Cardinal Coachspeak: Kaden Smith
The 2016 recruiting class proved to be one of the best of the David Shaw era at Stanford. One of the early commits to this class was Kaden Smith of Marcus High School in Texas.
In order to get more background on Smith and his decision to commit Stanford, we caught up with Coach Gerry Stanford to kick off our #CardinalCoachSpeak series with the 2016 class.
Cardinal Sports Report: Kaden had offers from most of the top schools around the country. What do you think ultimately led to Stanford being such a good fit for Kaden and his future?
Gerry Stanford: "The fact that Stanford provides a top notch football opportunity with a top notch academic experience is probably what sold Kaden. He’s a smart kid and knows he needs a plan if he doesn’t play football the rest of his life. It doesn’t hurt that Stanford has a great history of developing NFL tight ends either."
CSR: As his coach, what do you think made Kaden such a coveted recruit?
GS: "Kaden is the total package. He has been gifted with great size and athleticism that sets him apart from his peers, but what makes him special is that he couples that with great drive and work ethic. Kaden wants to win in everything that he does and that makes him a competitor that any college would love to have."
CSR: How did Kaden's game and skill set grow and improve during his high school career? What areas do you think he still need to really improve on before he can make an impact at the college level?
GS: "Kaden began his high school career in a power run scheme, lining up mainly in the backfield as a blocker. Over the last two years, he has played in a spread, multiple attack that had him lining up as a WR, TE and in the backfield. He has developed the ability to run sharp routes and exploit one-on-one match ups.
"He has proved to be a downfield playmaker as well as a dominant blocker at the point of attack. Kaden has been able to use his size advantage to make plays down the field, but as he transitions to the college game he must become a better route runner and not rely just on his size to get open."
CSR: With so many schools coming through Marcus the past couple of years, was there anything unique about the way the Stanford coaches recruited Kaden and worked with you and your staff?
GS: "Stanford built a relationship early on and were able to get Kaden on their campus multiple times before Kaden was into his junior or senior year. Kaden always raved about the experience at Stanford. I would say the relationship that they were able to build with Kaden was a big factor."
CSR: Stanford had a ton of success in the state of Texas recruiting this year. Why do you think Stanford has been able to translate so well with some of the top recruits in the state, including one like Kaden, who had an offer from the University of Texas?
GS: "Stanford offers something that no other institution really can. Realistically, there are few schools that can say they have a chance to win a national championship every year. Stanford can offer that on top of a great educational experience that’s less than an hour from the coast of California. Sharp kids from Texas will eat that up."