Before I went to the baseball game, I interviewed David Shaw, EJ Smith, and Stephen Herron. I'll get full transcriptions up when I can, but for now, here is the summary.
David Shaw: He said they need to get better in all phases of the game. That should be obvious. He was asked if there are two areas that they especially need to improve on and he did say running the ball and stopping the run. He also praised E.J. Smith. Said he has a chance to be special and showed glimpses last year. Right as they were about to give him more touches, he got hurt. So, it sounds like they were hoping to get him more involved last year than he was. He said he's really excited about the secondary. Feels like that could be a real difference maker for them. Just having the core all back plus Patrick Fields. Feels like Kyu Blu Kelly is going to be elite. Touching more on Fields, really praised him for his leadership skills and being the kinda grad transfer that they do get. Guys who seek them out. Guys who really get and wanna be at a place like Stanford.
With Tanner McKee, he feels like it helps that there will be no QB controversy this year. It's Tanner all the way this time. He feels like last year was a great growth year for McKee and that the experience should serve him well. As for Brycen Tremayne, he said he isn't practicing, but the bone has healed. Now it's just a matter of strengthening the muscle around the bone. Something like that. The full quote will explain it, but that's the skinny with him. Sounds like he should be on track to play against Colgate. Though if I were them, I might sit him out out of abundance of caution. As for the early enrollees, it's about holding them to a high standard while also being patient with them and remembering that they could be high school seniors still. He does feel that extra time will help all of them.
EJ Smith: Really the big thing with him is just staying healthy. That's really the meat of what we talked about. Just taking better care of his body and being able to take the pounding week in and week out. He talked about how he needs to change his approach in that vein. He does seem excited to have a bigger role on this team. It's all being set up for him to be the man in the backfield. And Shaw for that matter seems excited about that as well.
Stephen Herron: He feels like they need to pay more attention to detail and that they didn’t have enough accountability for their mistakes last year. He feels like that was an issue. He said David Bailey is already one of the biggest and fastest guys on the entire team. Very excited about what he'll bring to the defense. He said they're going to need to be a bit patient with him just because he's an early enrollee and chose to be here as opposed to being in high school and enjoying his final semester of high school. He also said he's excited to see what EJ Smith can do. Feels like he could be a real game changer for them. I also asked him about the difference between Edge and OLB. Since he's now an "Edge" and not an "OLB". He said it's pretty much the same, but that it does mean there's a slight schematic shift a bit. But that it's basically the same.
David Shaw: He said they need to get better in all phases of the game. That should be obvious. He was asked if there are two areas that they especially need to improve on and he did say running the ball and stopping the run. He also praised E.J. Smith. Said he has a chance to be special and showed glimpses last year. Right as they were about to give him more touches, he got hurt. So, it sounds like they were hoping to get him more involved last year than he was. He said he's really excited about the secondary. Feels like that could be a real difference maker for them. Just having the core all back plus Patrick Fields. Feels like Kyu Blu Kelly is going to be elite. Touching more on Fields, really praised him for his leadership skills and being the kinda grad transfer that they do get. Guys who seek them out. Guys who really get and wanna be at a place like Stanford.
With Tanner McKee, he feels like it helps that there will be no QB controversy this year. It's Tanner all the way this time. He feels like last year was a great growth year for McKee and that the experience should serve him well. As for Brycen Tremayne, he said he isn't practicing, but the bone has healed. Now it's just a matter of strengthening the muscle around the bone. Something like that. The full quote will explain it, but that's the skinny with him. Sounds like he should be on track to play against Colgate. Though if I were them, I might sit him out out of abundance of caution. As for the early enrollees, it's about holding them to a high standard while also being patient with them and remembering that they could be high school seniors still. He does feel that extra time will help all of them.
EJ Smith: Really the big thing with him is just staying healthy. That's really the meat of what we talked about. Just taking better care of his body and being able to take the pounding week in and week out. He talked about how he needs to change his approach in that vein. He does seem excited to have a bigger role on this team. It's all being set up for him to be the man in the backfield. And Shaw for that matter seems excited about that as well.
Stephen Herron: He feels like they need to pay more attention to detail and that they didn’t have enough accountability for their mistakes last year. He feels like that was an issue. He said David Bailey is already one of the biggest and fastest guys on the entire team. Very excited about what he'll bring to the defense. He said they're going to need to be a bit patient with him just because he's an early enrollee and chose to be here as opposed to being in high school and enjoying his final semester of high school. He also said he's excited to see what EJ Smith can do. Feels like he could be a real game changer for them. I also asked him about the difference between Edge and OLB. Since he's now an "Edge" and not an "OLB". He said it's pretty much the same, but that it does mean there's a slight schematic shift a bit. But that it's basically the same.
