Alrighty then! Time for the football recruiting notes thread for the month of August! The July recruiting notes thread is here. So scroll through that if you missed anything that was recently dropped in there.
July was a pretty good month for Stanford football recruiting aside from missing out on Lonergan: 3-star guard Simione Pale, 4-star defensive end Hunter Clegg, 4-star tight end Walker Lyons, 3-star offensive tackle Zak Yamauchi, and 3-star defensive tackle Cameron Brandt all committed. Stanford now has 13 scholarship commits and the 32nd overall best class in the latest 2023 Rivals Team recruiting rankings.
Stanford has already made the top lists for a couple guys who will be committing this month: 3-star ATH Ben Minich and 4-star ATH (WR/DB) Jacobe Johnson. Both were mentioned in the July thread. Minich is almost certain to go to Notre Dame and latest I heard from him, he had not taken a visit, so I'm not expecting him to come to Stanford. But still worth noting since he put Stanford on his list. As for Jacobe Johnson, Oklahoma is the front runner right now. All FutureCasts are in for the Sooners including a couple that are recent. One thing that does help Stanford is that Johnson has been admitted, so they don't have the academic hurdle to clear. But, it appears as though the pull of staying home will likely win out. But, if he's still thinking things through at all, Stanford is probably the school with the best odds to pull him away from Oklahoma.
As far as guys who I think could pop next, 3-star offensive tackle Ethan Thomason, 3-star safety Brock Fonoimoana, defensive tackle Elijah Hughes, and 3-star linebacker Tre Williams are four guys who I have FutureCasts in for. Thomason and Fonoimoana I put in the last week, Hughes I've had in for a while, following the initial intel of Jason Stamm back in mid-June. As for Williams, I've had that one in since early July. Here's how I'm feeling about all four in more detail:
Thomason-LDS kid who's been admitted. On those grounds alone, I like Stanford's chances. I'm assuming he'll be serving a mission so really a 2025 kid. But I've been getting good vibes from him. Cal just offered him the other day. I'm honestly not sure why they're getting into the game this late. No way he'd choose Cal over Stanford if he's been admitted. Especially when you consider the LDS component. If they had offered him long before, maybe. But to offer him at this point is just a waste of time for them.
The school that I think is the biggest threat is BYU. Maybe he'll want to go the church school route, but he recently tweeted out frustration about a BYU booster that was trying to shame him into choosing BYU. Like if he doesn't go to BYU he isn't as good of a Mormon kinda BS. He didn't seem to like that and if anything that kinda stuff will deter him from choosing BYU. But we'll see. Hunter Clegg joked that you should see what this booster does when you don't commit. LOL. So there's that. But anyways, I'm liking Stanford's odds, but they still gotta close.
Fonoimoana-I don't know if he's been admitted yet. I'll need to check again. Latest I heard from him he hadn't been, but had applied. He did tweet out an official scholarship offer, which could indicate he's been admitted. It would make sense for them to wait to extend those until after guys have been admitted. I am confident regardless that he'll get in if he hasn't already. I guess with him, it's kinda like Thomason where being LDS is a plus. Stanford is on quite a roll with the Latter-Day Saint kids right now. It also helps that Duane Akina has the Hawaii connections, so that's kind of a twofer right there. The biggest threat seems to be Utah. They play really good defense and the LDS church has a strong community there. But at the end of the day, I do expect him to choose Stanford. I think Stanford is in a good place there.
Hughes-I personally think if he does get admitted, Stanford will be in a good spot to reel him in. He seems to value the academic side a lot and has connections to California. Family-friend ties out here. He also seemed to be recruiting himself to Stanford, coming out for the camp on his own, picking up the offer, etc. If he gets admitted, I'd honestly be surprised if he went elsewhere. But as of now, he hasn't yet found out, so that's really the thing we're waiting on there it seems.
Williams-Given that his dad went to Stanford and he's visited multiple times, both in the spring and also on an official visit, I just think if he gets admitted (I need to circle back on that), he comes to Stanford. So, that's really the big to look for. Last I heard, he had applied or was going to apply soon, but hadn't yet heard back. That's the latest there, but it's not hard to see why I'd put the FutureCast in. Pretty self-explanatory.
As far as other guys are concerned, 4-star linebacker Leviticus Su'a is a guy to keep an eye on. Arizona and Stanford are his two official visits, but I think he's also setting something up with Louisville as well or has already visited there, too.
3-star linebacker Asa Newsom was part of that first wave of June official visits. I sent him a message on Wednesday about where things are at with his application. Haven't yet heard back from him.
4-star cornerback Jordan Matthews took his official visit June 17th and has been admitted, but all signs point to Texas. I wouldn't hold my breath for this one, but he does think highly of Duane Akina, who funny enough, coached at Texas for a while. So maybe Akina can convince him that Stanford is better using his inside knowledge of Texas. We'll see.
4-star linebacker Siale Esera is taking his time, but will take his official visit for the BYU game. He appears to want to see how the teams look on the field, so having as solid season and beating BYU would be huge for Stanford in this one.
3-star edge Gavin Geweniger took an official visit in June. I've asked him about admissions. Haven't yet heard back. Arizona looks to be the biggest threat as he's also taken an official visit and it's his hometown school.
3-star offensive tackle Evan Link committed to Michigan, but it's possible the staff tries to flip him. @SamuelMcF notice through his sleuthing that the staff still follows him, so the final chapter may not be closed on him. I did receive confirmation through a source that he did take an official visit on June 24th in that second wave. So I would assume he's made his decision knowing his admissions fate. If the staff keeps trying with him, that means he must be a go there academically. They obviously wouldn't try to flip a guy who got denied.
July was a pretty good month for Stanford football recruiting aside from missing out on Lonergan: 3-star guard Simione Pale, 4-star defensive end Hunter Clegg, 4-star tight end Walker Lyons, 3-star offensive tackle Zak Yamauchi, and 3-star defensive tackle Cameron Brandt all committed. Stanford now has 13 scholarship commits and the 32nd overall best class in the latest 2023 Rivals Team recruiting rankings.
Stanford has already made the top lists for a couple guys who will be committing this month: 3-star ATH Ben Minich and 4-star ATH (WR/DB) Jacobe Johnson. Both were mentioned in the July thread. Minich is almost certain to go to Notre Dame and latest I heard from him, he had not taken a visit, so I'm not expecting him to come to Stanford. But still worth noting since he put Stanford on his list. As for Jacobe Johnson, Oklahoma is the front runner right now. All FutureCasts are in for the Sooners including a couple that are recent. One thing that does help Stanford is that Johnson has been admitted, so they don't have the academic hurdle to clear. But, it appears as though the pull of staying home will likely win out. But, if he's still thinking things through at all, Stanford is probably the school with the best odds to pull him away from Oklahoma.
As far as guys who I think could pop next, 3-star offensive tackle Ethan Thomason, 3-star safety Brock Fonoimoana, defensive tackle Elijah Hughes, and 3-star linebacker Tre Williams are four guys who I have FutureCasts in for. Thomason and Fonoimoana I put in the last week, Hughes I've had in for a while, following the initial intel of Jason Stamm back in mid-June. As for Williams, I've had that one in since early July. Here's how I'm feeling about all four in more detail:
Thomason-LDS kid who's been admitted. On those grounds alone, I like Stanford's chances. I'm assuming he'll be serving a mission so really a 2025 kid. But I've been getting good vibes from him. Cal just offered him the other day. I'm honestly not sure why they're getting into the game this late. No way he'd choose Cal over Stanford if he's been admitted. Especially when you consider the LDS component. If they had offered him long before, maybe. But to offer him at this point is just a waste of time for them.
The school that I think is the biggest threat is BYU. Maybe he'll want to go the church school route, but he recently tweeted out frustration about a BYU booster that was trying to shame him into choosing BYU. Like if he doesn't go to BYU he isn't as good of a Mormon kinda BS. He didn't seem to like that and if anything that kinda stuff will deter him from choosing BYU. But we'll see. Hunter Clegg joked that you should see what this booster does when you don't commit. LOL. So there's that. But anyways, I'm liking Stanford's odds, but they still gotta close.
Fonoimoana-I don't know if he's been admitted yet. I'll need to check again. Latest I heard from him he hadn't been, but had applied. He did tweet out an official scholarship offer, which could indicate he's been admitted. It would make sense for them to wait to extend those until after guys have been admitted. I am confident regardless that he'll get in if he hasn't already. I guess with him, it's kinda like Thomason where being LDS is a plus. Stanford is on quite a roll with the Latter-Day Saint kids right now. It also helps that Duane Akina has the Hawaii connections, so that's kind of a twofer right there. The biggest threat seems to be Utah. They play really good defense and the LDS church has a strong community there. But at the end of the day, I do expect him to choose Stanford. I think Stanford is in a good place there.
Hughes-I personally think if he does get admitted, Stanford will be in a good spot to reel him in. He seems to value the academic side a lot and has connections to California. Family-friend ties out here. He also seemed to be recruiting himself to Stanford, coming out for the camp on his own, picking up the offer, etc. If he gets admitted, I'd honestly be surprised if he went elsewhere. But as of now, he hasn't yet found out, so that's really the thing we're waiting on there it seems.
Williams-Given that his dad went to Stanford and he's visited multiple times, both in the spring and also on an official visit, I just think if he gets admitted (I need to circle back on that), he comes to Stanford. So, that's really the big to look for. Last I heard, he had applied or was going to apply soon, but hadn't yet heard back. That's the latest there, but it's not hard to see why I'd put the FutureCast in. Pretty self-explanatory.
As far as other guys are concerned, 4-star linebacker Leviticus Su'a is a guy to keep an eye on. Arizona and Stanford are his two official visits, but I think he's also setting something up with Louisville as well or has already visited there, too.
3-star linebacker Asa Newsom was part of that first wave of June official visits. I sent him a message on Wednesday about where things are at with his application. Haven't yet heard back from him.
4-star cornerback Jordan Matthews took his official visit June 17th and has been admitted, but all signs point to Texas. I wouldn't hold my breath for this one, but he does think highly of Duane Akina, who funny enough, coached at Texas for a while. So maybe Akina can convince him that Stanford is better using his inside knowledge of Texas. We'll see.
4-star linebacker Siale Esera is taking his time, but will take his official visit for the BYU game. He appears to want to see how the teams look on the field, so having as solid season and beating BYU would be huge for Stanford in this one.
3-star edge Gavin Geweniger took an official visit in June. I've asked him about admissions. Haven't yet heard back. Arizona looks to be the biggest threat as he's also taken an official visit and it's his hometown school.
3-star offensive tackle Evan Link committed to Michigan, but it's possible the staff tries to flip him. @SamuelMcF notice through his sleuthing that the staff still follows him, so the final chapter may not be closed on him. I did receive confirmation through a source that he did take an official visit on June 24th in that second wave. So I would assume he's made his decision knowing his admissions fate. If the staff keeps trying with him, that means he must be a go there academically. They obviously wouldn't try to flip a guy who got denied.
