[Griffins78]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-...story.html

Was visiting LA and picked up the Sunday LA Times and read this in-depth story on JT Daniels. There were a number of things that stood out to me that help explain why he didn’t come (or possibly even apply) to  Stanford. Football is above everything for him and his parents.

He left high school his senior year to enroll at ‘SC in Feb to learn the playbook and practice in the Spring. He then stopped going to classes for a few days, with his parents blessing, so he could focus on learning the playbook.

He didn’t go to school in Orange County where he lived (KJ Costello did) and he played 7 on 7 at Dorsey High in the Crenshaw area of LA because they thought the Orange Co kids were soft.

His parents moved from Orange Co to Long Beach so they could be closer to him and his teammates.

It doesn’t seem like Stanford would have been a good fit for him.

[Griffins78]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-...story.html

Was visiting LA and picked up the Sunday LA Times and read this in-depth story on JT Daniels. There were a number of things that stood out to me that help explain why he didn’t come (or possibly even apply) to  Stanford. Football is above everything for him and his parents.

He left high school his senior year to enroll at ‘SC in Feb to learn the playbook and practice in the Spring. He then stopped going to classes for a few days, with his parents blessing, so he could focus on learning the playbook.

He didn’t go to school in Orange County where he lived (KJ Costello did) and he played 7 on 7 at Dorsey High in the Crenshaw area of LA because they thought the Orange Co kids were soft.

His parents moved from Orange Co to Long Beach so they could be closer to him and his teammates.

It doesn’t seem like Stanford would have been a good fit for him.

[JohnR34232]

Yeah, it seems like quite a few top recruits these days are most interested in enrolling early, playing early, and getting to the League early. Stanford is probably not a good fit for them.

[JohnR34232]

Yeah, it seems like quite a few top recruits these days are most interested in enrolling early, playing early, and getting to the League early. Stanford is probably not a good fit for them.

[Hank 91]

That's definitely interesting article, and from reading it it's pretty clear why he didn't choose Stanford. If your only goal is to play in the NFL -- and I'm not demeaning anyone who has that goal -- I guess it's understandable that you might make every decision with only football in mind. That definitely seems like what they're doing. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

[Hank 91]

That's definitely interesting article, and from reading it it's pretty clear why he didn't choose Stanford. If your only goal is to play in the NFL -- and I'm not demeaning anyone who has that goal -- I guess it's understandable that you might make every decision with only football in mind. That definitely seems like what they're doing. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

[CTcard]

Yeah, it seems like quite a few top recruits these days are most interested in enrolling early, playing early, and getting to the League early. Stanford is probably not a good fit for them.

Well, Stanford seems to be a perfectly good fit for kids wanting to get to the League early, is perfectly fine for playing early despite the stereotypes about Shaw and frosh,* but indeed doesn't work at all for those wanting to enroll early. 


The article makes the whole situation seem rather … icky. But again, I don't see that Stanford is necessarily a particularly bad fit for icky. I am also reminded to be careful, lots of newspaper articles work excessively hard to paint a picture in the writers eye that may or may not exist in reality (and whenever I personally know much about the topic of the article - it seems the answer is it doesn't quite exist in reality). 


* While generically it may be reasonable to play as a frosh at Stanford, early playing time for a QB starting this year may indeed be much more difficult than many places, particularly $C. We have a returning incumbent coming off a redshirt frosh season and a highly rated guy who will be a redshirt frosh. $C, as I understand their situation, just lost their starting QB nominally two years early and have a cast of guys already in school who haven't distinguished themselves.

[CTcard]

Yeah, it seems like quite a few top recruits these days are most interested in enrolling early, playing early, and getting to the League early. Stanford is probably not a good fit for them.

Well, Stanford seems to be a perfectly good fit for kids wanting to get to the League early, is perfectly fine for playing early despite the stereotypes about Shaw and frosh,* but indeed doesn't work at all for those wanting to enroll early. 


The article makes the whole situation seem rather … icky. But again, I don't see that Stanford is necessarily a particularly bad fit for icky. I am also reminded to be careful, lots of newspaper articles work excessively hard to paint a picture in the writers eye that may or may not exist in reality (and whenever I personally know much about the topic of the article - it seems the answer is it doesn't quite exist in reality). 


* While generically it may be reasonable to play as a frosh at Stanford, early playing time for a QB starting this year may indeed be much more difficult than many places, particularly $C. We have a returning incumbent coming off a redshirt frosh season and a highly rated guy who will be a redshirt frosh. $C, as I understand their situation, just lost their starting QB nominally two years early and have a cast of guys already in school who haven't distinguished themselves.

[Goose]

I think there is no doubt that the unavailability of early enrollment at Stanford is a big negative for many recruits, particularly QBs. Having only the summer to learn the playbook and the system is just not long enough to ensure you will get a chance to start as a Freshman. Unless the team is pretty desperate, most programs don't want to start a freshman at QB. Experience matters at the QB position, at least to most coaches, and certainly to David Shaw. At Stanford, even spring football plus the summer isn't enough time to meet the expectations, but just the summer is "no way". Do I think we should change the policy? No. But we have to be realistic about how some recruits view it.

[Goose]

I think there is no doubt that the unavailability of early enrollment at Stanford is a big negative for many recruits, particularly QBs. Having only the summer to learn the playbook and the system is just not long enough to ensure you will get a chance to start as a Freshman. Unless the team is pretty desperate, most programs don't want to start a freshman at QB. Experience matters at the QB position, at least to most coaches, and certainly to David Shaw. At Stanford, even spring football plus the summer isn't enough time to meet the expectations, but just the summer is "no way". Do I think we should change the policy? No. But we have to be realistic about how some recruits view it.

[BobK]

Daniels was offered by Stanford as their top QB for 2019.    He would be a HS Sr next year.    He is old enough to be a college Frosh.

---

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

[BobK]

Daniels was offered by Stanford as their top QB for 2019.    He would be a HS Sr next year.    He is old enough to be a college Frosh.

---

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

[Phogge]

Just put him on his back and make his teeth chatter and his eyes water. Then do it on the next play.

[Phogge]

Just put him on his back and make his teeth chatter and his eyes water. Then do it on the next play.

[Redrum]

Just put him on his back and make his teeth chatter and his eyes water. Then do it on the next play.

Or...  Let him sit nursing increasing impatience while it slowly dawns on him he'll have one season left to reasonably be the favorite to start for SC but will have noticed that the staff is fawning over the kid they recruited the year after him.

[Redrum]

Just put him on his back and make his teeth chatter and his eyes water. Then do it on the next play.

Or...  Let him sit nursing increasing impatience while it slowly dawns on him he'll have one season left to reasonably be the favorite to start for SC but will have noticed that the staff is fawning over the kid they recruited the year after him.

[ColoradoTree]

I know Shaw's refrain has always been "let the kid enjoy high school before he comes here," but what is the precise level of program involvement that takes place between signing day and the start of training camp?  Is it really a hard and fast rule that we won't send them the playbook until training camp?  If a kid wants to come in and contribute right away, and starting early is an issue in his recruitment, then I'm not saying we change policy and let kids start in January, but maybe some half-measures are available to us that could persuade a kid to come our way.

[ColoradoTree]

I know Shaw's refrain has always been "let the kid enjoy high school before he comes here," but what is the precise level of program involvement that takes place between signing day and the start of training camp?  Is it really a hard and fast rule that we won't send them the playbook until training camp?  If a kid wants to come in and contribute right away, and starting early is an issue in his recruitment, then I'm not saying we change policy and let kids start in January, but maybe some half-measures are available to us that could persuade a kid to come our way.

[BobK]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

[BobK]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

[rudruff]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

Didn't realize he repeated 8th grade.

[rudruff]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

Didn't realize he repeated 8th grade.

[qwerty49]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

Didn't realize he repeated 8th grade.

Maybe they didn't like his ash tray in wood shop.

[qwerty49]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

Didn't realize he repeated 8th grade.

Maybe they didn't like his ash tray in wood shop.

[ColoradoTree]

I wonder how long the list of students is that (1) repeated eighth grade, but then (2) graduated from a highly-regarded high school in just three years.  

Due to his apparent academic abilities, I assume holding him back in 8th grade was to give him a better chance in sports, which I find distasteful.  We're not talking about the decision about when to start your child in kindergarten (my younger son is an August birthday, so we're leaning towards holding him back for maturity and developmental reasons, and so he'd graduate from high school at 18 rather than 17, not because we want to get a leg up on his high school sports career).  We're not talking about a kid who had a learning disability and could have benefited from another year in middle school before starting high school.  We're talking about taking a kid who presumably did perfectly well in eighth grade and was age-appropriate for his level (he is apparently a February birthday, so will graduate at 18, even though it's a year early), and deciding for athletic reasons that you want to hit pause on starting high school.  That feels gross to me.  

I mean.  It worked for them, I suppose.  But it feels wrong.  If he'd never repeated 8th grade, we'd be here in likely the same situation--the kid graduating this year after three years as a starting QB and heading to SC.  Not sure what the manipulation accomplished the kid here. (Was playing 8th grade football for a second year really better for his development than heading a year early to Mater Dei and sitting behind the starter?  It's basically the same choice now, and he argues that he thought Darnold was coming back, so his decision to reclassify and sign early was premised on the assumption that he'd be sitting for at least a year at SC.  Now he's arguing that going a year early to SC and sitting behind Sam would have been better for him than another year of high school football, but he/they made the opposite choice four years ago.)

[ColoradoTree]

I wonder how long the list of students is that (1) repeated eighth grade, but then (2) graduated from a highly-regarded high school in just three years.  

Due to his apparent academic abilities, I assume holding him back in 8th grade was to give him a better chance in sports, which I find distasteful.  We're not talking about the decision about when to start your child in kindergarten (my younger son is an August birthday, so we're leaning towards holding him back for maturity and developmental reasons, and so he'd graduate from high school at 18 rather than 17, not because we want to get a leg up on his high school sports career).  We're not talking about a kid who had a learning disability and could have benefited from another year in middle school before starting high school.  We're talking about taking a kid who presumably did perfectly well in eighth grade and was age-appropriate for his level (he is apparently a February birthday, so will graduate at 18, even though it's a year early), and deciding for athletic reasons that you want to hit pause on starting high school.  That feels gross to me.  

I mean.  It worked for them, I suppose.  But it feels wrong.  If he'd never repeated 8th grade, we'd be here in likely the same situation--the kid graduating this year after three years as a starting QB and heading to SC.  Not sure what the manipulation accomplished the kid here. (Was playing 8th grade football for a second year really better for his development than heading a year early to Mater Dei and sitting behind the starter?  It's basically the same choice now, and he argues that he thought Darnold was coming back, so his decision to reclassify and sign early was premised on the assumption that he'd be sitting for at least a year at SC.  Now he's arguing that going a year early to SC and sitting behind Sam would have been better for him than another year of high school football, but he/they made the opposite choice four years ago.)

[BobK]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

[BobK]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

[CompSci87]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

Better and better every time you post it! ?

[CompSci87]

A better story 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...g-job/amp/

Better and better every time you post it! ?