Stanford football had their “Spring Showcase” on Saturday, April 20th. I was there on the scene to observe and interview players along with head coach Troy Taylor. Below are five takeaways I have from the showcase. Enjoy!

#1. Ashton Daniels is the top quarterback: From what I was able to see, junior quarterback Ashton Daniels is definitely the top quarterback on the team. He looks comfortable in the offense and seems to be feeling good about his play. While Myles Jackson and Elijah Brown are both very talented freshmen who have bright futures, Daniels is still the best quarterback on the team and also appears to have improved. Especially on the side of just feeling more comfortable being the starter. Last year it was sort of a back and forth thing a bit with him and Justin Lamson, but now he looks like a guy who knows the starting job is his.

#2. Emmett Mosley is going to be a versatile piece: Freshman wide receiver Emmett Mosley is one of the early enrollees and he is looking good. He’s runs like the wind and should be a tremendous deep threat. And then on top of that, he was used out of the backfield on a play for a sweep, which I thought was interesting. At 6’2”, 190, he’s got great physical tools and looks to be a guy who will make an immediate impact on the offense.

#3. Troy Taylor is pleased with the team across the board: Having spoken to him afterwards, it’s clear that head coach Troy Taylor likes what he saw from his team. He feels like everyone is working hard and buying in. He seems to really be focused on making sure everyone is committed to being on the same page and he feels like that piece is definitely there. At the same time, he knows they have a lot of work to do, but he’s trying to keep a positive attitude and make sure that rubs off on all the players.

#4. The team is pretty healthy: Wide receivers Tiger Bachmeier and Elic Ayomanor are out as is safety Scotty Edwards. Ayomanor has missed the entire spring period, but he should be ready to go come fall camp. And then Bachmeier and Edwards are both out, but Taylor said they should be fine and ready to go for fall camp as well. I actually have more details on Bachmeier on the message boards, but suffice to say, the team overall looks to be trending towards a healthy fall camp and that should have everyone on the team excited.

#5. The pass rush could be a real weapon this year for Stanford: Just watching some of the guys go through pass rush drills up close, that appears to be a possible area of strength for the Cardinal defense. David Bailey, Teva Tafiti, and Ernest Cooper at outside linebacker should all have strong seasons and help give the Cardinal a serious pass rush. They all look like the real deal and won’t be easy for opposing offenses to contain.

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