McNitzky receives Stanford offer

Stanford has not extended many scholarships to long snappers over the years, but the Cardinal liked what they saw in 2016 Texas standout Richard McNitzky. So much so, in fact, that Stanford offered McNitzky - the nation's No. 5 long snapper in the 2016 class, per Kohl's Kicking - a rare full-ride scholarship on Sunday evening.

"It was unreal," McNitzky said. "When I first got contacted from them it was just crazy because I have a couple of offers. But Stanford, Pac-12 football, that's a whole (different) level. It was a blessing, for sure. And I'm really grateful that Coach Alamar and his staff found me and believe in me."

Stanford's recruitment of McNitzky came together fairly quickly. The two sides only got in touch a few weeks back, when one of Stanford's coaches came across his film.

"The end of September actually of this year, so it was pretty late (when we started talking)," McNitzky said. "Their special teams grad assistant ran across my HUDL video. And then I had him and Coach Alamar, the special teams coordinator, both reach out to me through Twitter saying they liked what they saw, they liked my athleticism and they wanted my academic information and they talked to my head coach. All that went through, so then (Coach Alamar) visited me two weeks ago. He came up to San Antonio during Stanford's bye week on a Thursday and came and watched me practice. From there we've just been communicating through the phone."

Alamar and McNitzky then connected last Wednesday night, when the Cardinal coach informed the Macarthur High School standout that Stanford would be making a decision about his recruiting standing with the program.

"He told me earlier this week - I believe Wednesday night, the night before they played UCLA," McNitzky said. "He gave me a call and we talked about both of our upcoming games. He told me that they would be discussing me on Sunday, today, in their personnel and recruiting meeting. And then he called me tonight and said everything went well, the numbers match up. They're looking for a guy to scholarship as a long snapper and he offered me the scholarship."

McNitzky has yet to visit Stanford but he'd like to get out to The Farm as an unofficial visitor for a game in late November, perhaps to watch the Cardinal take on Notre Dame. He could take an official visit in January.

"We talked a little bit about the official visit they have later in the winter where they fly me out there with the rest of their Stanford guys so I can meet some of the other recruits," McNitzky said. "But I'm definitely interested in checking out Palo Alto."

McNitzky currently has offers from Air Force, New Mexico and UTEP in addition to Stanford. The Cardinal finds itself in strong position in McNitzky's recruitment after the offer.

"Stanford's no doubt one of the top schools," McNitzky said. "I'll be calling them back later in the week after I talk with my family and other coaches at my school and my mentors about Stanford. But I'll giving Coach Alamar a call sometime mid-week. And hopefully I'll have an update then. But there's no question this is the best offer I've received."

McNitzky will receive a copy of the Stanford application soon. It appears as if he's in good shape to eventually gain admission to the program.

"They talked me through it," McNitzky said. "They said grade-wise and SAT-wise I'm great. I'm top five percent of my class and I have an 1810 on my SAT. He said that they'll be sending the paperwork over to my head coach this week so I can get started on it. I'll be able to contact any of the coaches, the defensive coaches he directed me to if I need help on the application process. I need to write my essays and get some recommendation letters but academically he seems to think I'm pretty qualified."