Stanford announces its first ever spring enrollees

Stanford announced on Tuesday that Class of 2021 signees Ari Patu and Jaden Slocum, both early high school graduates, will enroll for the spring quarter, which is scheduled to begin on March 29. It will mark the first time that a Stanford student-athlete has been approved to enroll in a full-time quarter ahead of their freshman year.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ari and Jaden to the Stanford family,” The Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir said. “The disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the nontraditional 2020-21 academic calendar provided a unique opportunity for these two student-athletes to begin their Stanford journey early, and we are grateful that this arrangement was supported by our university administration.”

There are many questions. The first one that comes to mind that is alluded to in Muir's statement is: will Stanford allow this when classes are no longer remote because of COVID-19?

To the best of Cardinal Sports Report's knowledge, Stanford is the last FBS, non-service academy program to allow early enrollees. The push back from Stanford boiled down to the university didn't want to separate football freshmen from the rest of the incoming class.

The spring quarter begins March 29 and typically Stanford begins its practices in February. So how much will Patu and Slocum participate? That's to be determined in part because we don't know yet Stanford's plan for spring practices to comply with Santa Clara County COVID-19 protocols.