Stanford brings back Eric Sanders to take over as ILB coach
Former New York Jets defensive assistant Eric Sanders is coming back to The Farm to coach the inside linebackers, replacing Peter Hansen, who is now the defensive coordinator at UNLV, Stanford announced Monday.
“I’m excited to return to Stanford and work with our inside linebackers,” Sanders said in a press release. “We have a talented room getting ready for the 2020 season and I’m excited to jump in to help them prepare, train and develop. I’m thankful to Coach Shaw, Bernard Muir, Coach Anderson and everyone on The Farm for the opportunity to come back. My family and I are excited to be back in the Bay Area and I can’t wait to hit the field for spring ball.”
The last time Sanders was on a Stanford sideline the Cardinal dominated Iowa in the 2015 Rose Bowl, ending that season as one of the best teams in the country. Head coach David Shaw certainly hopes that Sanders can be part of the reason the Cardinal get back to the top of one of the highest peaks in the sport.
“Eric was with us for our 2015 Rose Bowl Championship season and he was so smart, energetic and detailed that I knew someday we’d bring him back,” Shaw said in a press release. “Eric has great comprehensive knowledge having worked with the defensive line, linebackers and defensive backs throughout his career, and he’s spent the last three years with Gregg Williams who is one of the best defensive minds in the NFL.”
Sanders has put in the time to learn the profession at the highest level and to teach a variety of positions since graduating from UC Davis in 2005. He has coached with offensive linemen, tight ends, outside linebackers, defensive linemen and, of course, inside linebackers.
He worked with the Oakland Raiders for five seasons before joining Stanford in 2015, where he actually worked with Randy Hart to help coach the defensive linemen.
He worked for three seasons as a defensive assistant with the Cleveland Browns after leaving Stanford and last year he held a similar position with the Jets.
Sanders comes to the program at a critical time. Stanford suffered its worst season in more than a decade last year and the roster was devastated by injuries.
Stanford's defense has alo fallen on tough times since the 2015 season, seeing a steady fall in a number of stats that measure the playmaking ability of the group. It will be Sanders' responsibility to coach up a inside linebacker group with a lot of potential but little proven production.
Curtis Robinson is back after starting every game last season, but fellow starter Andrew Pryts is off the roster and has not announced a transfer to another school. They led the defense in tackles but combined for only four tackles for a loss, two sacks, two turnovers and two quarterback hits. In other words, most of their work was beyond, not behind, the line of scrimmage and there were not many plays that changed the course of a game.
Jacob Mangum-Farrar and Ricky Miezan will be redshirt sophomores next season and expectations are high for what they can bring to the field.
Tristan Sinclair, Aeneas DiCosmo and Levani Damuni redshirted last season and will compete for playing time.