David Shaw spoke with members of the media Monday morning and these main topics were covered: the NFL Draft as it relates to his participation and the former Cardinal who might be selected, his reaction to the one-time transfer rule change, expectations for the team during spring practices and the breaking news about official visits being used in June.
The Draft and Recruiting
(I began my question about official visits at the 30:46 mark.) "We are seriously looking at having a one-time deal here and really looking at official visits this June. We've gone a year-plus now without people walking on our unbelievable campus. It's too hard to try to just do it unofficially. We are looking at doing some official visits. We still have an academic bar that we need to set. This has been a great class (in that) a lot of recruits have done what we asked them to do academically — setting their senior schedule, doing enough to get early applications, starting those applications. That's going to be the bar for us to make sure we're not bringing in everybody and anybody. That's never been the Stanford way. We need those who are on course to get here academically, those are the ones we'll try to bring. Not to say someone can't make it down the road, but as far as June is concerned we only have a couple small windows after commencement and by the end of when we can host people. You'll start to hear more about that in the near future."
Shaw was asked by Jon Wilner (beginning at about 11:30 in the video) about how draft success feeds into recruiting, which creates more draft success to pitch to recruits. Wilner referenced how prevalent social media marketing campaigns are by football programs to show how many former players have been drafted. (Stanford's staff does this, too, and their content looks a lot like everyone else's.)
According to Shaw, it's the majority of the recruiting pitch at some places and just part of it at Stanford. He thinks it's "sad" that "some places are selling the NFL Draft so hard that they're trying to get them out of the school before they get them into the school. I want them to come to Stanford and enjoy themselves."
He acknowledges that will happen this weekend will have the attention of recruits. Shaw thinks Mills, Walker Little and Paulson Adebo could go in the first two rounds and it will be a nice selling point that they all got degrees.
Shaw noted that several guys who have talked about more than Davis Mills have only played 17 games to Mills' 11. He believes that Mills is a future NFL starter and that more games in college could have erased some of the mistakes on video scouts see he made in earlier games. The more video people have watched of Mills has answered many of the questions they had about him. Shaw is confident that if Mills played as many games as the other projected first rounders that there would be no question about Mills being a realistic first round pick.
One-Time Transfer Rule Change
He quoted Samuel Jackson in Jurassic Park: "Hold onto your butts". He added, "I think that's just where we are".
He described the instability of roster management for coaches as "unnerving". He is concerned about student-athletes not getting degrees and it gives him anxiety that there will be guys chasing dreams that for many of them won't be a reality.
The focus nationally will be on quarterbacks, specifically highly talented quarterbacks who lose the competition for a starting spot and go elsewhere. They go somewhere else and become a superstar. That's understandable to him, but the fact that there are thousands of players in the "portal" with no place to land bothers him.
"They think the grass is greener somewhere else and they don't even find grass. That's what I'm anxious about."
Shaw didn't have a prediction for how much this will affect Stanford in a positive and a negative way. The best thing the staff can do is be honest with kids and their families through the recruiting process so that players don't jump ship just because they didn't win a starting position right away. I think his answer suggests that the pitch from him and the staff will lean even more on what is stable about Stanford: the campus and locker room environment and the degree.
I asked Shaw if he expects Josh Pakola to play for Stanford this year: "We're in a process there; we'll see."
Spring Practice
There is a "good chunk" of guys who "may trickle in" to be involved in spring practices after surgeries after last season. He did not elaborate on who is on that list. The staff will be cautious in spring practices because there is a lot less time between the end of the practices and camp. There won't be much tackling in spring.
When asked if there is a frontrunner at quarterback he predictably said there is not but it's between Jack West and Tanner McKee. So, in my opinion, it's nice to at least avoid any tall of the competition involving anyone else. Shaw expects both McKee and West to be even through spring and he does not expect a decision will be made at the end of spring.
He was very proud of how well West played at Oregon because West wanted to erase the memory of how bad an experience he had against UCLA.
Remarkably Ari Patu was described as "banged up" so he will be held back a bit in practices. It doesn't sound like he will get many physical reps.
What he wants to see by the end of spring:
- Continue to see the leadership rise that has already started in certain spots. Thomas Booker has been even more vocal.
- There were so many injuries on defense last year that he wants to see how guys look even if they're limited to individual drills. He mentioned Ricky Miezan, Jacob Mangum-Farrar, Tobe Umerah and Loa Kaufusi — implying they will all be available to some degree.
The Draft and Recruiting
(I began my question about official visits at the 30:46 mark.) "We are seriously looking at having a one-time deal here and really looking at official visits this June. We've gone a year-plus now without people walking on our unbelievable campus. It's too hard to try to just do it unofficially. We are looking at doing some official visits. We still have an academic bar that we need to set. This has been a great class (in that) a lot of recruits have done what we asked them to do academically — setting their senior schedule, doing enough to get early applications, starting those applications. That's going to be the bar for us to make sure we're not bringing in everybody and anybody. That's never been the Stanford way. We need those who are on course to get here academically, those are the ones we'll try to bring. Not to say someone can't make it down the road, but as far as June is concerned we only have a couple small windows after commencement and by the end of when we can host people. You'll start to hear more about that in the near future."
Shaw was asked by Jon Wilner (beginning at about 11:30 in the video) about how draft success feeds into recruiting, which creates more draft success to pitch to recruits. Wilner referenced how prevalent social media marketing campaigns are by football programs to show how many former players have been drafted. (Stanford's staff does this, too, and their content looks a lot like everyone else's.)
According to Shaw, it's the majority of the recruiting pitch at some places and just part of it at Stanford. He thinks it's "sad" that "some places are selling the NFL Draft so hard that they're trying to get them out of the school before they get them into the school. I want them to come to Stanford and enjoy themselves."
He acknowledges that will happen this weekend will have the attention of recruits. Shaw thinks Mills, Walker Little and Paulson Adebo could go in the first two rounds and it will be a nice selling point that they all got degrees.
Shaw noted that several guys who have talked about more than Davis Mills have only played 17 games to Mills' 11. He believes that Mills is a future NFL starter and that more games in college could have erased some of the mistakes on video scouts see he made in earlier games. The more video people have watched of Mills has answered many of the questions they had about him. Shaw is confident that if Mills played as many games as the other projected first rounders that there would be no question about Mills being a realistic first round pick.
One-Time Transfer Rule Change
He quoted Samuel Jackson in Jurassic Park: "Hold onto your butts". He added, "I think that's just where we are".
He described the instability of roster management for coaches as "unnerving". He is concerned about student-athletes not getting degrees and it gives him anxiety that there will be guys chasing dreams that for many of them won't be a reality.
The focus nationally will be on quarterbacks, specifically highly talented quarterbacks who lose the competition for a starting spot and go elsewhere. They go somewhere else and become a superstar. That's understandable to him, but the fact that there are thousands of players in the "portal" with no place to land bothers him.
"They think the grass is greener somewhere else and they don't even find grass. That's what I'm anxious about."
Shaw didn't have a prediction for how much this will affect Stanford in a positive and a negative way. The best thing the staff can do is be honest with kids and their families through the recruiting process so that players don't jump ship just because they didn't win a starting position right away. I think his answer suggests that the pitch from him and the staff will lean even more on what is stable about Stanford: the campus and locker room environment and the degree.
I asked Shaw if he expects Josh Pakola to play for Stanford this year: "We're in a process there; we'll see."
Spring Practice
There is a "good chunk" of guys who "may trickle in" to be involved in spring practices after surgeries after last season. He did not elaborate on who is on that list. The staff will be cautious in spring practices because there is a lot less time between the end of the practices and camp. There won't be much tackling in spring.
When asked if there is a frontrunner at quarterback he predictably said there is not but it's between Jack West and Tanner McKee. So, in my opinion, it's nice to at least avoid any tall of the competition involving anyone else. Shaw expects both McKee and West to be even through spring and he does not expect a decision will be made at the end of spring.
He was very proud of how well West played at Oregon because West wanted to erase the memory of how bad an experience he had against UCLA.
Remarkably Ari Patu was described as "banged up" so he will be held back a bit in practices. It doesn't sound like he will get many physical reps.
What he wants to see by the end of spring:
- Continue to see the leadership rise that has already started in certain spots. Thomas Booker has been even more vocal.
- There were so many injuries on defense last year that he wants to see how guys look even if they're limited to individual drills. He mentioned Ricky Miezan, Jacob Mangum-Farrar, Tobe Umerah and Loa Kaufusi — implying they will all be available to some degree.
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