WTH is Happening In Stanford

[belcherboy]

The Pac12 is really hurting. Stanford down, USC down, UCLA down, Washington took a step back and also lost their coach, Even Utah is often up and down, etc. The good news is that Oregon is looking like they may turn things around after a rough 3-4 season run.

The Pac12 need a strong Stanford, and this doesn’t look good for them next season.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

The Pac12 is really hurting. Stanford down, USC down, UCLA down, Washington took a step back and also lost their coach, Even Utah is often up and down, etc. The good news is that Oregon is looking like they may turn things around after a rough 3-4 season run.

The Pac12 need a strong Stanford, and this doesn’t look good for them next season.

Washington will be back like crack next season starting with it's crushing defeat of the Wolverines.

 

[belcherboy]

Washington will be back like crack next season starting with it's crushing defeat of the Wolverines.

I felt better about the game since Petersen walked away. I still don’t have much confidence though. I’m anxious to see how Mac does as starting QB.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

I felt better about the game since Petersen walked away. I still don’t have much confidence though. I’m anxious to see how Mac does as starting QB.

I'm thinking Michigan will come into that game around 3.5 favorites if I had to guess. UW will be starting a new QB along with three OL.

 

[Across The Field]

Offers do not mean that they actually get the kid.

They can offer all of the 4 and 5 star kids they want. But the kid then has to choose Stanford and pass their entrance qualifications.

From what I understand, their admissions standards are lower for athletes than for regular Stanford students, but still much tougher than what pretty much every other school has for their athletes.

Basically, it sounds like they just offer all of the 4's and 5's that they can and hope that enough are willing to come and can pass the admissions standards to put together a good recruiting class.

End result seems to be that some years it works out in their favor and some years it doesn't. Even in the good recruiting years though, it doesn't seem like they can get enough to have the depth of a lot of teams.

But Stanford isn't really going into the schools that aren't strong academically and offering kids. If there was a trend of kids committing to Stanford and then decommitting in waves every year because they end up not qualifying, I would agree with you, but that's not the case. I can't remember any of their big 4/5* kids getting to the finish line and getting turned down.

If anything, Stanford has quite an advantage in that they can sell kids on playing in a P5 school and also getting a degree from a world-class institution. If they don't go to the NFL, they're basically going to get any job they could possibly want. Stanford is currently rated as the 6th best university in the nation. Notre Dame is 15th but you never see them having "academic" issues, they pull in recruits just fine. Not only that, but they're pulling them into a small town in rural Indiana, not on the coast of California.

 

[Across The Field]

I'm thinking Michigan will come into that game around 3.5 favorites if I had to guess. UW will be starting a new QB along with three OL.

So will michigan. In fact, I think it's four new OL.

 

[NU_FTW]

Never trust Michigan (hairball) to beat a team they should soundly whoop. Michigan should win, so im going with washington

 

[ericd7633]

So will michigan. In fact, I think it's four new OL.

Michigan could lose a lot on offense depending who leaves early.

 

[Across The Field]

Michigan could lose a lot on offense depending who leaves early.

The WR losses could be substantial. This is their best group of WRs since the 2000s. DPJ, Collins, and Black are all NFL-caliber and should get drafted. Ronnie Bell is nice but he's basically the only WR coming back who has done anything. They're also losing Eubanks and McKeon at TE. Going to be a very different looking michigan team next year. I think it could be an ugly year.

 

[ericd7633]

The WR losses could be substantial. This is their best group of WRs since the 2000s. DPJ, Collins, and Black are all NFL-caliber and should get drafted. Ronnie Bell is nice but he's basically the only WR coming back who has done anything. They're also losing Eubanks and McKeon at TE. Going to be a very different looking michigan team next year. I think it could be an ugly year.

My guess is that it's another 3 loss season. The schedule sets up fairly well getting PSU and Wisconsin at home. All the road games are winnable, but I'm sure they'll drop 1/2. And they aren't beating OSU.

 

[jjc2009]

From what I understand, their admissions standards are lower for athletes than for regular Stanford students, but still much tougher than what pretty much every other school has for their athletes.

They are still among the toughest in the NCAA. As an ND fan I readily acknowledge they are tougher than ours.

What I have heard is though that once you’re in they have “Athlete friendly” courses to keep people eligible whereas ND makes you take real classes.

 

[trojanfan12]

But Stanford isn't really going into the schools that aren't strong academically and offering kids. If there was a trend of kids committing to Stanford and then decommitting in waves every year because they end up not qualifying, I would agree with you, but that's not the case. I can't remember any of their big 4/5* kids getting to the finish line and getting turned down.

If anything, Stanford has quite an advantage in that they can sell kids on playing in a P5 school and also getting a degree from a world-class institution. If they don't go to the NFL, they're basically going to get any job they could possibly want. Stanford is currently rated as the 6th best university in the nation. Notre Dame is 15th but you never see them having "academic" issues, they pull in recruits just fine. Not only that, but they're pulling them into a small town in rural Indiana, not on the coast of California.

If Stanford is offering as many 4 and 5 stars as you say they are, they aren't only offering kids from schools that are strong academically. It looks like they're offering everyone they can and hoping a few will both choose them and be able to qualify.

Even with the 4 and 5 stars that can qualify, not all of them are going to pick Stanford.

And lol at them having an advantage. Being a more difficult school to get into isn't an advantage...especially to a kid who is a 4 or 5 star with NFL dreams.

As the ND fan pointed out, the admission standards at Stanford are higher than at ND. Both schools have lower standards for athletes, but ND's are lower there too.

Also, players who are offered by both schools are also vetted pretty quickly to see if they can qualify academically. They move off of those players pretty quickly so you really don't hear a lot about academic issues. They don't typically get far enough into the process because both the player and the school find out pretty quickly if the kid can't qualify.

 

[jjc2009]

The other thing that’s interesting is that they’re losing OL and DL. Six of the 11 are along those lines and Stanford’s strength has been its OL and DL over the years. They’re built for that and I’d they can’t recruit and sustain depth there it’s going to continue to be ugly for them.

 

[jjc2009]

They move off of those players pretty quickly so you really don't hear a lot about academic issues. They don't typically get far enough into the process because both the player and the school find out pretty quickly if the kid can't qualify.

This is the big reason Markeese Stepp is at USC instead of ND. He wanted to go to ND and ND wanted him, but he had academic issues that soured the recruitment of him.

 

[TheDayMan]

Offers do not mean that they actually get the kid.

They can offer all of the 4 and 5 star kids they want. But the kid then has to choose Stanford and pass their entrance qualifications.

From what I understand, their admissions standards are lower for athletes than for regular Stanford students, but still much tougher than what pretty much every other school has for their athletes.

Basically, it sounds like they just offer all of the 4's and 5's that they can and hope that enough are willing to come and can pass the admissions standards to put together a good recruiting class.

End result seems to be that some years it works out in their favor and some years it doesn't. Even in the good recruiting years though, it doesn't seem like they can get enough to have the depth of a lot of teams.

@SUBuddha has gone over their admission standards. I don’t know if he’s around, but I’m sure if he is he’d be willing to break them down again. From what I remember of the whole thing, they don’t really budge much for athlete. Just factoring their athlete/extracurricular achievement into the formula might make it seem like they do. Relatively, anyway.

 

[Across The Field]

My guess is that it's another 3 loss season. The schedule sets up fairly well getting PSU and Wisconsin at home. All the road games are winnable, but I'm sure they'll drop 1/2. And they aren't beating OSU.

I think that's optimistic. My guess would be 8-4. At Washington, Minnesota, and Ohio State with Penn State and Wisconsin at home. I wouldn't even be surprised if Indiana was able to take one from them.

 

[trojanfan12]

The other thing that’s interesting is that they’re losing OL and DL. Six of the 11 are along those lines and Stanford’s strength has been its OL and DL over the years. They’re built for that and I’d they can’t recruit and sustain depth there it’s going to continue to be ugly for them.

Yeah, it seems like OL, DL and QB have always been their strengths, even during down years.

If they aren't getting those players...it'll definitely get tougher for them.

 

[Across The Field]

If Stanford is offering as many 4 and 5 stars as you say they are, they aren't only offering kids from schools that are strong academically. It looks like they're offering everyone they can and hoping a few will both choose them and be able to qualify.

Even with the 4 and 5 stars that can qualify, not all of them are going to pick Stanford.

And lol at them having an advantage. Being a more difficult school to get into isn't an advantage...especially to a kid who is a 4 or 5 star with NFL dreams.

As the ND fan pointed out, the admission standards at Stanford are higher than at ND. Both schools have lower standards for athletes, but ND's are lower there too.

Also, players who are offered by both schools are also vetted pretty quickly to see if they can qualify academically. They move off of those players pretty quickly so you really don't hear a lot about academic issues. They don't typically get far enough into the process because both the player and the school find out pretty quickly if the kid can't qualify.

This would help your argument if not for the fact that Stanford is regularly bringing in top 15-20 nationally ranked recruiting classes. Clearly these super-stringent guidelines aren't holding them back that much.

 

[Sgt Brutus]

They had 11 players enter the transfer portal this month. That seems abnormally high, especially for a program that struggles to get to 85 scholarships due to their recruiting limitations.

Maybe they think/know Shaw is going to take another job?

 

[TheDayMan]

Stanford's recruiting disadvantage is also its advantage. No school has beaten UW out of as many recruits as has Stanford seeing how a Stanford degree is worth a fvckload of money and those kids know it. Usually when Stanford and UW go head to head on a recruit Stanford wins.

This. There’s enough quality recruits out there who give a shit about academics. For those guys, when they realize they can go to Stanford, it’s hard for other schools to pull them away from that.