With a little more than a month to go, they have 10 commitments: four 4* and six 3*.

 

Their class is ranked #89 by 247 in their Composite Rankings.

 

Their highest rated recruit, Pro QB Ryan Burns, is ranked #131 nationally and #9 at his position.

 

They currently have a total of 2 pure linemen (OL and DL). One of those players, a WDE, is unranked and the other, an OT, is ranked #906 nationally. They have 2 TE's (ranked #406 and unranked): I suppose one or both of them could be considered as/moved over to the line.

 

Notre Dame has fourteen players ranked above their third ranked player (this is all according to the composite scores).

 

Stanford's class is ranked 12th in the PAC-12.

 

Maybe it is their academic requirements, but the following would indicate that is not so: in 2012, after losing Luck in January, Stanford signed the #6 ranked recruiting class in the country (Notre Dame was ranked #12). That Stanford class was also #1 in the PAC-12. There was one 5* and twelve 4*'s in that class.

Edited December 27, 201211 yr by 2lakes

They've been late finishers. Must be to get those last sets of grades (AFAIK).

I heard Ty Willingham is their recruiting coordinator.

Interesting. Also took notice of Boise St, who has done quite well with 3 * athletes, and Miami who was a few notches lower than Stanford.

 

Off topic, saw an early 2013 poll this morning that had Stanford #2, behind Bama. LSU #3 and Irish at 4.

They've been late finishers. Must be to get those last sets of grades (AFAIK).

 

They're sneaky like that, I guess.

 

The thing is: I do not see high interest from any of their remaining top recruits. According to Scout, guys like Johnny Johnson (CB) and Thomas Duarte (TE) have more interest elsewhere. In fact, Duarte is listed as having high interest in Notre Dame, which probably won't happen because of numbers. So some of those guys, I suppose, could end up picking Stanford by default because other schools are full. That, however, will not usually get you a class in the top 25.

They had an absolute monster OL haul last year.

They're sneaky like that, I guess.

 

The thing is: I do not see high interest from any of their remaining top recruits. According to Scout, guys like Johnny Johnson (CB) and Thomas Duarte (TE) have more interest elsewhere. In fact, Duarte is listed as having high interest in Notre Dame, which probably won't happen because of numbers. So some of those guys, I suppose, could end up picking Stanford by default because other schools are full. That, however, will not usually get you a class in the top 25.

 

I've read that Duarte is Notre Dame's if they decide they want him. I doubt that happens though.

 

I have heard people say in the past that it's hard for African American coaches to get white players to go to their school. Of course they get some lower ranked kids who don't have a ton of options but the elite white players don't give them the time of day. I hope that didn't come out offensive in any way.

I dunno. I thought coach Shaw should have been pac 12 coach of year for maintaining their success.

 

I thought the wheels were going to fall off when Jimmy Harbaugh left.

 

I know Mora deserved it as well..

I dont remember where I heard this, but I heard Stanford was becoming more strict with their academics on athletes. Remember that LB from Hawaii, Isaac? Supposedly he decommitted because he would not have been able to qualify for Stanford.

 

Last year was a great year for Stanford and recruiting, it was basically an outlier. But remember, Stanford's prize football player, Andrew Luck, was a 3* QB coming out of High School. However, Stanford usually gets a couple solid players, then loads up with 3* guys and develops them. I dont think Stanford will have a very good recruiting class this year, they just do not have much interest in any remaining top prospects, but Stanford's original success worked with that type of recruiting class. I wouldnt count them out if they have a poor class, but it is interesting to see if it becomes a pattern or not.

Last year was a great year for Stanford and recruiting, it was basically an outlier. But remember, Stanford's prize football player, Andrew Luck, was a 3* QB coming out of High School.

 

I'm not sure where exactly you are getting your recruiting information on Andrew Luck, but he was not a 3* coming out of High School. 5* on Scout, 4* on both Rivals and ESPN. #4 rated QB in the country on both Scout and Rivals, #7 QB on ESPN.

I've read that Duarte is Notre Dame's if they decide they want him. I doubt that happens though.

 

I have heard people say in the past that it's hard for African American coaches to get white players to go to their school. Of course they get some lower ranked kids who don't have a ton of options but the elite white players don't give them the time of day. I hope that didn't come out offensive in any way.

 

I've heard the same on Duarte. He was named The best player in LA this year. Evidently he was unstoppable despite being double/triple teamed.

 

The rest of your post- not touching that with a ten foot pole. Stanford recruited a monster class last year (including bigtime white dudes like Peat and Murphy).

I'm not sure where exactly you are getting your recruiting information on Andrew Luck, but he was not a 3* coming out of High School. 5* on Scout, 4* on both Rivals and ESPN. #4 rated QB in the country on both Scout and Rivals, #7 QB on ESPN.

 

nvm, you are right, I was thinking of someone else. damn... :lie:

nvm, you are right, I was thinking of someone else. damn... :lie:

 

LOL I have done the same thing before. Luck is just one of the recruits from years ago that I remember having a big time buzz coming out of High School.

 

It's very hard to see how Stanford will continue to maintain their current success on the field with the way this class is looking. Who knows, maybe they will finish strong, but I just don't see them being in it with a lot of big time guys. You would think that beating an Oregon team that many thought was nearly unstoppable by anyone but Alabama and winning the Pac12 would put them on a lot of elite recruit's radars. Stanford is one of those schools I hate the week we play them, but tend to cheer for them every other week. Heck, they were laying beat downs on USC when we sure the heck couldn't and that's always a good thing.

Could just be a bad year for them recruiting wise, like I said earlier, the problem is if this type of class becomes the norm...

They had an absolute monster OL haul last year.

 

That class is absolutely loaded at o-line and d-line. No wonder they barely have any commits for this year.

That class is absolutely loaded at o-line and d-line. No wonder they barely have any commits for this year.

 

Their class was #6 in the country last year. There were 3 OL and 2 front seven D guys in the top 150 overall nationally (247 composite for all these).

 

In 2011, we had the #9 ranked team with 2 OL (I am counting TE as OL) and 3 front seven D guys in the top 150.

 

We followed up 2011 with what many fans considered a disappointing 12th ranked class (that does not include Tee and does include Davonte', but does not include Amir). In that class, we had 2 OL and 1 F7 in the top 150.

 

Can you imagine how we would have felt had we followed up the 2011 class with a class that was ranked #91 at the tail end of December and that included 0 OL and 1 F7 player in the top 150?

 

And that's not even looking at the discrepancy in skill guys between our two teams, where in 2012 we far exceeded what Stanford has done this year so far.

Edited December 29, 201211 yr by 2lakes

BTW, THIS year we have the #6 team with 3 OL and 3 F7 players in the top 150 overall nationally (247 Composite).

 

If we are fortunate enough to get Vanderdoes and Muhammad, and we count Colin McGovern at #166, we will have 4 elite OL and 5 elite F7 players. That would be nice, huh?

Edited December 29, 201211 yr by 2lakes

Their class was #6 in the country last year. There were 3 OL and 2 front seven D guys in the top 150 overall nationally (247 composite for all these).

 

In 2011, we had the #9 ranked team with 2 OL (I am counting TE as OL) and 3 front seven D guys in the top 150.

 

We followed up 2011 with what many fans considered a disappointing 12th ranked class (that does not include Tee and does include Davonte', but does not include Amir). In that class, we had 2 OL and 1 F7 in the top 150.

 

Can you imagine how we would have felt had we followed up the 2011 class with a class that was ranked #91 at the tail end of December and that included 0 OL and 1 F7 player in the top 150?

 

And that's not even looking at the discrepancy in skill guys between our two teams, where in 2012 we far exceeded what Stanford has done this year so far.

 

They had 3 five stars (Murphy, Peat, Shittu) last year to go along with guys like josh Garnett and Noor Davis.

 

Their OL class was called the best ever by a few analysts.

They had 3 five stars (Murphy, Peat, Shittu) last year to go along with guys like josh Garnett and Noor Davis.

 

Their OL class was called the best ever by a few analysts.

 

I like to go by 247 Composite for the simple fact that is the only compilation of all the major sites out there.

 

According to that rubric, Murphy and Peat were 5 *'s. Shittu was not. Just like in 2011, when Lynch and Ishaq were 5 *'s, but Tuitt was not. They were still all very close together and elite.

 

A comparison of our big guys in the class of 2011 with their's in the 2012 class looks like this:

 

ND: Aaron Lynch DE 0.9945 rating

SU: Kyle Murphy OT 0.9933

 

ND: Ishaq Williams OLB 0.9881

SU: Andrus Peat OT 0.9847

 

ND: Stephon Tuitt SDE 0.9809

SU: Joshua Garnett OG 0.9817

 

ND: Ben Koyack TE 0.9752

SU: Noor Davis OLB 0.9725

 

ND: Matt Hegarty OT 0.9708

SU: Aziz Shittu DT 0.9538

 

ND: Ben Councell OLB 0.9100

SU: Luke Kaumatule SDE 0.9104

 

ND: Troy Niklas SDE 0.9010

SU: Graham Shuler OG 0.9057

Edited December 30, 201211 yr by 2lakes

Then look at the years that follow. Granted, Stanford's year is not over yet, but there are not a lot of elite big uglies left on the table. I can not remember exactly who we had the last days of December (I do remember we still had Greenberry and Shepard, did not have Neal, Darby I think was gone...), so I'll use our final class.

 

ND: Notre Dame 2012 class as it finished

SU: Stanford 2013 class as it is now

 

Again, these are just the big guys: OL, TE, F7 (and thinking about it, maybe that did not even change that much in the last 5 weeks for us).

 

ND: Sheldon Day DT 0.9485

SU: Peter Kalambayi ILB 0.9362

 

ND: Ronnie Stanley OT 0.9431

SU: Kevin Palma ILB 0.8932

 

ND: Jarron Jones OT 0.9364

SU: Eric Cotton TE 0.8371

 

ND: Romeo Okwara WDE 0.8782

SU: Mike Tyler WDE 0.8276

 

ND: Mark Harrell OT 0.8762

SU: Greg Taboada TE 0.8775

 

There is a big drop off there from our class to their class for the #1-4 big guys (#2-4 especially). And, again, that is not even looking at skill players, where there is an even greater drop off.

 

Stanford usually does an excellent job developing less highly ranked players. But, lately, they have excelled by bringing in blue chip players and then developing them.

 

That recruiting success continued up until last year with David Shaw, but this year is just terrible so far, and it is late in the game. In college football, if you want to stay in the top 10, you can not completely miss on a class. In fact, you can not completely miss at a position for more than one, maybe two year. Stanford is missing this year, and I do not see them being able to salvage it to the point where they end up with a top 30 class.

 

Again, imagine what you would be thinking if ND had the #91 ranked team on December 29th. Heck, or even May 29th.

Edited December 30, 201211 yr by 2lakes

Tuitt was a five star from my recollection.