Over the last couple months I have been close to the NIL world, and in particular, the UConn NIL Collective Bleeding Blue for Good. I had a conversation with the Executive Director a few days after UConn repeated as MBB champions. And I had another one with him last week. Don't know if I can ever recall hearing of something going from more manageable to more unmanageable in the span of a couple months. What I have seen has so turned me off of NIL collectives, that I am checking out of the space. If anyone wants details, LMK, and I'll be happy to share.

Just saw that our first opponent is adding Dana Holgorsen and Todd Graham as analysts. Add that to Sonny Dykes and Andy Avalos and their staff has 309 major college football wins, a national championship runner-up, an Orange Bowl winner, a National Coach of the Year, a Big 12 Coach of the Year, a Pac-12 Coach of the Year, a Mountain West Coach of the Year, a WAC Coach of the Year, and a Conference USA Coach of the Year. Oh my god. 309 career FBS wins to 3.

(Let’s smoke these guys!)

First viewing was at 5 PM but a replay is coming up starting at 6 PM! You can watch on the ACC Network or the ESPN App

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Read and watch that here.

National Rivals recruiting analyst Greg Smith has put out a couple of articles on 2025 4-star offensive tackle Andrew Babalola:

READ: 4-star Andrew Babalola has entered decision mode


READ: Midwest Spotlight: Biggest upcoming decisions on the radar


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I recall discussion earlier in the year about where he would fit in a loaded Orioles organization.

Stowers traded

Read that here.

Read that here.

I have often heard athletes say that they appreciate being just another exceptional student on the Stanford campus. May not be a selling point for everyone, but there is something to be said for leaning into this.

Long NY Times article today about the challenges Suni Lee the gymnast faced in terms of health and managing stardom. She endured stalkers and needed a bodyguard to walk around the Auburn campus, resulting in her opting to study online and be fearful of leaving her room.

We may not have a crazy fanbase, but there are some scenarios where that is a good thing that might appeal to some recruits. Too bad our recent experience suggests otherwise.

Decided to post this since some of the players a had good week.

First, Mav finished T3rd at the 3 M Open and got a nice paycheck. Rodgers has been playing well as well and both are inside of 60 on the FedEx Cup points list. Inside of 70 gets you into the post season tournaments.

When Thorbjornsen got his card by winning the PGA University Tour, Karl Vilips finished strong enough to gain status on the Korn Ferry. He's now moved up to 44th on point standings after finishing alone in 2nd. Since he joined the Korn Ferry after the NCAA's, Karl has done really well on the KFT. Top 30 after the Korn Ferry Championship earn their PGA card for next year. Former Stanford standout, Isaiah Salinda, is currently 19th on the list.

At the CKPC Open for the LPGA, Rose finished T6th and Andrea T45th. Aline missed the cut. I believe Albane skipped this week to get ready for the Olympics where she's representing Switzerland. Rose is leaving this week for Paris.

On the college scene, Conrad got a transfer from Cal. Nathan Wang is transferring in with two years of eligibility and averaged 72.68 over the past two seasons. He joins another transfer, Brian Ma who played at Harvard. Ma is a graduate transfer and was all-Ivy and set the career scoring record at Harvard. Ma is coming home as his hometown is Milpitas and he attended Archbishop Mitty.

Check that out here. Mostly football, but we touched on hoops as well.

Read that here.

Joe Montag, Senior Defensive QC (OLBs)

• Previously DC at Morehead State for a minute before we poached him
• Before that: Defensive Analyst (LBs) at Louisiana, Defensive GA at Houston (under D'Onofrio and alongside Pehrson/Deatrick), Purdue, and Miami (also under D'Onofrio)

Pete Haffner, Defensive QC (ILBs)

• Previously GA at Princeton and Holy Cross

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Some very interesting tidbits. As always, the only winner is the attorneys ($500 million in fees requested lol picked the right career but wrong area of law).

Here is the full document:

Read that here.

Link

Really interesting stuff from Condi about how they were worried about Title IX, but so far the women are crushing the men in NIL earnings, specifically the women’s golfers and women’s basketball players. I truly believe NIL was the best thing to happen to college sports, because it allowed women a better opportunity to make money off sports since the support from pro leagues is so poor. No different than a music major at Stanford producing a hit song or a CS major creating a new app and selling it. Let people earn what they are worth.

Alrighty, this is long overdue! A new recruiting notes thread for men's basketball! If you missed anything from the previous months, that thread is here. First of all, a new offer was put on in June to 2026 4-star power forward T.J. Crumble. Also mentioned in the previous thread, but since it happened in June, I'll lead with that news.


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After hiring Kyle Smith as head coach, Stanford landed a number of transfers this spring. The roster is right here on GoStanford.com. @KingsofCali started a really good thread discussing possible rotations for the upcoming season. I shared my thoughts in that thread. If you missed any of that conversation, click here.


I do an article coming on out 2026 4-star shooting guard Cameron Holmes. So you all have that to look forward to. If you missed the recent national piece on him, you can check that out here. I also have a piece on incoming freshman Tallis Toure coming out as well.

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Overall, I think Kyle Smith has done a nice job of shaping the roster for this coming season. I think the transfers he's brought in will help. I think Saran and Okpara in particular were really good pick ups. Though I think Sellers has more room for growth and player development is Kyle Smith's thing. Jaylen Blakes should provide veteran leadership and defense. Preferred walk-on Cole Kastner probably won't give them much, but he's got some size and athleticism. And then the freshmen Evan Stinson, Tallis Toure, and Donavin Young are guys who the staff feels are real diamonds in the rough type of finds. While I wouldn't expect much from them out of the chute, they do appear to have bright futures.

As for the returning guys, having Maxime Raynaud back is huge. He's gonna be the feature player and he seems ready to take that on. Hopefully Agarwal and Thompson will take a step forward and be able to contribute some. Benny Gealer has already proven himself to be a solid point guard.

More thoughts in the thread on rotations, but that's kinda where things sit right now with the team. I do think one difference we're gonna see with recruiting is probably less high end commits. That's not to say Smith won't land anybody who is ranked high by Rivals or the other scouting services, but he's more looking for guys who he thinks he can develop and mold into something good. He doesn't look at high schoolers as finished products. Which is good. They're not. Even the best of them need to improve a lot.

P.S. I also think it's fair to wonder how much Smith really wanted Stojakovic and Carlyle back. Both guys are very much oriented towards getting to the NBA and getting their shots. Smith is a coach who wants guys who will buy into the team concept of basketball and be more oriented towards playing on a good team. Given that, I think Smith is probably just fine with those two guys leaving.

Read that here.

The USOC has picked LeBron as our nation's male flag bearer. Seems to me they could have picked someone who symbolizes the Olympic spirit more than a petulant billionaire. Love this post from Enes Kanter about Lebron disrespecting the US, with a video showing LeBron walking in and sitting down during the National Anthem at a USC game. . . . .

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The female flag bearer is to be announced tomorrow. Can’t imagine it’d be anyone else but Katie. . . .

Read that here. Courtesy of Adam Gorney. The recruit talked about is Nusi Taumoepeau.


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In this edition of YouTube recommendations, we rediscover the Stanford vs. Washington State game played in rainy Seattle. Stanford dominated the Cougs three weeks after they beat USC, something we failed to do two months later. When you watch this game, it's immediately evident how far we fell from our peak of physicality and athleticism to what we saw in the final three seasons under Shaw.

Our defense looked like an SEC defense, and Connor Halliday was pounded into the ground so many times that he had to leave the game and couldn't walk. The backup was also battered. We humiliated their offense with our superiority. Jordan Richards' INT TD was a classic example of how to create a turnover and a big play for the defense. Trent Murphy beat the hapless left tackle and sawed Halliday in half, causing a floater that Richards played like a center fielder. Murphy later got his second consecutive interception at the line of scrimmage in the Seattle game (2012 vs. UW and 2013 vs. WSU), returning both for touchdowns. Skov and Tarpley were beasts—so instinctual, physical, and passionate. Carter at CB tackled better than most safeties and covered well.

It sucks that H. Anderson and Gardner were banged up that season. It would have been an unfair unit to compete against if the whole group had been 100% all season. Fortunately, Mauro was also excellent, and Parry played well as he got more reps.

This game was a good example of the good and the bad from the offense that season. The offensive line was excellent, Ty Montgomery was a stud, Gaffney was a tireless, if remarkably unspectacular, workhorse, and Cajuste emerged as a big playmaker. The WSU game was Cajuste's breakout moment. He had a spectacular game, one I can't remember he ever matched in terms of production. Hogan's running ability was invaluable, but his weaknesses as a young passer were evident. His downfield accuracy was inconsistent, and his arm strength was average.

We had multiple big plays when Hogan could camp behind the line and complete deep passes to Rector and Cajuste. It's fun to watch how big and skilled our linemen were. Fleming at right tackle was a mountain. David Yankey was great at guard and young Andrus Peat took over left tackle. Wilkes developed into a good player and Danser was solid.

The state of the tight end room was as bad as I remembered. Luke Kaumatule getting snaps was Exhibit A of our desperation. Man, I really don't know why Hewitt got shoved aside into irrelevancy. His targets plummeted, and he could have started at tight end. It's fascinating that he had the most receptions in 2011 when the offense was loaded with exceptional tight ends but almost nothing when we had zero. I'm not being snarky. I know how fans on this forum felt about Hewitt's usage that season. It was just such an eyebrow-raiser when I watched this video. Hewitt only played 10 games. Maybe he had a lingering injury issue that limited him at times. I don't recall. It seems so, well, dumb. Lee Ward was more than capable at fullback.

Trigger warning @fborg81

Michael Rector only played eight games (injured?) and had only 14 receptions. His targets probably weren't much more than that, either. And yet, he averaged 30.8 yards a catch. What a remarkable first impression as an RS freshman.

I'm trying to be mostly positive, but I have to say that our offense having a delay of game on the first drive immediately after a 30+ yard reception was wild. Then, two plays later, we took a timeout to avoid another delay of game. Incredible.