The second of two sessions of Stanford's skills camp wrapped up a few hours ago.
Per usual, a few caveats.
-I do try and gauge the opinions of other observers/sources at camp (and ideally these reports are a mix of my own observations and the information I've gleaned from others) but it's sometimes not possible to get a comprehensive overview of which players impressed until some time after camp's conclusion. I'm one person trying to watch, what, 200-plus kids spread across multiple stations. And as I always note, I'm not a QB guru or football x's and o's expert or anything of the sort. So there's a chance I may have missed a recruit or two (though I do my best to gain awareness of all of the notable prospects), and I'm sure I didn't see everyone at the camp.
In the days and weeks to follow I will continue to touch base with folks around the camp/recruiting process and will follow up with any additional intel/comments.
(And I will add profile links later this evening.)
Quarterbacks
-I was able to gather a bit more context to what I perceived as maybe not Jack West's best performance this morning. He actually threw yesterday with Amon-Ra St. Brown (and perhaps Osiris - I'm a bit fuzzy on that) and per two people who watched the workout looked very good. One of those people thought he wasn't quite as sharp today, so I'm thinking there might have been a bit of fatigue.
Regardless, the post-camp vibes I was able to pick up (and this will require a fair amount more digging to confirm/get a sense for where things stand with other 2018's) indicate that Stanford remains very high on West. One source familiar with Stanford's thinking indicated that he felt the Cardinal viewed West as the top QB in the 2018 class.
West actually did not work out this afternoon (he hung around with Coach Shaw for a good chunk of the afternoon session), and his visit will continue through tomorrow. Jack also has several family members out here on the trip.
-Other than West's absence, I thought it was more of the same from the morning session with the quarterbacks. JT Daniels was sharp once again. I'll need to do more digging on this, so take this comment with a grain of salt, but based on what I saw and some initial post-camp buzz I wouldn't be shocked if he is someone that's a rare early offer candidate a la West. He was quite good.
Ryan Hilinski is also going to be a 2019 to monitor. Really big arm, great frame. Would imagine he and Daniels would be super (super) early frontrunners in the 2019 QB derby.
Hank Bachmeier is another other 2019 who's already on college radars - he has an early offer from Colorado. He doesn't quite have the size/arm talent combination of Hilinski and Daniels, but he was bumped up to work with the older kids and had a strong performance.
-Back to the 2018 class, I thought the three players who separated themselves at the position were Jack Tuttle, Colson Yankoff and Zadock Dinkelmann. Different strengths for each, of course - I thought Zadock threw with the most zip (though Yankoff actually threw the same distance - 61 yards - in the long throw competition), Tuttle might have been the most consistent, Yankoff the most athletic. There's a lot to like with that group, I think.
-Nick Henkel and Blake Stenstrom also had some nice moments, but I don't think they're as physically gifted as the aforementioned trio + West.
-I might be on a bit of an island here, but I absolutely loved 2017 Washington QB Jack Coletto. Like, thought he was one of the top two or three QB's all day and have no idea how he doesn't appear to have any college interest. Kind of a moot point with Stanford having '17 QB recruiting wrapped up with Davis Mills (unless they target Coletto as a walk-on), and I could be out to lunch here, but he looked the part.
-Watched Brycen Mussina some - thought he was OK, but not at the level of some of the other guys. But it is important to note that he's relatively new to the game of football and is going to be more raw than his fellow quarterbacks. Still think he's an intriguing guy as a walk-on.
-I didn't watch him at all, but 2020 QB (and Stanford legacy X 3) Carl Richardson was at camp. Threw 53 yards in the long distance competition, apparently.
Receivers
No St. Brown brothers or Chad Cota in the afternoon session. (Thought Chad did some nice things this morning. Will have to ask around to determine whether he did enough to really place himself up there on Stanford's radar.)
-As noted this morning, I thought Austin Williams was quite good - crisp routes, got open, good hands. Also some positive post-camp buzz from one source. He might be one to watch in the coming months. Don't know if he'll ultimately get an offer, but if things don't end up going Stanford's way with Tarik Black or Osiris St. Brown I could see him being very much in the discussion. Good player.
-Jordan Heath and Chase Kuerschen also caught my eye.
-Taniela Pututau was at camp today, but I wasn't able to spot him.
-A couple other WR flashed, but I wasn't able to get names. Will pass along anyone else that pops up as I continue to do digging about this week.
Defensive Back
Ended up being a pretty interesting group here. In addition to the players I listed in the morning post, Travian Blaylock, Donjae Logan... and Baylor decommit Donovan Stiner are a few of the campers who are/were on Stanford's radar. Didn't really spot much from that trio, though the initial vibes on Stiner (who would seem to be the one watch out of that trio) as far as his chances of earning a scholarship offer weren't all that great.
Paulson Adebo continued to take reps at both receiver and defensive back. I'm not sure if it's a consensus, but there was a feeling among some folks I spoke with that he was better at DB than WR. One source I spoke with at camp certainly felt this way, for example. Multiple observers lauded Adebo's athleticism (including Jason Fisk, actually, who I happened to chat with for a brief period). Will be very interesting to see how Stanford approaches this given their extremely tight numbers on defense and the fact that Paulson may have been better on that side of the ball.
Demetrius Douglass, Elijah Hicks and David Acallie all had some strong moments. One observer singled out Hicks as impressing in that trio... I honestly had a hard time determining which player had the best performance in that group.
Linebacker/Tight End
Neither Tucker Fisk nor Colby Parkinson worked out this afternoon. But just to follow up on Parkinson, talked to someone today who noted that not only has Parkinson added a lot of good weight in the last number of months - he moves better than he did six months ago. Really, really feel like Stanford has a special player in Colby.
Continue to think Erik Krommenhoek is a very solid prospect, just still can't see where there's room for him in this class barring something unexpected with Tucker or Colby (or if he/Stanford might be open to something like a blueshirt, which I haven't heard has been discussed in his situation).
The bulk of the linebackers will arrive later this week for the all-positions camp (including very intriguing Arizona OLB Odua Isibor, I was told earlier today), but there were two notable linebackers: 2017 Ben Bywater (Utah State, BYU, Air Force offers) and 2018 Karene Reid - who is the younger brother of 2015 Stanford signee Gabe Reid. I would be a bit surprised if anything ends up progressing super far with Bywater, but the buzz was quite positive on Karene. He'll definitely be someone to watch in the 2018 class.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the two running backs (Justus Woods or Cole Dubots). Will try to find out if either impressed.
Per usual, a few caveats.
-I do try and gauge the opinions of other observers/sources at camp (and ideally these reports are a mix of my own observations and the information I've gleaned from others) but it's sometimes not possible to get a comprehensive overview of which players impressed until some time after camp's conclusion. I'm one person trying to watch, what, 200-plus kids spread across multiple stations. And as I always note, I'm not a QB guru or football x's and o's expert or anything of the sort. So there's a chance I may have missed a recruit or two (though I do my best to gain awareness of all of the notable prospects), and I'm sure I didn't see everyone at the camp.
In the days and weeks to follow I will continue to touch base with folks around the camp/recruiting process and will follow up with any additional intel/comments.
(And I will add profile links later this evening.)
Quarterbacks
-I was able to gather a bit more context to what I perceived as maybe not Jack West's best performance this morning. He actually threw yesterday with Amon-Ra St. Brown (and perhaps Osiris - I'm a bit fuzzy on that) and per two people who watched the workout looked very good. One of those people thought he wasn't quite as sharp today, so I'm thinking there might have been a bit of fatigue.
Regardless, the post-camp vibes I was able to pick up (and this will require a fair amount more digging to confirm/get a sense for where things stand with other 2018's) indicate that Stanford remains very high on West. One source familiar with Stanford's thinking indicated that he felt the Cardinal viewed West as the top QB in the 2018 class.
West actually did not work out this afternoon (he hung around with Coach Shaw for a good chunk of the afternoon session), and his visit will continue through tomorrow. Jack also has several family members out here on the trip.
-Other than West's absence, I thought it was more of the same from the morning session with the quarterbacks. JT Daniels was sharp once again. I'll need to do more digging on this, so take this comment with a grain of salt, but based on what I saw and some initial post-camp buzz I wouldn't be shocked if he is someone that's a rare early offer candidate a la West. He was quite good.
Ryan Hilinski is also going to be a 2019 to monitor. Really big arm, great frame. Would imagine he and Daniels would be super (super) early frontrunners in the 2019 QB derby.
Hank Bachmeier is another other 2019 who's already on college radars - he has an early offer from Colorado. He doesn't quite have the size/arm talent combination of Hilinski and Daniels, but he was bumped up to work with the older kids and had a strong performance.
-Back to the 2018 class, I thought the three players who separated themselves at the position were Jack Tuttle, Colson Yankoff and Zadock Dinkelmann. Different strengths for each, of course - I thought Zadock threw with the most zip (though Yankoff actually threw the same distance - 61 yards - in the long throw competition), Tuttle might have been the most consistent, Yankoff the most athletic. There's a lot to like with that group, I think.
-Nick Henkel and Blake Stenstrom also had some nice moments, but I don't think they're as physically gifted as the aforementioned trio + West.
-I might be on a bit of an island here, but I absolutely loved 2017 Washington QB Jack Coletto. Like, thought he was one of the top two or three QB's all day and have no idea how he doesn't appear to have any college interest. Kind of a moot point with Stanford having '17 QB recruiting wrapped up with Davis Mills (unless they target Coletto as a walk-on), and I could be out to lunch here, but he looked the part.
-Watched Brycen Mussina some - thought he was OK, but not at the level of some of the other guys. But it is important to note that he's relatively new to the game of football and is going to be more raw than his fellow quarterbacks. Still think he's an intriguing guy as a walk-on.
-I didn't watch him at all, but 2020 QB (and Stanford legacy X 3) Carl Richardson was at camp. Threw 53 yards in the long distance competition, apparently.
Receivers
No St. Brown brothers or Chad Cota in the afternoon session. (Thought Chad did some nice things this morning. Will have to ask around to determine whether he did enough to really place himself up there on Stanford's radar.)
-As noted this morning, I thought Austin Williams was quite good - crisp routes, got open, good hands. Also some positive post-camp buzz from one source. He might be one to watch in the coming months. Don't know if he'll ultimately get an offer, but if things don't end up going Stanford's way with Tarik Black or Osiris St. Brown I could see him being very much in the discussion. Good player.
-Jordan Heath and Chase Kuerschen also caught my eye.
-Taniela Pututau was at camp today, but I wasn't able to spot him.
-A couple other WR flashed, but I wasn't able to get names. Will pass along anyone else that pops up as I continue to do digging about this week.
Defensive Back
Ended up being a pretty interesting group here. In addition to the players I listed in the morning post, Travian Blaylock, Donjae Logan... and Baylor decommit Donovan Stiner are a few of the campers who are/were on Stanford's radar. Didn't really spot much from that trio, though the initial vibes on Stiner (who would seem to be the one watch out of that trio) as far as his chances of earning a scholarship offer weren't all that great.
Paulson Adebo continued to take reps at both receiver and defensive back. I'm not sure if it's a consensus, but there was a feeling among some folks I spoke with that he was better at DB than WR. One source I spoke with at camp certainly felt this way, for example. Multiple observers lauded Adebo's athleticism (including Jason Fisk, actually, who I happened to chat with for a brief period). Will be very interesting to see how Stanford approaches this given their extremely tight numbers on defense and the fact that Paulson may have been better on that side of the ball.
Demetrius Douglass, Elijah Hicks and David Acallie all had some strong moments. One observer singled out Hicks as impressing in that trio... I honestly had a hard time determining which player had the best performance in that group.
Linebacker/Tight End
Neither Tucker Fisk nor Colby Parkinson worked out this afternoon. But just to follow up on Parkinson, talked to someone today who noted that not only has Parkinson added a lot of good weight in the last number of months - he moves better than he did six months ago. Really, really feel like Stanford has a special player in Colby.
Continue to think Erik Krommenhoek is a very solid prospect, just still can't see where there's room for him in this class barring something unexpected with Tucker or Colby (or if he/Stanford might be open to something like a blueshirt, which I haven't heard has been discussed in his situation).
The bulk of the linebackers will arrive later this week for the all-positions camp (including very intriguing Arizona OLB Odua Isibor, I was told earlier today), but there were two notable linebackers: 2017 Ben Bywater (Utah State, BYU, Air Force offers) and 2018 Karene Reid - who is the younger brother of 2015 Stanford signee Gabe Reid. I would be a bit surprised if anything ends up progressing super far with Bywater, but the buzz was quite positive on Karene. He'll definitely be someone to watch in the 2018 class.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the two running backs (Justus Woods or Cole Dubots). Will try to find out if either impressed.
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