Captains Curtis Robinson and Malik Antoine spoke with the media Monday night after the "Tuesday" practice of the Oregon game week. Stanford is not practicing Tuesday in observance of Election Day and to guarantee that there is no team-related activity that keeps someone from voting. The "Monday" practice was Sunday. (Davis Mills and Drew Dalman also spoke with media and their videos are posted in a separate article.)
With all due respect to Antoine, Robinson was the most informative interview by a significant margin and that probably goes for both sides of the ball Monday night. He named Levani Damuni, Kendall Williamson and Ethan Bonner as guys who have impressed him in camp.
Damuni is getting a lot of love for his physicality and because of how quickly he learned the playbook after getting back from an LDS mission. Williamson falls in the category of being one of the best athletes on the defense who the coaches really hoped would have a major impact last season. The buzz right now is that there's a better chance that he's ready for center stage his junior season. I've mentioned before that Bonner is a favorite of Duane Akina because he can really run (although I wonder about the big brace I've seen in some practice photos). He's going to get playing time this season.
Robinson described Ricky Miezan as an athletic freak and that the third-year linebacker is much further along in his mental development at the position.
He also gave shoutouts to Mills, Dalman and Connor Wedington as the three offensive players who have impressed him the most. He doesn't appear to have any doubts that Mills and Dalman are both elite at their positions and he has liked what Wedington has done with the ball in space, an exciting tease.
Inside backers coach Eric Sanders won over the room pretty quickly based on what I heard from players back in the spring and it's even more true now. Robinson is a big fan and he talked about why Sanders has been effective connecting with everyone and teaching them on the field.
Antoine steered clear of many specifics but generally seems to be in good spirits about playing football again and the progress the defense made in camp.
