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Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - washingtonismoney - 07-05-2012

Despite the title, it's not as if you'll get analysis of a particularly supercharged variety from this ESPN Insider piece. What you will get--from my careful copy/paste job--is a selection of their quotes, directly (I presume) from coaches.

Here's Pep Hamilton:
Quote:"Josh [Nunes] has been in our offense now for three years, and he's getting to the point to where he can handle more volume," Hamilton said. "He's working his tail off in the film room and doing a real good job getting our guys together in the offseason, making sure he's spending quality time with the receivers and tight ends."

Quote:"Brett has superior arm talent," Hamilton said. "He's really tough and can make all the throws. He's a guy that gives us a chance to attack the entire field passing the football."

Quote:"Stepfan Taylor is one of the premier players in college football, and that's not just my opinion, that's a fact," Hamilton said. "If you look at his production over the last two years and how effective he was last year, he's a guy that can carry our offense."

Quote:Sophomore Kelsey Young (5-10, 190) is a wildcard. Recruited as a running back, Young spent time in the spring at receiver and pretty much established himself as someone who needs to be on the field. The issue is where.

"He has a nose for the end zone," Hamilton said. "He's a running back/wide receiver/find-a-way-to-get-the-ball-in-his-hands type of guy."

Quote:"Levine might be our best football player," Hamilton said. "He can really control the point of attack. He's a really good blocker, and as you saw in several of our games last season, he's the kind of athlete that we can detach out to the receiver position and be a matchup problem for our opponent. & We're excited about our tight ends. It's one of the stronger positions on our offensive unit."

Quote:"We feel good about the core of our offensive line," Hamilton said.


Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - washingtonismoney - 07-05-2012

Here's Mason:
Quote:"When I first got here, Ben [Gardner] was a more of a third-down lineman, a guy that had a chance to get on the field in certain situations," defensive coordinator Derek Mason said. "But he proved last year that he was an every-down player. He changed his body. He's physically gifted and he just has superior skills. He's ready."

Quote:"Trent Murphy may be the best outside linebacker nobody's heard about," Mason said. "He has all the attributes you need and more than anything, he's put it on tape. With Chase drawing so much attention last year, and with [inside linebacker] Shayne Skov out, Trent made his presence known."

Quote:Physically, "Shayne probably looks as good as he's ever looked," Mason said. "We'll get into camp and be smart. We don't want him to overextend himself. The biggest thing is making sure he feels secure [with his knee.]"

Quote:"In the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, [a loss to Oklahoma State], Terrence took that game to heart," Mason said. "He felt like he could've made more plays. There were some one-on-one tackles he felt he should've made and the [outcome] could've been a different story."

Quote:"Ed {Reynolds] is probably the catalyst of our defense," Mason said. "He had a great spring. Started off a little slow, but as the spring went on, he established himself as a No. 1 guy."

Quote:At strong safety, sophomore Kyle Olugbode (6-1, 195) had 10 interceptions in the spring. "And that's something we were missing a year ago," Mason said. "You talk about playmaking in the secondary, this group is a little different. This group has guys with elite ball skills. We feel confident in our ability to get the ball turned over."


Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - yvonne - 07-05-2012

Based mostly on what coaches have said previously about the quarterback needing to be a game manager, I'd say that Josh leads.

I'm also encouraged by what Pep said about the OL. I'm pretty convinced, and have been all along, that the drop off of our offensive line has been greatly overestimated in the media.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - Hank 91 - 07-05-2012

Remember, all we were hearing about at this time last year was how the offensive line was a brobdingnagian question mark. However would we replace Chase Beeler? Will Andrew Luck take a beating? At a certain point the national media will figure it out. This is Stanford. We build dominant offensive lines. Deal with it.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - jayasena - 07-05-2012

Quote:At strong safety, sophomore Kyle Olugbode (6-1, 195) had 10 interceptions in the spring. "And that's something we were missing a year ago," Mason said.

There's more than one factor that could cause interceptions to go up in practice vs. last year. Let's hope it's for the reason Mason is saying it is...

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - OutsiderFan - 07-06-2012

When I read Olugbode had established himself at Safety in Spring, I assumed that was at FS because it seemed Jordan Richards had established himself as the leading SS after playing a good number of snaps as a True Frosh.

It is good to hear about Reynolds because it is clearly obvious Devon Carrington just is not fluid enough to be effective in space.  Good to have a lot of picks from Olugbode, but usually the FS has more, another reason I assumed He was a FS.  It would seem better for Reynolds to be the guy making all the picks.

So what is up with Richards?  Did he get surpassed by Olugbode?  Kind of odd for a RS walkon to surpass a True Frosh who played meaningful snaps, but obviously it can happen.  Olugbode must have worked his tail off his RS year. 

If Hoffpauir is as good as I believe he will be, Stanford will be 3-deep at SS with Olugbode as good as Mason says.  Richards didn't do anything to disappoint me in 2011.  He's one of the best secondary tacklers on the team, IMO.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - washingtonismoney - 07-06-2012

I don't know if this is still true, but I remember hearing that Mason's defensive philosophy doesn't differentiate strongly between free and strong safeties--instead, both safeties are expected to deal with one half of the field in some coverages, or drop down into the box in others.

All the Bellarmine people told us so - Redrum - 07-06-2012

Every once in a while people who seem out in left field turn out to be correct.  I remember the wrap up to the the recruiting season when Olugbode decided to walk on.  HS football fans from the Santa Clara/ San Jose area were at first astounded Olugbode didn't get a Stanford scholarship offer and that he had such low interest from other schools.    That, of course, is a pretty normal response from local fans enthusiastic about a local kid.  But some of them posted unequivocally  that Olugbode would knock our socks off and was the walk-on steal of the decade.  Apparently our defensive coaching staff is now walking around wearing sandals.  It will be interesting to see if Olugbode follows the arc of playing, starting, starring... and be one of the great walk-on stories of  the Pac-12.  My guess is he fits the Harbaugh criteria:  just a great football player apart from all the measurables  the recruiting services love to promote.

"Josh [Nunes] has been in our offense now for three years, and he's getting to the point to where he can handle more volume," Hamilton said. "He's working his tail off in the film room and doing a real good job getting our guys together in the offseason, making sure he's spending quality time with the receivers and tight ends."

I don't read that quote from Hamilton as validation that Nunes has an edge to be the starter.  It says, basically, that Josh is working hard and after three years in the system knows the playbook.  That seems pretty neutral to me.    I think our "problem" remains the same:  enough guys show promise and at the end of Spring game none of them have separated from the pack...at least not in coaches' public pronouncements  or in the eyes of mavens who watch from the stands.  Too bad the Stanford bods won't let us or the mavens watch much practice to witness the emergence of a QB starter.

But, we knew all that and I didn't expect a revelation of anything on ESPN Insider.  Looks like Shaw is deliberately letting the light shine on Mason and Hamilton.  Anyone get the feeling he's prepping them for launch into the wider,  more merciless world of Div. 1 college coaching?

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - slide - 07-06-2012

good points RR.  rumblings post Spring Game on Olugbode continue to be positive.  we need him given our depth chart at S.

on Nunes, the coaches started making similar noise about him as they did with Luck after his redshirt year -- gets us lined up correctly, reads D well and gets us into right play, makes good decisions with the ball etc.  [none of this implies that Nunes will be close to replacing Luck]  evidently, Nottingham, despite better arm, athleticism etc, doesn't do as well in these areas.  I wonder if this is setting us up for Nunes to be starter, and Nottingham the sub if we fall behind or need a spark in the offense?

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - washingtonismoney - 07-06-2012

To me, I contrast the quotes for the two and give Nunes the edge--especially when you keep their publicly-stated desires for the position in mind.

What are coaches (generally) always interested in from their QB? Knowing the offense, being a leader, working hard. That's Nunes (according to Hamilton). How many times have we heard (and made) the argument that having a nuclear-weapon-quality arm isn't necessarily worth much if you aren't making the right decisions, at the right times, and delivering the ball with accuracy? Neither Hamilton nor Shaw has suggested that Nottingham lacks those necessary qualities, but on the other hand, neither of them to my recollection has suggested Nottingham possesses them. The omission is telling. I think Nunes is the leader.

(And then there's the spring game. Nunes got the whole game with the ones. Is anyone really going to tell me with a straight face that that's meaningless?

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - tfeldstein - 07-08-2012

The reality is that the quotes are totally consistent with what we saw in the Spring Game.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - Robbie - 07-09-2012

hey, somebody has to post the URL: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6740740

but it is an Insider piece, so you won't get much of you don't have access beyond the paywall. And it would be impolitic of me to say more than that. The quotes above are what you want.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - Spiny_Norman - 07-09-2012

Robbie,

You linked to the 2011 preview.  I am anxious to see how the team does in what most certainly will be Andrew Luck's final year of college ball.  I am not sure if Stanford can replace stalwarts like Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin, Owen Marecic and Chase Beeler.  I'm guessing 8 or 9 wins.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - ChicagoCard - 07-09-2012

(07-09-2012, 12:21 PM)Spiny_Norman link Wrote:Robbie,

You linked to the 2011 preview.  I am anxious to see how the team does in what most certainly will be Andrew Luck's final year of college ball.  I am not sure if Stanford can replace stalwarts like Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin, Owen Marecic and Chase Beeler.  I'm guessing 8 or 9 wins.

Well replacing Sherman and Baldwin was spotty at best.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - washingtonismoney - 07-09-2012

(07-09-2012, 12:37 PM)centralcafan link Wrote:[quote author=Spiny_Norman link=topic=6066.msg44833#msg44833 date=1341861699]
Robbie,

You linked to the 2011 preview.  I am anxious to see how the team does in what most certainly will be Andrew Luck's final year of college ball.  I am not sure if Stanford can replace stalwarts like Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin, Owen Marecic and Chase Beeler.  I'm guessing 8 or 9 wins.

Well replacing Sherman and Baldwin was spotty at best.
[/quote]

Which proves the point, actually. Replacement is overrated. Teams evolve new strengths and new players rather than duplicating exactly what came before.

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - Robbie - 07-09-2012

I'm all stupid like that.

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-football/story?page=BlueRibbon-Stanford - better?

Re: Blue Ribbon Stanford Football Preview - washingtonismoney - 07-09-2012

Reading the 2011 preview, briefly, thought this was an interesting tidbit:
Quote:The backups at safety coming out of spring are sophomore Devon Carrington (6-1, 198) and redshirt freshman Kyle Olugbode (6-1, 193). Mason said Olugbode was so impressive in practice last season the Cardinal almost pulled his redshirt and threw him on the field.

Seems they've liked the cut of Olugbode's jib for quite some time now.

Good one, Chicago Outsider - Redrum - 07-10-2012

That  Baldwin kid just seems to not have his head in a competitive place.  You know how it is, these kids come in with NFL dreams and somewhere along the way they just lose it.  But at least a year from now Baldwin has that Stanford degree to fall back on.