Signee Q and A: Dylan Powell
Stanford added the final piece to its offensive line class a few days before Signing Day when Missouri's Dylan Powell committed to the Cardinal. Stanford had long been high on Powell, and they pulled the trigger on an offer in January after the Hannibal High School product gained admission into the school.
Cardinal Sports Report recently caught up with Powell to discuss the months following Signing Day and to reflect on his recruitment.
It's been over three months since you've signed. How is post-Signing Day, post-recruiting life treating you?
Dylan Powell: It's been great. Just being able to relax and just enjoy the rest of my senior year. Right now we're busy in track season - I'm busy with the end of that. School actually ends on Friday so I'm getting ready for graduation and really just enjoying my time I have here in Missouri.
CSR: I think they've sent you guys the workouts, the HUDL film. Starting with the workouts - how are they going?
Powell: It's been pretty good. I'm progressively getting better and trying to improve my technique with what Coach Turley sent us and increase the weight and become more explosive and really just get in better shape with the running. I felt like I've made some good strides with that. It's been pretty good.
CSR: As far as the HUDL, the film, what are your early impressions and how does what they do compare on offense to what you're familiar with?
Powell: It's actually a lot different. They have a lot of zone and we were just straight ahead run blocking. It's not going to be too big of a difference, but it was interesting just to watch all those spring practices and go back and watch some of the games from last year and get to watch over HUDL the installs of the plays and the concepts of each play to get that going in my memory to start learning the plays and study that so I can be prepared when I get out there.
CSR: Switching to recruiting, you kind of had a different process in that it started a little bit later than some. And then once it started, the offers were flying in. If you could remember back to maybe this point last year, you still didn't have that Power 5 offer. What were your thoughts at this point a year ago - what were your expectations for the process? Where were you thinking you would land?
Powell: I honestly had no clue what was going to happen. I had a lot of FCS offers and I had some MAC offers that I was looking at. I didn't really know what direction it was going to go into. It kind of motivated me to just try to keep getting better each day because I saw some of the other recruits getting bigger offers and I knew that's what I wanted, too. It just really motivated me to go out there and do the best I could.
CSR: You get the Purdue offer, commit to Purdue in June. But then after the season ends, things really get crazy. What's that process like - you mentioned the motivating factor earlier. To have it all come to fruition with what, eight, 10 Power 5 offers in a few months. What was that time like, those few months leading up to Signing Day?
Powell: The last few months were absolutely crazy, just with all the coaching changes and stuff like that I was able to pick up offers from Virginia Tech and Iowa State. That all happened pretty late. That made for a really busy January trying to see where I was going to go and really just planning out all of the visits. Also with Rutgers, too, because they came in and I had a great relationship with their offensive line coach. It was just really hectic trying to plan that out. We had schools coming in, heck, just a couple of days before Signing Day, too, trying to get me to maybe wait a week and go visit somewhere. That's what Michigan wanted, me to come the next week after Signing Day. But at that point I was done. I knew as soon as Stanford offered me that I was going to be done with my recruiting process.
CSR: Was their a runner up for you? If Stanford fell through for whatever reason, what was your second place team?
Powell: My other two finalists were Iowa State and Virginia Tech. I loved both of those schools. The coaches there were great and I believe they're going to be successful. I'd probably say Virginia Tech was my runner up, but I knew Stanford was the best place for me personally to go and be successful. Really it was just all about getting a Stanford degree and being able to play for one of the best head coaches in the country. I know those other two programs are going to be successful as well.
CSR: Over the course of your recruitment I'm sure you talked to dozens of coaches. Do you remember any particular recruiting pitch that cracked you up, that was particularly funny or out of nowhere?
Powell: Some coaches may have said, 'Oh, we have this ratio of girls to guys.' That was a weird one, saying that, trying to get me to go there just because they have more girls there than guys. That's probably the weirdest one I had. Besides that there really wasn't too much weird stuff.
CSR: Was there any negative recruiting of Stanford? After they emerged as an option were there any programs that tried to negatively recruit against them?
Powell: I don't think they really tried to negatively recruit that much. I think the only questions that they tried to raise were just the distance and that I would be able to play closer to home if I went to their school. But besides that there wasn't really too much. I think everybody respects the program and the way Coach Shaw handles his business and the academic portion of it also. So besides that (the distance) there wasn't really too much negative recruiting.
CSR: What was the most surprising or eye-opening experience you had on one of your visits?
Powell: I don't know if anything really surprised me. It was just nice to be able to go to all of these places and get to eat at the best restaurants in the towns and hang out with all of the players. That was probably the most fun I've had in a while. I don't think there was really anything that surprised me. They were all very fun times, to be able to get around the campus and see how I would feel at those schools.
CSR: Knowing what you know now - you've been signed for a few months, your process is over - what would your advice be for freshman or sophomore year Dylan about the recruiting process?
Powell: I would just tell myself to keep working hard. Don't worry about things that you can't control and just keep on the grind. Don't worry about what other people are saying about you or what some people think about the way I handled myself, I guess, and really my size. So don't worry about what everybody else is saying. Do what you know you can accomplish.
CSR: Finally, on Twitter it seems like you're trying to help recruit for Stanford with the 2017 class. Have you reached out to some of those guys or is it more small things over twitter?
Powell: I've talked to a few of them. I've been in touch with Foster Sarell, I've talked with Tarik Black, Osiris St. Brown, Ryan Johnson, K.J. Britt. I've talked to DeeJay Dallas just a little bit not but not too much. Really just trying to reach out and let them know that this is a great place to be and not necessarily trying to persuade them, but just letting them know that I'm there for them if they need any questions answered or want to talk about anything, that I would be there for them.