I had occasion on the other site to update my analysis of Stanford's assistant coaches as recruiters. Posting a modified version here in case it's of interest and, selfishly, because I prefer to have content here as the search function allows me to refer/return to old analyses as needed.
For what it's worth, below are the all-time recruits for our current coaches according to 247 (years as assistant coaches listed parenthetically and players listed in order of recruiting profile). This is an imperfect snapshot as it only includes players as reported by 247 and recruiting is a team effort but I think it can give you a sense of which of our coaches are and are not making an impact on the recruiting trail. I've ranked the coaches based on my estimation of the quality of their recruiting, adjusting for years they've been on staff.
Anderson (15): Davis Mills, Curtis Robinson, Dalton Schultz, Frank Buncom, Stephen Herron, Peter Kalambayi, Simi Fehoko, Joshua Pakola, Sione Lund, Devon Carrington, Levine Toilolo, Tristan Sinclair, Nick Wilson, Tyler Gaffney, Ricky Seale, Dallas Lloyd, Quenton Meeks, Aeneas DiCosmo, Davis Dudchock, Sean Barton, Keanu Nelson, Greg Taboada, Levani Damuni, Ese Dubre, Eric Cotton, Alex Turner, Stuart Head, Mike Tyler, Jordan Perez, Lane Veach, Harold Bernard, Loa Kaufusi, Mustafa Branch, Casey Toohill, Denzel Franklin, Anthony Frankin, Quinn Evans, Taijuan Thomas, Houston Heimuli, Jake Bailey - 2.666 recruits a year, almost a big recruit per year
Pritchard (9): Foster Sarell, Solomon Thomas, Kaden Smith, KJ Costello, Trent Irwin, Simi Fehoko, Austin Jones, Connor Wedington, Ayden Hector, Colby Bowman, Michael Williams, Ari Patu, Jack Leyrer, Ashton Daniels, Jet Toner - 1.666 recruits a year, more than one big recruit per year
Akina (8): Elijah Higgins, Paulson Adebo, Frank Buncom, John Humphreys, Ayden Hector, Salim Turner-Muhammad, Treyjohn Butler, Andrew Pryts, Ben Edwards, Quenton Meeks, Jonathan McGill, Jimmy Wyrick, Alaka'i Gilman, Stuart Head, Caleb Ellis, Malik Antoine - 2 recruits per year, a bit more than one big recruit per year
Kennedy (4): Elijah Higgins, Ernest Cooper, Colby Bowman, Walter Rouse, Jonathan McGill, Mudia Reuben, Elic Ayomanor, Marcus Graham - 2 recruits per year, almost a big recruit per year
Gould (5): EJ Smith, Austin Jones, Stephen Herron, Arlen Harris, Shield Taylor, Casey Filkins, Brendon Barrow - 1.4 recruits a year, almost a big recruit per year
Alamar (10): Walker Little, Colby Parkinson, Trent Irwin, Treyjohn Butler, Kevin Palma, Drew Dalman, Malik Antoine, Joshua Karty, Jake Bailey, Jet Toner, Jay Tyler, Richard McNitzky - 1.2 recruits a year, almost half a big recruit per year
Turner (9): Kaden Smith, Sam Roush, Arlen Harris, Bradley Archer, Nathaniel Peat, Thomas Schaffer, Dylan Jackson, Tucker Fisk, Wesley Annan, Jovan Swann, Reagan Williams, Houston Heimuli - 1.333 recruits a year, one third a big recruit per year
Reynolds (6): Aaron Armitage, Tobin Phillips, Jaxson Moi, Zach Rowell, Zach Buckey - 0.833 recruits per year, one freaking big recruit in six years
Sanders (2): N/A
Heffernan (1): N/A
Some observations:
* Anderson's a maniac out there. He is credited as the lead recruiter far more often than anybody else on staff.
* Pritchard is a prolific whale hunter. For a while there it was truly extraordinary, probably one of the best recruiters outside the SEC in all of America. It's slowed down a lot. My guess is it's a combination of two factors: our QB recruiting quirks from 2018-present deprives him of resume-building, and I suspect increased responsibilities as an offensive coordinator and young father make him less of the recruiting whiz kid he was five years ago.
* Akina has long been effective in recruiting DBs (far better than the Stanford DB recruiting norm) but for most of his time on staff didn't really do anything else. But being part of the effort that got us Higgins and Humphreys is a very big accomplishment. I've been quite critical of Akina due to our woeful under-performance vis-a-vis talent in pass defense in most recent years but both on the field in 2021 and in recruiting Akina looks like he has some late career life to him.
* I've got absolutely no complaints with Kennedy either as a position coach or recruiter. Going outside of his position group to help us with Cooper, Rouse, and McGill is a significant contribution. And the vibes from him are always impeccable.
* In my opinion Gould and Turner's performances get inflated by the fact they coach position rooms that are historically very easy positions for us to recruit. I ranked the coaches above in an effort to be objective based on recruiting proficiency, but if I inserted a subjective lens Gould and Turner would be in for real scrutiny. Moreover, not only are they easy positions to recruit but those two have exceedingly easy/undemanding coaching jobs in terms of how many charges they have to coach and the importance of their rooms to the team (see my previous analyses on just how few of our total snaps go to these rooms compared to other coaches' charges). That means that these are positions on staff should be recruiting dynamos. I am not amused by Gould and Turner. I don't see a strong case for them keeping their jobs unless one were to just say they coach their positions well, which I think is a really, really, really stupid rationale for keeping a college football RB or TE coach. These guys have to recruit. Period.
* Alamar avoids that judgment from me because he's the second best whale hunter on staff.
* Reynolds is a useless piece of garbage as a coach for Stanford. He's probably a nice man. But get this trash off our staff. His players rarely get better despite coaching one of the two rooms in the entire sport that across the country sees performance improve the most with seniority at other schools, and his recruiting is an abomination. I am legitimately pissed off for our players at this point that we use a scarce coaching spot on this kind of performance.
* It's too early to say on Sanders and Heffernan but it's hard to say they're off to good starts at Stanford, especially Sanders.
For what it's worth, below are the all-time recruits for our current coaches according to 247 (years as assistant coaches listed parenthetically and players listed in order of recruiting profile). This is an imperfect snapshot as it only includes players as reported by 247 and recruiting is a team effort but I think it can give you a sense of which of our coaches are and are not making an impact on the recruiting trail. I've ranked the coaches based on my estimation of the quality of their recruiting, adjusting for years they've been on staff.
Anderson (15): Davis Mills, Curtis Robinson, Dalton Schultz, Frank Buncom, Stephen Herron, Peter Kalambayi, Simi Fehoko, Joshua Pakola, Sione Lund, Devon Carrington, Levine Toilolo, Tristan Sinclair, Nick Wilson, Tyler Gaffney, Ricky Seale, Dallas Lloyd, Quenton Meeks, Aeneas DiCosmo, Davis Dudchock, Sean Barton, Keanu Nelson, Greg Taboada, Levani Damuni, Ese Dubre, Eric Cotton, Alex Turner, Stuart Head, Mike Tyler, Jordan Perez, Lane Veach, Harold Bernard, Loa Kaufusi, Mustafa Branch, Casey Toohill, Denzel Franklin, Anthony Frankin, Quinn Evans, Taijuan Thomas, Houston Heimuli, Jake Bailey - 2.666 recruits a year, almost a big recruit per year
Pritchard (9): Foster Sarell, Solomon Thomas, Kaden Smith, KJ Costello, Trent Irwin, Simi Fehoko, Austin Jones, Connor Wedington, Ayden Hector, Colby Bowman, Michael Williams, Ari Patu, Jack Leyrer, Ashton Daniels, Jet Toner - 1.666 recruits a year, more than one big recruit per year
Akina (8): Elijah Higgins, Paulson Adebo, Frank Buncom, John Humphreys, Ayden Hector, Salim Turner-Muhammad, Treyjohn Butler, Andrew Pryts, Ben Edwards, Quenton Meeks, Jonathan McGill, Jimmy Wyrick, Alaka'i Gilman, Stuart Head, Caleb Ellis, Malik Antoine - 2 recruits per year, a bit more than one big recruit per year
Kennedy (4): Elijah Higgins, Ernest Cooper, Colby Bowman, Walter Rouse, Jonathan McGill, Mudia Reuben, Elic Ayomanor, Marcus Graham - 2 recruits per year, almost a big recruit per year
Gould (5): EJ Smith, Austin Jones, Stephen Herron, Arlen Harris, Shield Taylor, Casey Filkins, Brendon Barrow - 1.4 recruits a year, almost a big recruit per year
Alamar (10): Walker Little, Colby Parkinson, Trent Irwin, Treyjohn Butler, Kevin Palma, Drew Dalman, Malik Antoine, Joshua Karty, Jake Bailey, Jet Toner, Jay Tyler, Richard McNitzky - 1.2 recruits a year, almost half a big recruit per year
Turner (9): Kaden Smith, Sam Roush, Arlen Harris, Bradley Archer, Nathaniel Peat, Thomas Schaffer, Dylan Jackson, Tucker Fisk, Wesley Annan, Jovan Swann, Reagan Williams, Houston Heimuli - 1.333 recruits a year, one third a big recruit per year
Reynolds (6): Aaron Armitage, Tobin Phillips, Jaxson Moi, Zach Rowell, Zach Buckey - 0.833 recruits per year, one freaking big recruit in six years
Sanders (2): N/A
Heffernan (1): N/A
Some observations:
* Anderson's a maniac out there. He is credited as the lead recruiter far more often than anybody else on staff.
* Pritchard is a prolific whale hunter. For a while there it was truly extraordinary, probably one of the best recruiters outside the SEC in all of America. It's slowed down a lot. My guess is it's a combination of two factors: our QB recruiting quirks from 2018-present deprives him of resume-building, and I suspect increased responsibilities as an offensive coordinator and young father make him less of the recruiting whiz kid he was five years ago.
* Akina has long been effective in recruiting DBs (far better than the Stanford DB recruiting norm) but for most of his time on staff didn't really do anything else. But being part of the effort that got us Higgins and Humphreys is a very big accomplishment. I've been quite critical of Akina due to our woeful under-performance vis-a-vis talent in pass defense in most recent years but both on the field in 2021 and in recruiting Akina looks like he has some late career life to him.
* I've got absolutely no complaints with Kennedy either as a position coach or recruiter. Going outside of his position group to help us with Cooper, Rouse, and McGill is a significant contribution. And the vibes from him are always impeccable.
* In my opinion Gould and Turner's performances get inflated by the fact they coach position rooms that are historically very easy positions for us to recruit. I ranked the coaches above in an effort to be objective based on recruiting proficiency, but if I inserted a subjective lens Gould and Turner would be in for real scrutiny. Moreover, not only are they easy positions to recruit but those two have exceedingly easy/undemanding coaching jobs in terms of how many charges they have to coach and the importance of their rooms to the team (see my previous analyses on just how few of our total snaps go to these rooms compared to other coaches' charges). That means that these are positions on staff should be recruiting dynamos. I am not amused by Gould and Turner. I don't see a strong case for them keeping their jobs unless one were to just say they coach their positions well, which I think is a really, really, really stupid rationale for keeping a college football RB or TE coach. These guys have to recruit. Period.
* Alamar avoids that judgment from me because he's the second best whale hunter on staff.
* Reynolds is a useless piece of garbage as a coach for Stanford. He's probably a nice man. But get this trash off our staff. His players rarely get better despite coaching one of the two rooms in the entire sport that across the country sees performance improve the most with seniority at other schools, and his recruiting is an abomination. I am legitimately pissed off for our players at this point that we use a scarce coaching spot on this kind of performance.
* It's too early to say on Sanders and Heffernan but it's hard to say they're off to good starts at Stanford, especially Sanders.
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