2018 DE/TE Booker gets to know Stanford
Gilman High School (Maryland) defensive end/tight end Thomas Booker has been a familiar face on Stanford's campus this summer. He's spent the last seven or so weeks living in Florence Moore residential hall. He's taking two classes at the university. He eats at the dining halls. He works out at the school's athletic facilities.
In other words, his summer has been a lot like that of his former high school teammates, Devery Hamilton (who's in one of the same classes as Booker) and Dorian Maddox, who signed with Stanford as part of the 2016 class.
There is one major difference, however: Booker is still a junior in high school.
The four-star prospect has spent the summer expanding his academic capabilities by taking college classes alongside college students on The Farm.
"The high school summer college program has been great for me," Booker said. "It's an eight-week long program where you take the same exact classes that undergraduates are taking. In all cases, really, there are are undergraduates in your class. Some are athletes because they're coming for the summer quarter. I'm taking Principles of Economics and I'm taking an African American Science Fiction, Literature and Studies class. So I've been taking those for the better part of six (plus) weeks now. I've been doing really, really well in both classes - high-A's in both. So I've been able to get acclimated to the campus. I've gotten to meet some really, really neat people from all over the world - people from Spain, China, everywhere. And I've been able to take some really challenging classes. It's been a lot of fun."
"It's been a pretty authentic Stanford experience."
Independent of his studies in Stanford's program, Booker has also heard from the Cardinal football program in a recruiting capacity. Stanford first expressed interest when Booker was an underclassmen - Stanford sent coaches to Gilman on a relatively regular basis to recruit Hamilton and Maddox, and Booker caught their attention.
"When we decided to come to the Stanford high school summer college program, we got in touch with the coaches," Booker said. "We set up the Junior Day through getting in touch with them."
Booker made the short trip from his dorm room to the Cardinal's Junior Day festivities last Friday to get a better sense for the Stanford football program.
"The Junior Day was amazing," Booker said. "I was really surprised when we went to the lunch with the professors. They had a bunch of the prospects sitting with a specific professor that they had determined would be most closely linked to the interest that we indicated before coming. And I was super intrigued and excited by what the professors were saying about how student-athletes were treated and how they were expected to perform in class. I really loved to hear the enthusiasm. The humanities professor, he was probably one of the most enthusiastic people I've ever heard about football. And he didn't know about it until he came to Stanford. Just knowing that you have professors around that are that enthusiastic about your success and not trying to weed you out but trying got support you and make sure you're a successful student-athlete at Stanford was definitely important to hear."
Then it was on to Stanford Stadium for the Cardinal's Friday Night Lights camp, where Booker worked out at both defensive line and tight end.
"During the Junior Day I got to sit down with Coach Reynolds, the d-line coach, and we went over some film," Booker said. "He taught me some techniques. The same thing carried on to the workout. I really liked him. I thought he was really, really good at teaching basic techniques and getting into some more advanced stuff and showing us drills to help that. I liked his style of coaching. He's really, really informative. He's not the type of guy who just yells at you until he thinks it has an effect. He kind of uses his own methods for getting you to learn the techniques. I really liked the defensive side of the ball.
"Same thing with the offense. They were telling me really constructive things about getting out of my breaks quicker, where my head should be, where my eyes should be to not give up where I'm going. Even though it wasn't a long camp it definitely helped me out with my techniques. It's something I can (take with me) when I go back to the East Coast to start my junior season."
At this juncture in Booker's development the four-star standout believes Stanford prefers him at defensive end, though he noted that could well change as his skills develop.
He's open to playing either side of the ball.
"First and foremost, I'm a football player, so I'll play wherever it is they need me to play," Booker said. "But my thing is that if people are throwing the ball, then I love playing tight end. But if it's not as much of a priority to the offense, I love playing defense. You can look at my highlight tape and you can see that I love both sides of the ball. I love getting to the quarterback on defense - that's one of my favorite things. Getting to the quarterback and (catching)the ball are probably two of my favorite things to do on the football field. If they're passing the ball I love playing tight end. If they're not then defense is the way to go for me."
Stanford has yet to discuss the possibility of an offer in detail with Booker - he figures his dialogue with the Cardinal could increase once high school juniors are permitted to have increased communication with college coaches this fall.
A Stanford scholarship offer would be taken under strong consideration should one be extended.
"My main goal in this process is to find the school that best combines a ridiculously high academic standard with amazing football," Booker said. "So, I mean, Stanford is one of those schools. I definitely would be very excited to get an offer from them. But, honestly, we'll see that day when it comes."
