Just as disappointment was setting in for Lathan Ransom at the end of the barbecue dinner Friday at Stanford, he got the news he was hoping to hear from head coach David Shaw. Stanford decided to offer the 2020 safety after a strong showing at the Friday Night Lights camp.

"I was so happy it almost brought me to tears," he told Cardinal Sports Report. "It caught me by surprise. I already had my head down and didn’t think it was going to happen at all. Then he (Shaw) came back up to me.”

Ransom described Stanford as a dream school and one that has been close to his heart for several years. The visit firmly established the Cardinal at the forefront of his thinking, even as he acknowledged he has a long way to go with his process.

"It’s definitely going to be up there. I don’t know where I want to go, yet, and I’m going to start focusing on that after my junior season. I’ll get my top schools that I want to go there (on visits). I definitely enjoyed my time at Stanford."

As usual for Stanford's junior days, it was packed with experiences meant to wow visitors. The campus opened Ransom's eyes -- "It really doesn’t get much better than that" -- and he sat down with a biology professor who impressed him with her fandom of the program and treatment of the football players.

"It was cool to see that football players aren’t treated any more special at Stanford than anyone else. It was cool to see all that," he said.

The interactions that made the strongest impression on Ransom were with the coaches and other recruits on campus.

"All the coaches were so nice and so welcoming. It felt really genuine," he said.

"I like how Coach (Duane) Akina kept it real with me. He didn’t sugarcoat anything and that’s how I want it to be like. Don’t lie to me. Keep it honest with me and that’s all I want. That’s how all the coaches are (at Stanford). They were serious. It was a business trip and it was an awesome experience.

"I hung out with the DBs most of the time and that’s who I got to know. Trent McDuffie and Jonathan McGill are two guys I got close with during the trip. I was the only kid who didn’t have an offer. I was like, ‘Wow.’ It was cool to be around them."

"It was great to hear from guys about why they liked Stanford because they have other offers and are thinking of going to Stanford. I got to hear their thoughts about Stanford."

Ransom got a lot of one-on-one time with Akina, who didn't hold back during his relatively short time to instruct the rising junior.

"It was cool. It was one-on-one and he critiqued some of my stuff, which I’m all for learning from a great coach. He has seen a lot of good players. I was soaking it up like a sponge. I was super excited.

"Some of the press technique I hadn’t seen before. He told me to relax myself a little bit more and I’ve never been told that before, so that was good. It was cool, too, because in the film room he showed me what he was going to go over. I watched it work on film and then to use it in the one-on-ones and watch it work in the one-on-ones was super cool."