Recruiting Board Update: Offensive Line
Stanford has been sitting at two commitments in the 2022 class for just over five months now, but there are reasons for optimism that will change in a big way this summer. There is no other position group set up to fall the Cardinal's way like giant dominoes than at offensive line.
Cardinal Sports Report takes a look at each of the prospects Stanford is still in contention with and why Stanford is doing well with each of them.
Franklin is one of Stanford's most recent offensive line offers and the Tennessean will be on campus June 25-27 for an official visit. He reports a 4.5 GPA from a school that where he teamed up with soon to be walk-on freshman Jason Amsler on the offensive line.
Anderson also plans to visit Virginia and North Carolina and just did a self-guided tour of Northwestern. The academic focus is obvious and encouraging for Stanford.
He did not have much contact with Stanford before he was offered in April because Stanford was looking for its replacement of Kevin Carberry, but within a couple days of the offer he did a virtual visit and has been in regular contact since.
The son of a former Penn State player who won a national championship with the Nittany Lions, it's not a surprise that the home state power has a strong pull on Brubaker. Among his top five of Stanford, PSU, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Tennessee, the Cardinal were the last of that group to offer.
Brubaker told BWI's Ryan Snyder that Stanford's elite academics allowed them to get a visit date despite being a newcomer to his recruiting process. He will visit June 1-3 for an official. (Recruits were previously told that Stanford wouldn't host recruits until June 15 — after the commencement ceremony — so clearly a change was made to accommodate recruits who couldn't get to Stanford later in the month.)
"A lot of my interest with Stanford is definitely academic, especially considering just the timing of when their offer came in," he said. "Just based off my top five, I'm not considering a lot of those later offers that I received. But, you know, Stanford was my latest. I think for them, the academic appeal there, as well as the character of Coach [David] Shaw and his staff, is just too hard to turn away from. That's reason to investigate and know whether or not that's something that I want to seek out."
Herzog has consistently had very encouraging things to say about Stanford and that hasn't changed since Terry Heffernan took over. He will visit June 19-21 for an official.
"I got to speak with him when he officially got the job," he said March 24. "He’s a great hire, and I’m looking forward to continuing to get to know him. I think he fits Stanford well and I’m looking forward building our relationship.
"We’ve been on a few calls and are scheduling more, I’ve talked to other coaches as well on phone calls or text. They’ve been great conversations and I always leave those conversations excited about Stanford."
Herzog and his father are very intentional about collecting information about schools and comparing it to a list of values they identified early in the process. Herzog shared after his first virtual visit with Stanford that the university and football program met a lot of those values.
Braden is the younger brother of current Cardinal lineman Barrett Miller and Stanford offered all the way back on Sept. 10. He will visit June 26 for an official.
Obviously Braden has access to behind the scenes information about the offensive line room and program that few recruits get to have. He heard from his brother about why Kevin Carberry was so effective coaching up the guys and now Braden and Barrett have been getting to know Heffernan.
"He seems like a very good guy," Braden said March 22 . "He knows tons about the game, and I’m excited to continue my recruiting process with him!"
Braden and Heffernan have been in regular contact since and offers have trickled in for Miller as more schools hope that his apparent openness to other options is real. Duke, Miami and Tennessee have reportedly offered since March 9.
Robertson's interest is obvious by his actions. Before he knew that the "dead period" would be lifted he decided to do a self-guided tour of Stanford and it helped him visualize himself as a student-athlete on the campus. He will return for an official visit June 26-27, along with potential linemates Miller and Anderson.
Robertson is a talented guard with experience playing at the highest level of Texas prep football. Stanford offered in March and he was the first such call Heffernan made.
"I got a fantastic first impression of Coach Heffernan," he told Cardinal Sports Report at the time. "He’s an awesome guy.
Robertson was recruited by multiple staff members before Heffernan came on board and since then he also has been impressed by several informative Zoom meetings.
"Something that has stood out is the interest they have expressed and how nice they all are. I am a big fan of all of them. My parents love the staff and we’re very impressed."
Swanson has been quiet of late about his recruiting process but he might release a list of top schools soon and it would be a shocker if Stanford doesn't make the cut. In April he told Cardinal Sports Report that he probably would head up to The Farm on an unofficial visit during the summer, but he has not made any visit plans public yet.
A number of schools are recruiting him hard in addition to Stanford and Ohio State is one of the biggest superpowers trying to pull him out of California. He did not play in a game this past year but that didn't seem to slow down interest in the mountainous tackle.
The Sierra Canyon athlete has been to Stanford before, but for a basketball camp in middle school.