Shaw talks recruiting: Part Two

Fresh off signing his third top-20 recruiting class in the last four years, Stanford head coach David Shaw sat down with Cardinal Sports Report last week to discuss a number topics related to the program's recruiting efforts.

The following two-part series will summarize our conversation. Part one focused on various components of Shaw and the Cardinal's general recruiting strategy. This segment deals with more specific recruiting matters.

Shaw on undervalued 2015 signees

Stanford signed one five-star and six four-star recruits in the 2015 class. But Shaw is excited about some of the less heralded prospects in the group, as well.

"The most obvious one is Jabiari Tyler," Shaw said. "His film is ridiculous. It's ridiculous - as good as any of the quote unquote athletes in that athlete category that you'll see around the country. He's just not as tall as a lot of those guys. But we were reminded in our bowl game, a guy that we thought very highly of (William Likely), played extremely well at corner for Maryland and returned a kickoff against us for a touchdown. And their size is very similar. Jay is not a small guy. He's not very tall. But he's thick, he's well built, he's explosive, he's quick. That's the most obvious (choice for an undervalued 2015 signee).

"I always look at the stars with a (grain of salt) because we all know, a lot of those have to do with doing things in the offseason, going to the competitions, going to all those things. And guys get more highly rated."

"I think Trent Irwin is phenomenal. I think J.J. Arcega-Whiteside is phenomenal. J.J. didn't go do all those other things that would have gotten him another star, from a three-star to a four-star or whatever, but you watch him play and he jumps over people. He's a thinner version of Devon Cajuste: big, physical, unbelievable body control. And he's good after the catch for a tall guy. To think that he wasn't ranked as high as other people, it's comical to me, because he didn't do those other things.

"And once again, you look at a guy like Mustafa Branch. You put his film on with a lot of the other quote unquote four and five-star guys, and tell me somebody that's more physical. Tell me somebody that runs through contact more than him. I'd like to see him - which we've seen all of them. Once again, he's not as tall, but that's what they said about Myles Jack. That's what they said about a bunch of guys. It never really bothers me but I think when people look at our class, which is what they typically do, and they look at the guys, they say, 'Wow, that's actually a really good class.' So that's all that matters to me."

"I'll give you another one: Jack Dreyer. Not a four or five star, blah blah blah. He's 6-foot-8 and he bends better than some guys who are 6-foot-3. Freaky. He can get into and out of his stance so much better than some of those other big-time guys that are all over the place. And when it comes down to it, that's what we need a guy to do. You're going to pass protect, you have to be able to sink your hips and not get bull rushed. And then you have to be able to adjust and you have to have good knee bend.

"There are some guys that are four and five star guys, (but) they can't do it, (they) are not going to be able to play at this level. But they look great in a one-on-on or they played at a really good school and they won a bunch of games and played against a couple of good players and played well. He gets offered by everybody so he blows up. When it comes down to it if he can't bend he can't play.

Shaw on Stanford's recruiting staff makeup

As chronicled in the first part of Cardinal Sports Report's discussion with Shaw, Stanford's recruiting strategy is very different than that of most of its competitors. The makeup of their recruiting staff is, as well.

The program has been without a recruiting coordinator since Mike Sanford left for Boise State last January, and Shaw doesn't anticipate that changing anytime soon.

"You know, that's been asked to me (Stanford's plans for the recruiting coordinator position) by a bunch of people, some people even in the building," Shaw said. "And we have such a good division of labor right now. We have such a good camaraderie amongst our staff. And all the roles are pretty well defined.

"I think what Ryan (Devlin) does is awesome. I think what Mike Eubanks does in aiding recruiting is awesome. Lance Anderson's role as the admissions liaison I think is awesome. I think the fact that we don't have a recruiting coordinator, it forces us to kind of get together and make decisions together. So I don't see the need, necessarily, once again.

"I think the way that we do it is probably better for us, anyway, because we don't have 300 offers out to where it needs to be managed. Our guys have recruiting areas. I don't need anybody to oversee those guys because when they come back we're all going to come back and meet. When guys are on the road they communicate through Ryan for me, for the things that they do and the people that they see. Mike does a great job with the visits and the communication from the outside world back into us, with our professors.

"So I don't really want to upset our balance, if that makes any sense."

Shaw on 2016 recruiting

Stanford signed 22 prospects in 2015, which was a relatively large class by the Cardinal's standards.

Their 2016 class could be even bigger.

"The '16 class is going to be big," Shaw said. "We'll have a lot of scholarships because we have a lot of fifth year guys on the team and a lot of fourth year guys that played. I color code our roster by eligibility and the guys that are definitely exiting, it's pretty big. It's going to be in the 20's. And we'll see if there are any guys that are potentially leave early guys. But it should be large.

"The next class (2017), it's not going to be very big. Because we had that one class (in 2013) with like 13 guys. But the next class should be sizable."

Shaw doesn't think Stanford has any gaping holes on its roster, but pointed to quarterback and defensive tackle as positions the Cardinal intends to address in this recruiting cycle.

'As far as priorities, I try not to ever be in need," Shaw said. "I think when you see most of our classes, most of our classes have pretty broad. (They've included) linebackers, defensive backs, receivers, running backs - we have a good mix of guys in each class. So we haven't really gotten shut out in a long time. (In the past), one year we'd get shut out on defensive linemen. We got none. Another year we got shut out on defensive backs, we got zero or one. We've been able to avoid that so that we don't ever get to that point of being desperate.

"Position-wise, I would say quarterback would be the first and foremost one priority that we have to have. But I think what we've done defensive back-wise in the last two classes: Hey, if we get another one, great. If we have to take one or zero we'll be OK.

"Running back-wise, getting two in this class and one in the last class, I feel good about where we are. Fullback is set. Offensive line, we're healthy on the offensive line right now. We'll have a couple of guys graduate. We've recruited extremely well there. Defensive line, pure numbers wise, yes, we'll have to attack '16 again. It's great to bring in a 300-pounder in Wesley Annan. We probably need another big guy, (that) would be great.

"Linebacker-wise, I think our linebacker recruiting has been phenomenal. I love the guys that have. We have depth there. If we find another great one, great, but if we don't, hey, I love the guys that we have. So that's where I think where we are right now. We don't have any desperate needs, but quarterback and defensive line will be at the top of the list."

Shaw on Stanford's walk-on program

The Cardinal's walk-on program, which has been so fruitful to the team over the last few years, has declined in numbers in recent years. And while admissions is and will always be the biggest factor in determining the composition of the Cardinal's walk-on classes, there has also been a conscious effort by the coaching staff to trim the roster in the last few years.

"For a while we were over 120, 125 guys on the whole team and it was too big," Shaw said. "Too big to manage. So we've tried to keep it around 110, 110 or less, which has cut down our walk-on population. It's hard to get in here as a walk-on, anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal for us, but it's kept the numbers manageable.

Ideally, Shaw said Stanford will have between 15-17 walk-ons on its roster at any given time.

"We're hardly ever at 85 full scholarships, so let's imagine that we're at 83, then I would say 15-17 (walk-ons), getting us to 100 (players on the roster) and sometimes more," Shaw said. "So as long as we're under 110 I think it's a manageable size. I think the days of having 130 guys on the football team - yeah it looks great when they all run out there - it's too hard to manage."

Shaw is not yet certain how large the 2015 walk-on class will be.

"Not a clue," he said. "There are some guys that will go early action and get admitted into school. There are some that we won't know until March, maybe, late-February, early-March, to know if they're in school or not. Actually, we tell some of them, 'Hey get in touch with us when you find out.' Some guys that are recruited walk-ons, some guys are unrecruited walk-ons that are just applying to school on their own. We have no idea."