percent of Stanford recruits), Bachhuber had 5.2 tackles per game (eighth on the team), 2 sacks (tied for fourth), 2 tackles for loss (seventh), and one fumble recovery (one of 11 players with at least one). As a sophomore against somewhat better competition (top 28 percent of Stanford recruits, though he only played half the season it seems), Bachhuber had 2.3 tackles per game (tied for 12th among players who played at least three games), one sack (one of nine players with at least one), and no others tackles for loss credited (eight players did). At the Army combine following his junior season he measured at 6-5 240 with an 80" wing span and a 4.56 shuttle. The weight is significant as he played much of his junior season at 215 following appendicitis after trying to bulk up to around 240 following a 205 pound sophomore season. The wing span indicates good though not freakish length. The shuttle doesn't impress me much.

Highlights: Bachhuber did not post full season sophomore highlights and his single game highlights that year included nothing of note. The very short (two minutes and eight seconds) junior highlights show a mix of him as an edge rusher, OL, and even long snapper. That's notable because some (e.g., Arizona State, San Jose State, recruiting services) view him as an OL prospect and some others view him as a big athlete whose future position is uncertain (some indications Washington was in this camp) and others are recruiting him for defense. But to my eyes the notable stuff he put on tape came on defense. In one notable matchup as a junior he squared off against Washington State OL signee Nathan Gates. Bachhuber's highlights include a couple of plays of the two of them engaged and Bachhuber shedding the block to make a tackle of the ballcarrier within a few yards of the line of scrimmage. Gates' highlights show a play where Bachhuber is coming off the edge and can't keep his balance rushing Gates and falls to the ground. There were three talented teams Bachhuber played last season: Murrieta Valley, Mission Viejo, and Chaminade, so I'll take each in turn. Against Murrieta Valley, his highlights are all about being stout in run defense rather than any indication he disrupted the vaunted Bear to Tiger Bachmeier passing attack. BYU OL signee Jason Steele did not post highlights from that game and I couldn't pick up any head-to-head matchups of note in Bachhuber's highlights, though Murrieta Valley jersey numbers were difficult to read. On the theory that an opposing player's highlights can provide a glimpse of how a defender does on his average or worse plays I checked out the Bachmeier brothers' highlights and keyed in on Bachhuber, but those highlights were short and didn't illuminate except perhaps in the sense that there's some evidence of motor/not giving up on big plays downfield. Against Mission Viejo, Bachhuber only posted one highlight but for my money it's the play of his life thus far, coming off the edge one-on-one against UCLA OL commit Mark Schroller and climbing back up the pocket to sack Ball State QB Kadin Semonza (who incidentally had numerous major college football receivers to throw to last season). Schroller's highlights were one play getting to the second level and another play picking up a blitz, so I don't think they were really about Bachhuber, though it's hard for me to read jersey numbers on those highlights. Against Chaminade, Bachhuber's highlights didn't show any pass rush trying to chase down San Diego State QB Javance Tupouata-Johnson nor any one-on-one action against the notable Chaminade linemen, Colorado State OL Aitor Urionabarrenechea or 2024 3-star OL David Abajian. There were three plays in which Bachhuber delivered nice plays lined up across from Abajian, but on each Abajian had a different assignment (or didn't read the play right), one a run stop by Bachhuber when Abajian helped with an interior lineman, one on a throw to the flat where Abajian ran to the second level and Bachhuber went laterally toward the sideline to help bring the receiver down, and one a goal line run stop in which Abajian tried to be a lead blocker but Bachhuber came in from the side to plug the hole. Abajian's highlights mostly didn't involve Bachhuber but did include one run blocking play neutralizing Bachhuber.

[msqueri]

Four dimensional analysis on Bachhuber:

Services: 247 composite #1117 (#93 OT), On3 consensus #1091 (#77 OT), 247 #103 OT, Rivals NR (given past practice a Rivals 5.5 or 5.6 is probably most likely, in which case that would be the same range as Jacobi Murray, Braden Marceau-Olayinka, Pat Caughey, Anthony Franklin, Anthony Hayes, Lance Callihan, Josh Mauro, Zach Rowell, Jaxson Moi, Zach Buckey, Lance Keneley, Dalyn Wade-Perry, Jovan Swann, Bo Peek, Thomas Schaffer, Harrison Phillips, Nate Lohn, Ikenna Nwafor, and JB Salem among DL and the same range as Charlie Symonds, Luke Baklenko, Allen Thomason, Simione Pale, Jake Maikkula, Austin Uke, Jack Leyrer, Barrett Miller, Drake Nugent, Drew Dalman, Dylan Powell, Henry Hattis, Nate Herbig, Austin Maihen, Brian Chaffin, David Bright, Kevin Reihner, and Brad Hallick among OL), ESPN NR [N.B. The "same grade" comparables are imprecise here because I'm including both DL and OL given what seems at least a modicum of positional uncertainty and conflating 5.5 and 5.6 grade levels as Rivals hasn't graded him yet, so certainly take with a grain of salt. Given what we know the DL group seems like the more salient set of comparisons]

Offers: Stanford, Utah, Air Force, Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, San Jose State, UNLV, Washington

Production: As a junior against good competition (top 41 percent of Stanford recruits), Bachhuber had 5.2 tackles per game (eighth on the team), 2 sacks (tied for fourth), 2 tackles for loss (seventh), and one fumble recovery (one of 11 players with at least one). As a sophomore against somewhat better competition (top 28 percent of Stanford recruits, though he only played half the season it seems), Bachhuber had 2.3 tackles per game (tied for 12th among players who played at least three games), one sack (one of nine players with at least one), and no others tackles for loss credited (eight players did). At the Army combine following his junior season he measured at 6-5 240 with an 80" wing span and a 4.56 shuttle. The weight is significant as he played much of his junior season at 215 following appendicitis after trying to bulk up to around 240 following a 205 pound sophomore season. The wing span indicates good though not freakish length. The shuttle doesn't impress me much.

Highlights: Bachhuber did not post full season sophomore highlights and his single game highlights that year included nothing of note. The very short (two minutes and eight seconds) junior highlights show a mix of him as an edge rusher, OL, and even long snapper. That's notable because some (e.g., Arizona State, San Jose State, recruiting services) view him as an OL prospect and some others view him as a big athlete whose future position is uncertain (some indications Washington was in this camp) and others are recruiting him for defense. But to my eyes the notable stuff he put on tape came on defense. In one notable matchup as a junior he squared off against Washington State OL signee Nathan Gates. Bachhuber's highlights include a couple of plays of the two of them engaged and Bachhuber shedding the block to make a tackle of the ballcarrier within a few yards of the line of scrimmage. Gates' highlights show a play where Bachhuber is coming off the edge and can't keep his balance rushing Gates and falls to the ground. There were three talented teams Bachhuber played last season: Murrieta Valley, Mission Viejo, and Chaminade, so I'll take each in turn. Against Murrieta Valley, his highlights are all about being stout in run defense rather than any indication he disrupted the vaunted Bear to Tiger Bachmeier passing attack. BYU OL signee Jason Steele did not post highlights from that game and I couldn't pick up any head-to-head matchups of note in Bachhuber's highlights, though Murrieta Valley jersey numbers were difficult to read. On the theory that an opposing player's highlights can provide a glimpse of how a defender does on his average or worse plays I checked out the Bachmeier brothers' highlights and keyed in on Bachhuber, but those highlights were short and didn't illuminate except perhaps in the sense that there's some evidence of motor/not giving up on big plays downfield. Against Mission Viejo, Bachhuber only posted one highlight but for my money it's the play of his life thus far, coming off the edge one-on-one against UCLA OL commit Mark Schroller and climbing back up the pocket to sack Ball State QB Kadin Semonza (who incidentally had numerous major college football receivers to throw to last season). Schroller's highlights were one play getting to the second level and another play picking up a blitz, so I don't think they were really about Bachhuber, though it's hard for me to read jersey numbers on those highlights. Against Chaminade, Bachhuber's highlights didn't show any pass rush trying to chase down San Diego State QB Javance Tupouata-Johnson nor any one-on-one action against the notable Chaminade linemen, Colorado State OL Aitor Urionabarrenechea or 2024 3-star OL David Abajian. There were three plays in which Bachhuber delivered nice plays lined up across from Abajian, but on each Abajian had a different assignment (or didn't read the play right), one a run stop by Bachhuber when Abajian helped with an interior lineman, one on a throw to the flat where Abajian ran to the second level and Bachhuber went laterally toward the sideline to help bring the receiver down, and one a goal line run stop in which Abajian tried to be a lead blocker but Bachhuber came in from the side to plug the hole. Abajian's highlights mostly didn't involve Bachhuber but did include one run blocking play neutralizing Bachhuber.

[msqueri]

An intriguing big athlete. I don't think we can say with much certainty whether this is a DE, DT, OLB, OT, OG, or C. It really seems to depend on what his body grows into and how he presents if (knock on wood) he can achieve better health and strength and conditioning stability than he's been able to realize in high school. Based on what we know now and the tea leaves (who he tagged on Twitter, what he put on tape, etc.), the best bet seems to be a DL with potential utility in various techniques (2i, 4i, even potentially 5). Bachhuber seems to be somebody we're putting into Kolodziej and Deatrick hands as the weight room warriors and seeing what happens. And therein lies why I'm not electing to be snarky about this commitment. The horrifying production and bare bones highlights, on the heels of so many commitments the last 4-5 months who don't seem high competitive Power Five level, gave me an initial thought of saying to our new staff "I love you, but you're not serious people." But that seems too harsh, at least at this stage, when we're talking about an intriguing big athlete we want to build into something, considering that the majority of the big athlete use cases for us come in the defensive front seven and our entire front seven staff came intact from Wisconsin, which has made a killing for years off of recruits just like this. At least for a while we can have legitimate hopes that raw material of this sort can be molded into something useful. The other thing I'll note is that a hallmark of the defensive scheme Bobby April is bringing from Wisconsin is DL in larger volume (in both senses of roster spots and size of individuals) than we've seen at Stanford in recent years, so there's something to be said about just getting potential DL options in the pipeline. This is a hard position to evaluate and on some level it's more important to just get credible options than to wait for the perfect prospect. I get Anthony Franklin vibes here....but that's probably something we'd take right now. Finally, in addition to the hope that Kolodziej knows what he's doing with somebody like this, there's also a reasonable hope that other coaches nationally have made similar kind of projections we can trust. Bachhuber doesn't look bad by the offer theory, which provides him with a bit more credibility than the service rankings/production/highlights as Utah and Washington are strong programs. One wrinkle is that both of those offers (as well as several others, including Colorado so no that is not a Coach Prime offer) came almost a year ago (UNLV, Air Force, and Stanford are the three recent offers) so it's an open question of which version of Bachhuber programs were projecting out and considering worth the gamble. But to the extent this is about frame and work ethic, it's reassuring to be making the same bet Utah and Washington made.

[msqueri]

An intriguing big athlete. I don't think we can say with much certainty whether this is a DE, DT, OLB, OT, OG, or C. It really seems to depend on what his body grows into and how he presents if (knock on wood) he can achieve better health and strength and conditioning stability than he's been able to realize in high school. Based on what we know now and the tea leaves (who he tagged on Twitter, what he put on tape, etc.), the best bet seems to be a DL with potential utility in various techniques (2i, 4i, even potentially 5). Bachhuber seems to be somebody we're putting into Kolodziej and Deatrick hands as the weight room warriors and seeing what happens. And therein lies why I'm not electing to be snarky about this commitment. The horrifying production and bare bones highlights, on the heels of so many commitments the last 4-5 months who don't seem high competitive Power Five level, gave me an initial thought of saying to our new staff "I love you, but you're not serious people." But that seems too harsh, at least at this stage, when we're talking about an intriguing big athlete we want to build into something, considering that the majority of the big athlete use cases for us come in the defensive front seven and our entire front seven staff came intact from Wisconsin, which has made a killing for years off of recruits just like this. At least for a while we can have legitimate hopes that raw material of this sort can be molded into something useful. The other thing I'll note is that a hallmark of the defensive scheme Bobby April is bringing from Wisconsin is DL in larger volume (in both senses of roster spots and size of individuals) than we've seen at Stanford in recent years, so there's something to be said about just getting potential DL options in the pipeline. This is a hard position to evaluate and on some level it's more important to just get credible options than to wait for the perfect prospect. I get Anthony Franklin vibes here....but that's probably something we'd take right now. Finally, in addition to the hope that Kolodziej knows what he's doing with somebody like this, there's also a reasonable hope that other coaches nationally have made similar kind of projections we can trust. Bachhuber doesn't look bad by the offer theory, which provides him with a bit more credibility than the service rankings/production/highlights as Utah and Washington are strong programs. One wrinkle is that both of those offers (as well as several others, including Colorado so no that is not a Coach Prime offer) came almost a year ago (UNLV, Air Force, and Stanford are the three recent offers) so it's an open question of which version of Bachhuber programs were projecting out and considering worth the gamble. But to the extent this is about frame and work ethic, it's reassuring to be making the same bet Utah and Washington made.