I am very encouraged by the recruiting success of our new coaching staff and the turnaround vision that they have sold recruits with success.
That being said, the recruiting game has changed so much that absent a very meaningful uptick in high school recruiting we are likely to continue be at a substantial talent disadvantage despite the clear recruiting uptick.
1) USC, Notre Dame, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will all likely end up with higher ranked high school classes
2) Everyone in the Pac 12 will fare better in the transfer portal than us which is arguably a better talent pool to go after as most of the players are more mature as well as known quantities
3) NIL money will make it very to keep stars that emerge and we will see more Harrison Ingram (basketball analogy) situations where even when we land and sign someone quite that the big guys (UNC hoops in case of Harrison) come in and poach our best players
Net net, to consistently win and not be at a talent disadvantage in football, Stanford must consistently sign and keep top 10-15 high school talent and have a meaningful NIL offer to keep its players. I think we can solve occasional issues via the transfer portal but we will never be USC, Colorado, Oregon,…
That being said, the recruiting game has changed so much that absent a very meaningful uptick in high school recruiting we are likely to continue be at a substantial talent disadvantage despite the clear recruiting uptick.
1) USC, Notre Dame, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will all likely end up with higher ranked high school classes
2) Everyone in the Pac 12 will fare better in the transfer portal than us which is arguably a better talent pool to go after as most of the players are more mature as well as known quantities
3) NIL money will make it very to keep stars that emerge and we will see more Harrison Ingram (basketball analogy) situations where even when we land and sign someone quite that the big guys (UNC hoops in case of Harrison) come in and poach our best players
Net net, to consistently win and not be at a talent disadvantage in football, Stanford must consistently sign and keep top 10-15 high school talent and have a meaningful NIL offer to keep its players. I think we can solve occasional issues via the transfer portal but we will never be USC, Colorado, Oregon,…
