Speights talks Stanford commitment

To claim that Trevor Speights enjoyed a prolific high school football career might be understating the extent of his accomplishments.

Stanford's newest verbal commit rushed for nearly 10,000 yards and scored 120 touchdowns (116 rushing) while leading McAllen Memorial High School. He concluded his high school career as the Rio Grande Valley's all-time leader in rushing yards.

Along with that massive production - and a dynamic physical skillset - came plenty of recruiting attention. Speights committed to Arizona early in the process, but backed off his pledge last spring. Speights piled up scholarships from the likes of Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and several others in addition to Stanford.

But the Cardinal offer, which arrived in late April, changed everything.

"It's Stanford," Speights said. "You don't get that opportunity a lot."

In fact, the three-star running back said that he's been leaning toward Stanford essentially since receiving the offer. And after making improvements to his academic profile, he decided to make his college decision.

Speights informed Cardinal running backs coach Lance Taylor of his commitment during an in-home visit on Monday night.

"Coach (Taylor) came down," Speights said. "I had (a feeling) about wanting to commit for a while and I just wanted to announce it once he came down."

"He was excited. I've pretty much been a silent commit this whole time, just waiting on getting into the school. And now I would say I'm in a good situation to get in."

Specifically, Speights has improved his SAT score and feels that his admissions trajectory is a positive one.

"I'm close to being admitted into Stanford," Speights said. "I already sent my application in about a month ago. My SAT scores are getting better to where it needs to be so I'm headed in the right track."

Ultimately, the educational and athletic opportunities Stanford provides pushed the Cardinal over the edge.

"Stanford, it's the best of both worlds," Speights said. "You have one of the greatest academic institutions in the country and a great football institution as well. Me, I want the best for Trevor, and that's academics and on the field. So Stanford is easily the best choice for me."

It also didn't hurt that the running back is a featured position in the Cardinal offense.

"Their running backs get the ball a lot," Speights said. "In that offense we're utilized a lot. And I'm looking forward to being in that offense and touching the rock a lot."

Speights might have been a longtime Cardinal lean, but his decision still took some in the community by surprise. Texas A&M and Oklahoma were also thought to be contenders in his recruitment

"A lot of (people in the community) are shocked," Speights said. "But, I mean, distance is not a factor. Anywhere I go was going to be far from home. Because McAllen is five hours from A&M and about 14 hours from Oklahoma. I'm going to far away wherever I go, so why not Stanford?"

Speights will take his official visit to Stanford next month for the Cardinal's big recruiting weekend. He'll be joined by a number of his future teammates on that trip; a number have already been in touch following his commitment.

"A lot of them were just congratulating me," Speights said. "Since the summer we've had like a recruit group message and we've been talking on that and getting to know each other, so that's pretty cool."

Speights does not have plans to visit any other program at this time.

"I'm 100 percent Stanford," he said.

And happy that the recruiting process has finally reached its end.

"A sigh of relief," Speights said. "The recruiting process can be stressful but I'm glad it's over and I'm glad I made the best choice for me."

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