Stanford has a lot of what Nick Herzog wants in a school
Nick Herzog is demonstrating a mindful process to make a decision about choosing his future school. He has a list of values or characteristics that he is looking for and the virtual junior day Stanford hosted Saturday checked a lot of those boxes.
"Stanford has done a great job, and meets a lot of those values," Herzog said in a message to Cardinal Sports Report. "The virtual tour (Saturday) did a great job of illustrating that, and their players shared similar values to me and my family which is always encouraging."
Herzog's list in order is: "relationships with coaches and players; it’s not just a 4 year decision it’s a 40 year one — my education matters and is important to me and my family; I want to go where I know I’ll be developed to the be not only the best football player I can be but the best man I can be as well."
Nick's father, Tom, posted a note in response to a tweet by Rivals' Josh Helmholdt that outlined Nick and his family's strategy for collecting information during the recruiting dead period. The strategies include talking with alumni and researching with other families going through the recruiting process.
The Herzogs aren't messing around and their approach explains why Stanford looks like a good fit so far.
The junior day was Herzog's first virtual visit with Stanford but Kevin Carberry was contact with Herzog "for a few weeks" before offering Jan. 28.
"I like Coach Carberry a lot. I love his enthusiasm about Stanford and how he’s not only focused on making me a better football player but a better man as well."
Herzog said he loved the live junior day that was about three hours long and packed with conversations with staff, professors and current players.
"It was awesome to get to talk to so many people from Stanford and Stanford football. My favorite part had to be the players panel and meeting professors from some of the departments.
"The players represented Stanford extremely well, they answered all the questions I had, which overlapped with the questions my parents had. Some of those included how they balanced their schedule, when did you know you Stanford was where you wanted to go, and what was the biggest transition from high school to Stanford."
Herzog's note taking or memory must serve him well in the classroom — where he has a 4.0 GPA — because unlike most recruits who struggle to recall the names of the players they spoke with he could list all six panelists: Thomas Booker, Jordan Fox, Houston Heimuli, Ricky Miezan, Barret Miller and Michael Wilson.
Northwestern offered Herzog the same day as Stanford and Vanderbilt followed a few days later. Virginia, Iowa, Kansas State, Kansas and Princeton have also reportedly offered.