Coordinators provide updates on their players two weeks before season

With about two weeks to go until kickoff in Eugene, Stanford offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard, defensive coordinator Lance Anderson and special teams coordinator Pete Alamar provided detailed updates about their respective units.

Pritchard is pleased by the development of the second-year offensive linemen and identified Drake Nugent as the backup center — which is not a surprise but the battle of the Drakes (Nugent vs. Metcalf) will be an important behind-the-scenes contest this season.

He spoke glowingly about the character and leadership of former Air Force quarterback Isaiah Sanders. He is a "tremendous young man" and "it is a joy to have him in our meeting room". Pritchard hopes they find a role for him because Sanders is a "tremendous athlete".

In the opinion of Cardinal Sports Report, opportunities will be very limited for Sanders to impact a game but there are a number of ways he can further strengthen the team's intangibles and give the scout offense another look to throw at the defense, depending on the matchup with an opponent on a given week.

When asked about first impressions of the freshmen so far, Pritchard made particular note of tight end Ben Yurosek's athleticism and that he has a very high ceiling. (In a later interview, special teams coordinator Pete Alamar also spoke highly of Yurosek.)

The tight end room seems to be in a transition period, especially as a playmaking unit in the passing game after the departure of Colby Parkinson. It's to be determined what second-year Bradley Archer will provide while the established veterans Tucker Fisk and Scooter Harrington will try to expand out of the niche roles they fit into up to this point. Pritchard praised Harrington for having a great camp.

He also provided a standard smokescreen answer that how much the group is used in the passing game will be determined by matchups, but his answer suggested that the tight ends will fall into a support role behind the receivers and running backs.

Pritchard pulled back the curtain a bit on how the offensive and defensive coaches can help scout each other in informal and formal meetings during camp and the season. There have been times, although not as much recently, that each side was tasked with poking holes in the other's units and to identify how Pritchard would attack Lance's defense, and vice versa.

He also provided a great, literally step-by-step, explanation of what it should look like when receivers go in and out of breaks in their routes, and how perfecting that technique is the great divide separating young receivers from older guys. Pritchard has seen that most high schools have really simplified routes so that many guys come in with limited technical development, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, he added.

Anderson knows that improving tackling and the physicality of the defense is the main order of business in camp. He has seen improvement but it's still a mixed bag at this point in camp.

"There have been some good things, but when we've gone live and done some of the tackling drills you can see that there are some things to coach, some things that need improvement, but I wouldn't expect anything different right now. Overall, I'm pleased with ... their effort, their attention to detail, with the competition that's going on. They're working hard, playing hard and giving great effort right now. We have great competition at a number of positions."

Anderson has been encouraged by the pass rush of outside linebackers Stephen Herron and Andres Fox in recent practices. He has liked what he has seen overall from Herron in camp. The former four star out of Kentucky struggled to stay healthy his freshman year.

Even with the bar set at a very high level for Thomas Booker, the defensive end has been impressive. Anderson also shone the spotlight on fifth-year end Thomas Schaffer.

"He's playing his best football right now. He is a big, physical guy and he is playing like it."

Stanford got little impact play from its inside linebackers a year ago and that's expected to change with a top four emerging of Curtis Robinson, Ricky Miezan, Jacob Mangum-Farrar and Levani Damuni. Anderson gave an evaluation of where Robinson and Damuni stand at this point in camp as the most established player in the group and the one arguably rising the fastest, respectively.

Robinson: "All the reps he's received (at inside backer) ... are really starting to show up. I think he's really feeling comfortable with the position. I think he's playing at a high level. He just does everything well there. He has so many physical tools and he's really good in coverage. A lot of times we think we have to utilize him in coverage but he also has the ability to win in pass rush."

Damuni: "One guy to highlight is Levani Damuni. Last year he had just come off of a mission and it took him some time to get back into playing shape. He has really flashed this fall."

The interview kicked off (sorry) with Alamar breaking down how decisions about special teams starters are affected by how things shake out in the two-deep on defense and offense. Alamar is looking at a number of guys who can potentially fill roles.

He highlighted several individuals:

Wide receiver Brycen Tremayne has been "very, very good for us in the kicking game and he will continue to be that way".

Linebacker Thunder Keck "is a guy who shows up" and safety Spencer Jorgensen is a guy who "showed up last year" ... "and we're anticipating getting good things out of him in the kicking game". Jorgensen and Keck were awarded scholarships Saturday night.

Wide receiver Elijah Higgins was good on teams last year but Alamar hinted that Higgins' availability could be limited this season if he plays more on offense. (That may have been a bit of a behind-the-scenes peek at how things are going in the wide receiver competition.)

Fullback Houston Heimuli was a starter on all four teams last season — in part because of injuries — and he "did a great job" ... and "has been working really hard in camp".

Damuni "started to show up in the kicking game" once he rounded back into playing shape. "He had a couple nice stops in the Notre Dame on kickoff. We will continue to grow his role on special teams and on defense."

Among the freshmen, Alamar said that cornerback Brandon Jones, wide receiver John Humphreys and wide receiver Silas Starr are "flashing early" and "have done some really nice work in drills".

Yurosek is a "really good athlete" and "he's what we call a big-skill athlete". Alamar categorizes a players into three body types. "Type Two" are big guys who are quick-twitch, such as Yurosek, Higgins and Keck.

Running back Casey Filkins "is a hard-charging guy. He plays hard."

Alamar has been in this business a long time and he described kicker Josh Karty as the most fundamentally developed freshman he has ever worked with.

"He is everything we thought he would be and more. I really thought he had tremendous upside and obviously so did a lot of other people, right? He has come in and done a really nice job for us."

Many people have lined up in the past couple years to tell Karty how special he can be, but Alamar has found him to be grounded, very coachable, and observed that Karty has seamlessly integrated himself into the specialist room. He's learning from fifth-year starter Jet Toner and Alamar is grateful that things worked where Karty and Toner will overlap for one season.

Alamar lit up talking about how walk-on wide receiver Diego Preciado stepped up to move to kicker when the injury situation last season got so ridiculous that kickers were getting hurt.

Stanford had a practice last year where Alamar said, "Raise your hand if you've ever kicked". He described how important it was that Preciado was serviceable in practice and he's actually shown real improvement this offseason.

Alamar expects more punt pressure early this season, because he has seen special teams blocking units in the NFL and college tested more than usual. Teams are trying to take advantage of the shortened/odd offseason to try to stress opponents into making a mistake. He's also noted that missed tackles have been a big problem on special teams throughout the country.

He still sounded a bit salty that a punt was blocked in the Notre Dame game and punt protection is a focus right now.

His top issue for kickoff coverage is to develop continuity with who he has on the field. In a couple games last season he used 10 freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the cover team. "I was proud of that unit overall. We had one where Kyu (Kelly) had to run a guy down at Wazzu. You want to eliminate that one but other that that one the longest was 28 yards."

He thought wide receiver Connor Wedington "did a nice job" in kickoff returns but there were some returns "we had a chance to finish off and we didn't finish. Let's make the band play."

Alamar wants to see punt return improve and he identified that as a top goal for the season. He said that the goal of every return is to get the first first down. "That's the minimum acceptable goal."