Harvard or Stanford for Czeisler

Stanford put the finishing touches on its 2015 scholarship recruiting class a few months ago, but the Cardinal's 2015 recruiting efforts are not complete.

The program will look to add several walk-ons in the coming months. One of those candidates is Dover-Sherborn (Mass.) quarterback/safety Mark Czeisler.

Czeisler, who learned he had been admitted to Stanford last week, has the Cardinal in his top two.

"Stanford is absolutely right up there," Czeisler said. "It's in my top two. Right now I'm deciding between going there and going to Harvard University. That's what it's ultimately going to come down to."

Though he applied on his own to Stanford a few months ago, the possibility of playing football on The Farm wasn't raised until more recently.

"I'd say really the first time I started hearing whispers about it was about a month ago when I heard that there was a possibility that they might be interested in me walking on at quarterback," Czeisler said. "But I never got word directly from them. And then (last) Friday I was admitted to the university and then the day after that I talked to the defensive coordinator, Coach Anderson. We talked on the phone and he said that he was looking at me hoping that I might play either quarterback or safety. He didn't know yet. And so that's still the question. He said he would talk to coach Shaw and get back to me later on that. But basically he invited me to come out to the campus and said that we'd meet. So I'm going to do that over the admitted students days, from April 22 to the 24th I'll be flying out there."

The trip won't be Czeisler's first to Stanford, however. He spent a little more than a month on The Farm last summer doing an internship.

"I went out there this past summer," Czeisler said. "I did an internship under a professor... I was working in his lab. He runs a lab that looks at sleep, and so I was working on something to do with narcolepsy, which is a sleep disorder that makes people tired all the time. So I was working in there, staying at a different professor's house who lived in Palo Alto. I was out there for a little over a month and so I got to see a lot of the campus and have a really good time and that definitely played a big part in my applying and is a big reason why I'm interested."

(It's worth noting here that Mark's father, Charles, is an expert in the study of sleep. Charles is the Baldino Professor of Sleep Medicine at Havard Medical School. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard, but actually received his Ph.D and MD from Stanford. So the family has plenty of familiarity with both of Czeisler's finalists.)

Like Stanford, Harvard has discussed a walk-on opportunity with Czeisler. But unlike the Cardinal, the Crimson like the 6-foot-2, 188-pound prospect as a receiver, rather than a safety, in addition to quarterback.

"I've been talking to (Harvard) for, I think, two months, maybe," Czeisler said. "With that, it's walking on, again, and either playing quarterback or playing wide receiver. I'd say they're leaning toward me playing wide receiver, at least at first, and then moving on from there."

Czeisler has played literally almost everywhere on the football field during his career, so he'll be a versatile prospect for any school. In his heart of hearts, however, he fashions himself a quarterback.

"This past season I played quarterback and safety," Czeisler said. "That's where I started for my high school team. But I've played pretty much every position, including offensive line. I go to a really small high school. So I pretty much have always done whatever. But like I said, I consider myself a quarterback."

Czeisler plans to visit both Stanford and Harvard before coming to a college decision.

"Like I said, I just recently got news that I was admitted and then after that it has kind of been a whirlwind," Czeisler said. "But I think this weekend and in the next coming weeks, especially after the visit, I think visiting both Stanford and Harvard, I think that's what it's going to come down to. (I'll go) from there, looking at what's the best fit for me academically and athletically and then going from there."