Stanford's first ever June official visits went to two recruits who have a high level of interest in Stanford, but the Cardinal are widely believed to be trailing other top contenders. Four star offensive lineman Ryan Brubaker and four star defensive end Justice Finkley visited Stanford from June 1-3.
Adam Friedman connected with Brubaker after the visit just before he got to Penn State for an official visit and I was able to follow up with a couple questions. Finkley immediately followed up his trip to The Farm with a trip to Nick Saban's citadel in Tuscaloosa — illustrating just how busy this month will be for recruits and why it was so important for Stanford to be flexible with its scheduling. (David Shaw first said they wouldn't host official visits before commencement but within about a week they changed their minds.)
Brubaker
From his interview with Fridman:
"It was great!" Brubaker said. "The Stanford coaches and support staff did a phenomenal job of being flexible and tailoring an official visit to my schedule this June. They did an outstanding job displaying the opportunities available on campus as well as the culture and lifestyle of Stanford students. My family had a great time, I enjoyed campus and the Palo Alto area. Finally meeting all of the coaches and staff was awesome, especially after many months of Zooms.
"The coaches were unsurprisingly transparent and extremely genuine," he said. "What I had gathered through calls and Zooms was exactly what we got on our visit, if not better, simply because we were in person and better able to express ourselves in conversation. Even though tougher recruiting questions were asked throughout the visit, not a single answer was ever misleading and was in fact encouraged by the staff. They asked us to ask the most difficult ones."
Brubaker told me he is interested in studying public policy, history, or economics and he met with Dr. Condoleezza Rice and professor Mark Duggan.
"Both were impressive in their accomplishments as well as their dedication to Stanford and its students. What stuck out most about players, coaches, academic staff, and everybody else on campus is that they were down to earth people. I think a lot of the higher academic schools get labels as snooty or arrogant and there are some cases of that, but everybody we met was extraordinarily humble, but extraordinarily qualified and knowledgeable to be in their respective positions."
Finkley
It has always been difficult for me to get details from Justice, but his mother, April, is fortunately generous with her time and thoughts about interactions with Stanford. She, her husband, and I believe their youngest child, attended the visit with Justice.
"The entire visit was informative," she said. "We had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Condoleezza Rice, which was an amazing experience. Overall, I would say the most impactful interactions were the opportunities to sit down with Coach Shaw and the coaching/recruiting staff to have candid and transparent conversations about Justice and his future.
"We believe that if Justice were to attend Stanford, he would receive a world class education in an environment that wants him to exceed his goals. During our lunch with Dr. Longo, a professor in the Neuroscience Dept., Justice was able to ask questions about the pathway for medical school. I won’t share details about Justice and the application process, but as we know Stanford requires recruits to apply for admission and get granted acceptance just like non-athletes. The perspective of athletes being students first is a big part of Stanford's appeal."
My Reaction: I will be surprised if Stanford wins the recruiting contest for either Brubaker or Finkley, but if you're looking for silver linings I think the brightest one is that these visits are exactly the type of action that I, and subscribers here, have said are necessary to at least give Stanford their best chance. The next benchmark for Stanford with both Finkley and Brubaker is told hold on in their recruitments until they hear from admissions. Of course, while a recruit being admitted means a lot less than it used to, it's still a positive sign.
If Brubaker doesn't commit to Penn State in the next week then I think Stanford can feel a little more optimistic. Finkley will visit Colorado, Michigan and Texas (offered May 1) next after Alabama.
The next confirmed visitor is four star 2023 wide receiver Braylon James and he has a very high level in Stanford and his recruiting profile includes all the royals in the recruiting world.
Adam Friedman connected with Brubaker after the visit just before he got to Penn State for an official visit and I was able to follow up with a couple questions. Finkley immediately followed up his trip to The Farm with a trip to Nick Saban's citadel in Tuscaloosa — illustrating just how busy this month will be for recruits and why it was so important for Stanford to be flexible with its scheduling. (David Shaw first said they wouldn't host official visits before commencement but within about a week they changed their minds.)
Brubaker
From his interview with Fridman:
"It was great!" Brubaker said. "The Stanford coaches and support staff did a phenomenal job of being flexible and tailoring an official visit to my schedule this June. They did an outstanding job displaying the opportunities available on campus as well as the culture and lifestyle of Stanford students. My family had a great time, I enjoyed campus and the Palo Alto area. Finally meeting all of the coaches and staff was awesome, especially after many months of Zooms.
"The coaches were unsurprisingly transparent and extremely genuine," he said. "What I had gathered through calls and Zooms was exactly what we got on our visit, if not better, simply because we were in person and better able to express ourselves in conversation. Even though tougher recruiting questions were asked throughout the visit, not a single answer was ever misleading and was in fact encouraged by the staff. They asked us to ask the most difficult ones."
Brubaker told me he is interested in studying public policy, history, or economics and he met with Dr. Condoleezza Rice and professor Mark Duggan.
"Both were impressive in their accomplishments as well as their dedication to Stanford and its students. What stuck out most about players, coaches, academic staff, and everybody else on campus is that they were down to earth people. I think a lot of the higher academic schools get labels as snooty or arrogant and there are some cases of that, but everybody we met was extraordinarily humble, but extraordinarily qualified and knowledgeable to be in their respective positions."
Finkley
It has always been difficult for me to get details from Justice, but his mother, April, is fortunately generous with her time and thoughts about interactions with Stanford. She, her husband, and I believe their youngest child, attended the visit with Justice.
"The entire visit was informative," she said. "We had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Condoleezza Rice, which was an amazing experience. Overall, I would say the most impactful interactions were the opportunities to sit down with Coach Shaw and the coaching/recruiting staff to have candid and transparent conversations about Justice and his future.
"We believe that if Justice were to attend Stanford, he would receive a world class education in an environment that wants him to exceed his goals. During our lunch with Dr. Longo, a professor in the Neuroscience Dept., Justice was able to ask questions about the pathway for medical school. I won’t share details about Justice and the application process, but as we know Stanford requires recruits to apply for admission and get granted acceptance just like non-athletes. The perspective of athletes being students first is a big part of Stanford's appeal."
My Reaction: I will be surprised if Stanford wins the recruiting contest for either Brubaker or Finkley, but if you're looking for silver linings I think the brightest one is that these visits are exactly the type of action that I, and subscribers here, have said are necessary to at least give Stanford their best chance. The next benchmark for Stanford with both Finkley and Brubaker is told hold on in their recruitments until they hear from admissions. Of course, while a recruit being admitted means a lot less than it used to, it's still a positive sign.
If Brubaker doesn't commit to Penn State in the next week then I think Stanford can feel a little more optimistic. Finkley will visit Colorado, Michigan and Texas (offered May 1) next after Alabama.
The next confirmed visitor is four star 2023 wide receiver Braylon James and he has a very high level in Stanford and his recruiting profile includes all the royals in the recruiting world.
