I have been quite busy with things outside of Stanford football in recent weeks and just realized I never even watched Coach Taylor's post-Spring Showcase press availability. My reactions to that:
* Taylor's tone and attitude are totally consistent in this press availability and from what I can tell in general, with the two hallmarks being an upbeat take on the team's energy, focus, and buy-in and a realistic acknowledgement that there's a lot of work to do. He manages to be pretty relentlessly positive - but not going much beyond boilerplate - when asked for reactions on aspects of the team while also sprinkling in lots of language that makes clear this is a process and we've got a long way to go. More on each below.
* When asked to highlight a concern he did not hesitate: depth. He clearly finds it remarkable how low the team's numbers are and how many upperclassmen transferred out. He noted that everybody feels light in the spring, so maybe he expects depth to feel more manageable when the incoming freshmen arrive, but it seems to me that depends on how many of those guys are ready/playable. No matter how good that class is (and remember that it wasn't one this staff built and on paper it looks really bad), that doesn't fix the abject lack of seniority, something else Taylor clearly finds astounding. One of the most vivid parts came when Taylor marveled that we're not going to have any seniors this year. That's not something Shaw would have said (Sinclair, for instance, will be a fifth year player and numerous guys will be academic seniors) but we're returning to the days when our football coach thinks of his players as football players and can read the eligibility chart showing nobody is a football senior. That is startling realization for a coach and you can tell that it's made quite an impression on Taylor. He expects growing pains and plainly does not view this as a hale roster.
* Taylor mentioned that with the lack of numbers young linemen have gotten an enormous amount of reps. I am guessing he specifically has offensive line in mind. That's a position where the lion's share of the reps this spring went to guys who have played very little major college football. My hunch is this jumped out to Taylor as a position group that has a lot of growing to do, reinforced by the later comment about how many young guys there are on offense.
* When discussing Patu and Daniels, Taylor talked up the intangibles (e.g., desire) in some detail and also said they have a lot of talent (without providing detail), noting that the big differentiator (my word, not his, but he referenced why NFL QBs make the big money so I think it's a fair word) for QBs is "processing" and especially being able to put it all together amidst chaos and pressure. Reading between the lines I think his view is neither Patu nor Daniels are there yet, though in fairness as a ball coach who played QB in the NFL and has coached high-level offenses there probably isn't a scenario in which he'd be satisfied on this front, least of all in April. I also think it was interesting he observed that you can only simulate the complexity and pressure and on some level need to wait until the games to know what you have. I have said this before but will say it again: I don't think Troy Taylor is making any major judgments about any of his QBs until live bullets start flying in the fall. He may or may not name a single starter but in my view it won't be settled until somebody earns it on Saturdays, in pads, taking some shots from people who don't love them.
* Taylor kept returning to the theme that the players have bought in and he's pleased with that, including when asked about any adjustments from the ancien regime. But what I found more interesting about that answer was him starting with the tempo being "a huge adjustment." Yet more confirmation that the tempo is going to be dramatically different than what we're used to and also as much of an acknowledgment of growing pains as we're likely to get. The emphasis on "huge" leads me to believe that the offense was very much not firing on all cylinders this spring. That's no surprise, I just find it noteworthy to hear a specific area where Taylor assesses a growing pain. I don't know if we can read anything into this. If anything, I find it moderately encouraging that Taylor has high enough standards he isn't satisfied and is critical enough that he notices what an adjustment it is.
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