We have long lamented (and in these last five years in the wilderness understood why) that Stanford is so utterly out of sight and out of mind in the college football landscape. We are totally irrelevant and nobody cares about us, at least right now. When stories get written we are almost always invisible, whether we have something salient to offer the conversation or not. I have kind of given up on posting mainstream stories in which this is obvious because it's almost always the case. Still, when ESPN ran their ranking of the top 100 players in college football for the 2024 season, I very much expected Elic Ayomanor to be on the list. Honestly did not occur to me somebody could publish a ranking with 13 college receivers and not include Ayomanor. Oh well. Anyway, for those interested in who the reputed big dogs are in the ACC and on our schedule, here you go:
12. CB Benjamin Morrison (Notre Dame)
15. LB Barrett Carter (Clemson)
27. RB Omarion Hampton (North Carolina)
39. DE Ashton Gillotte (Louisville)
42. RB Jaydn Ott (Cal)
43. DE Rueben Bain Jr. (Miami)
44. DE Patrick Payton (Florida State)
45. DT Howard Cross III (Notre Dame)
46. RB Damien Martinez (Miami)
48. WR Kevin Concepcion (NC State)
50. DT Peter Woods (Clemson)
52. S Xavier Watts (Notre Dame)
56. QB Cam Ward (Miami)
63. DE Antwaun Powell-Ryland (Virginia Tech)
66. WR Xavier Restrepo (Miami)
82. QB Riley Leonard (Notre Dame)
87. QB Preston Stone (SMU)
88. CB Dorian Strong (Virginia Tech)
90. CB Quincy Riley (Louisville)
96. TE Mitchell Evans (Notre Dame)
97. OL Jalen Rivers (Miami)
98. CB Aydan White (NC State)
100. CB Azareye'h Thomas (Florida State)
Observations:
* Obviously the upshot is that a group of mainstream college football experts (blame David Hale, Adam Rittenberg, Bill Connelly, Chris Low, and Paolo Uggetti) don't think Stanford has one of the 100 best players in the country or top 18 players in the ACC. There are some who may want to use that as bulletin board material (Collin Wright, David Bailey) but the one that jumps out, obviously, is Ayomanor. I think it's a mistake to exclude him. If there is anybody on the planet who I don't think needs more fuel or for whom this kind of snub is more irrelevant it's Ayomanor. I will look forward to him trying to prove he's as good as Concepcion and Restrepo (Louisville's Caullin Lacy is as big of a snub as Ayomanor but will probably not make ESPN look bad in the wake of yesterday's news that Lacy broke his collarbone and is out for a while). But I don't think Ayomanor will care or that this will affect him in the slightest. What I love about him is I think he will be pissed off for greatness whether touted or ignored or coming off a 1,000 yard season or medical redshirt.
* Speaking of Stanford being irrelevant in the national eye, this ESPN exercise on preseason top 100 players last had a Stanford player on it when Walker Little was #23 heading into the 2020 season (when he ended up skipping the season) and #34 heading into the 2019 season (when he ended up playing one game).
* Strong defensive flavor to this list, both in the ACC and nationally. Looks like an especially remarkable group of talent at DE and CB. Looks pretty weak at LB and extraordinarily weak at OL. Could not believe my eyes to see we don't play a single OL reputed to be among the top 100 players in the nation. This is not a function of the list being unbalanced by position as this list does a pretty good job of recognizing players across the field. Rather, the ACC has only one of the top 11 OL in the country, and he is #11 (and we don't play his team).
* By missing Florida State and Miami we miss a lot of the marquee individual talent, especially at DE and RB.
* All in all it seems like the place where we will be most challenged is by elite CBs....which go up against our best position. Ayomanor vs. Morrison/Strong/Riley/White will be some of the best subplots of our season (assuming health on both ends, and as injuries strike players away from the ball in greater incidence and as Ayomanor himself has a bad injury history, no guaranteee...fingers crossed though).
12. CB Benjamin Morrison (Notre Dame)
15. LB Barrett Carter (Clemson)
27. RB Omarion Hampton (North Carolina)
39. DE Ashton Gillotte (Louisville)
42. RB Jaydn Ott (Cal)
43. DE Rueben Bain Jr. (Miami)
44. DE Patrick Payton (Florida State)
45. DT Howard Cross III (Notre Dame)
46. RB Damien Martinez (Miami)
48. WR Kevin Concepcion (NC State)
50. DT Peter Woods (Clemson)
52. S Xavier Watts (Notre Dame)
56. QB Cam Ward (Miami)
63. DE Antwaun Powell-Ryland (Virginia Tech)
66. WR Xavier Restrepo (Miami)
82. QB Riley Leonard (Notre Dame)
87. QB Preston Stone (SMU)
88. CB Dorian Strong (Virginia Tech)
90. CB Quincy Riley (Louisville)
96. TE Mitchell Evans (Notre Dame)
97. OL Jalen Rivers (Miami)
98. CB Aydan White (NC State)
100. CB Azareye'h Thomas (Florida State)
Observations:
* Obviously the upshot is that a group of mainstream college football experts (blame David Hale, Adam Rittenberg, Bill Connelly, Chris Low, and Paolo Uggetti) don't think Stanford has one of the 100 best players in the country or top 18 players in the ACC. There are some who may want to use that as bulletin board material (Collin Wright, David Bailey) but the one that jumps out, obviously, is Ayomanor. I think it's a mistake to exclude him. If there is anybody on the planet who I don't think needs more fuel or for whom this kind of snub is more irrelevant it's Ayomanor. I will look forward to him trying to prove he's as good as Concepcion and Restrepo (Louisville's Caullin Lacy is as big of a snub as Ayomanor but will probably not make ESPN look bad in the wake of yesterday's news that Lacy broke his collarbone and is out for a while). But I don't think Ayomanor will care or that this will affect him in the slightest. What I love about him is I think he will be pissed off for greatness whether touted or ignored or coming off a 1,000 yard season or medical redshirt.
* Speaking of Stanford being irrelevant in the national eye, this ESPN exercise on preseason top 100 players last had a Stanford player on it when Walker Little was #23 heading into the 2020 season (when he ended up skipping the season) and #34 heading into the 2019 season (when he ended up playing one game).
* Strong defensive flavor to this list, both in the ACC and nationally. Looks like an especially remarkable group of talent at DE and CB. Looks pretty weak at LB and extraordinarily weak at OL. Could not believe my eyes to see we don't play a single OL reputed to be among the top 100 players in the nation. This is not a function of the list being unbalanced by position as this list does a pretty good job of recognizing players across the field. Rather, the ACC has only one of the top 11 OL in the country, and he is #11 (and we don't play his team).
* By missing Florida State and Miami we miss a lot of the marquee individual talent, especially at DE and RB.
* All in all it seems like the place where we will be most challenged is by elite CBs....which go up against our best position. Ayomanor vs. Morrison/Strong/Riley/White will be some of the best subplots of our season (assuming health on both ends, and as injuries strike players away from the ball in greater incidence and as Ayomanor himself has a bad injury history, no guaranteee...fingers crossed though).
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