OT Jeffrey Persi was impressed by Stanford, hopeful for an offer

Jeffrey Persi is one of the fastest rising offensive tackles in California and is starting to get national attention because of his size, length and athleticism. Persi's first visit to Stanford left a strong positive impression on him while he waits for an offer.

Persi has offers from most of the Pac-12 (including USC and Washington), Oklahoma, Michigan, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and others. He spent Friday and Saturday on The Farm and experienced a deep dive into what it would be like to be a student-athlete at the university.

"The whole trip was really cool and the campus was amazing!" he messaged Cardinal Sports Report. "It's so pretty around that campus and surprisingly quiet. I didn't realize how big it was as well."

Stanford held practices both days that Persi was on campus with a number of other junior day visitors. He focused his attention on possible future position coach Kevin Carberry to see how he instructs his players on the field and how well they connected away from football.

"I got to spend a lot of time with Coach Carberry and really enjoyed the time spent. Coach is really cool and made me feel really comfortable as well. I also spent both days really watching him closely and how he coached the OL during both practices. He obviously knows what he is doing and I noticed how involved he was with the guys. Definitely not the coach that stands back and barks orders!"

The recruits had dinner with current Cardinal players Friday and Drew Dalman and Foster Sarell invited Pesi to sit with them.

"Both are awesome and answered a lot of the questions I had about the school and football program. After dinner I was invited by them both to hang out back at their rooms. We were joined by Colby Parkinson and decided to have a little game of basketball just to have fun. It was very fun!

"I didn't realize how much I'd relate to them all. I watch them play on TV and they just seem so grown up. But they're all so awesome to hang out with and made me realize what it would be like when I'm there in college."

Persi has enjoyed all of his visits, and said each provided something unique, but he pointed to an event at Stanford that consistently earns praise from recruits: The lunch with professors. He met "eight or nine" of them and said that the only other school he's visited so far that made a professor available was Cal, where he spoke with one.

"I got to hear them speak about their areas of studies, what type of professions they led to, what they felt about their student-athletes, and how impressed they (professors) are with the focus and determination the athletes have to do what is necessary to be successful, and what it meant to them to support the athletes in every area they could possibly do so."

Persi is level headed when thinking about the possible effect of a Stanford offer on his recruiting process. He knows he's already won the student-athlete lottery with offers from a number of quality schools.

"An offer from Stanford would be amazing! I believe in what each student-athlete meant when they explained what it meant to be a "Stanford Man" to them, and I could see myself fitting in there. However, I don't have an offer yet, and I understand that the process is unique in its own way, but I'm going to focus on the offers I do currently have and building the relationships with them.

"I know there have been many athletes who have waited on the Stanford offer and felt let down when they didn't receive one. I honestly don't want to be in that situation and if it comes before I make my decision then I'll deal with it then. If it doesn't, I'm blessed to even be recruited by them. But I also believe when I make my commitment to a school, that commitment needs to be built on. I've always learned that when we give our word it means more than anything else. From that time on I'll work on building on to that relationship and getting ready to be an important part of the school.

"Overall I felt like I really clicked well with every athlete I was able to speak with, Coach (David) Shaw, Coach (Tavita) Pritchard, Coach Carberry and Coach (Ron) Gould! No doubt that Stanford is a special place and the option of walking away after 5 years with a co-term masters degree from Stanford is unbelievable."