Five-star Sarell takes in Cardinal win

Stanford hosted the nation's No. 3 player in the class of 2017, Foster Sarell, for a fourth unofficial visit over the weekend.

Sarell - the country's top offensive lineman in the Rivals.com rankings - previously visited The Farm in the spring of his freshman year of high school, in the summer leading into his junior year and last spring.

But his most recent visit to Palo Alto was his first to experience a Stanford home game, which gave Sarell an up-close look at how the Cardinal's offensive line operates.

He liked what he saw.

"Foster said he was very impressed with the presence of the o-line," said Pam Sarell, Foster's mother. "Coach Bloom's way of warming his guys up pregame was insane and they dominated that game. I still can't get over how humble this team is. You would never know just hanging out with them that they are such highly ranked team."

While Stanford's coaches were naturally busy with game preparation during portions of the weekend, the visit also provided Sarell another opportunity to sit down with Bloomgren and Cardinal head coach David Shaw. The discussions touched on any number of topics.

"We talked most to Coach Bloomgren and Coach Shaw," Pam Sarell said. "Our conversations were anywhere from football to raising kids. They just want to know how we feel about their school and such. Foster loves talking technique with Bloom but there wasn't time for that this time."

Sarell was the most highly ranked recruit Stanford football hosted last weekend, but he was not the only potential college star in attendance. Six Stanford commits - including fellow The Opening alums Davis Mills and Colby Parkinson - and a handful of top uncommitted prospects also took in the game.

"He hung out with Davis Mills, Colby Parkinson a couple others and they all got along really well," Pam Sarell said.

"He did like those guys a lot."

The fact that Sarell visited for a game rather than a practice or Junior Day was not the only differentiating factor of his most recent trip to Stanford. It was also his first visit to The Farm as a student who has been officially accepted into the university. Sarell was accepted by Stanford in August.

"(Submitting the application) was a great day," Pam Sarell said. "And even cooler was hearing from Coach Shaw he was accepted."

Sarell is expected to return to Stanford in January for the Cardinal's official visit weekend. He's also expected to take official visits to Notre Dame, Alabama and Washington; he took one to Nebraska earlier this month.

The five-star standout has already started to narrow down his extensive list of college offers as he approaches the stretch run of his recruitment.

"Out of respect for the colleges that have been recruiting him he has told a couple of them that he is going in a different direction and narrowing it down," Pam Sarell said. "He wants to give them that respect so they can go after what they need. That's a hard thing for him to do."

More: USC game visit list