[Hank 91]

Free story about Nygel Edmonds' commitment from Andy Drukarev.

https://stanford.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1784324

This comment stood out (emphasis is mine).

"Every time I explain to my friends or people that randomly come up to me, congratulate me, everybody knows Stanford," Edmonds said. "Everybody knows how great of a school it is academically and athletically. "

Here we see the Harbaugh/Shaw effect.  Stanford football is building a national brand with recognition among top recruits that would have seemed impossible previously.  I do not at all underestimate the Sherman/Luck effect either.  The result is that we have a shot a more talented players who in the past might have confused Stanford with Stamford or Sanford.  And players are setting goals earlier in their high school career to achieve academically in order to be qualified for Stanford. 

The foundation is strong and getting stronger.

I had a conversation with Fullmetal about this when we ran into each other on campus a couple months ago. Imagine when Andrew Luck committed back in 2007. I have to believe that most people in Texas responded with something like, why the hell are you going there? In 2015, however, kids are congratulated for committing. People view Stanford for what it is -- the Holy Grail. These recruits realize what all of us already know -- being accepted to Stanford carries some extra cachet, but for these kids its even better. It says that they are amongst the elite both academically and athletically. It's really, really hard to find fault with that.

[Hank 91]

Free story about Nygel Edmonds' commitment from Andy Drukarev.

https://stanford.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1784324

This comment stood out (emphasis is mine).

"Every time I explain to my friends or people that randomly come up to me, congratulate me, everybody knows Stanford," Edmonds said. "Everybody knows how great of a school it is academically and athletically. "

Here we see the Harbaugh/Shaw effect.  Stanford football is building a national brand with recognition among top recruits that would have seemed impossible previously.  I do not at all underestimate the Sherman/Luck effect either.  The result is that we have a shot a more talented players who in the past might have confused Stanford with Stamford or Sanford.  And players are setting goals earlier in their high school career to achieve academically in order to be qualified for Stanford. 

The foundation is strong and getting stronger.

I had a conversation with Fullmetal about this when we ran into each other on campus a couple months ago. Imagine when Andrew Luck committed back in 2007. I have to believe that most people in Texas responded with something like, why the hell are you going there? In 2015, however, kids are congratulated for committing. People view Stanford for what it is -- the Holy Grail. These recruits realize what all of us already know -- being accepted to Stanford carries some extra cachet, but for these kids its even better. It says that they are amongst the elite both academically and athletically. It's really, really hard to find fault with that.