Published Feb 19, 2019
Stanford's 2020 targets on the rise in the new Top 100
Jacob Rayburn  •  CardinalSportsReport
Publisher

Stanford has a commitment from five star left tackle Myles Hinton and has developed relationships with several recruits in the updated Rivals Top 100 for the 2020 class. Cardinal Sports Report breaks down each recruit with an offer who is still considered to be a viable option of the board, and who may be on the radar to receive one.

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Stanford is likely on the fringes of Ringo's recruitment and won't have a chance to move onto the main stage unless he visits The Farm. Defensive coordinator Lance Anderson visited his school during January and reportedly Ringo's coaches at Saguaro are encouraging him to at least give Stanford a look. He visited UCLA this past weekend when he competed in the Rivals camp in LA. He earned the defensive back MVP honor.

Hinton dropped five spots in the new ranking and that is almost certainly due to a lack of recent exposure. He missed most of his junior season with a shoulder injury and hasn't participated in a camp yet. Hinton committed to Stanford Jan. 9 over Michigan and a host of other top schools. He is the cornerstone of the class and has the physical ability to compete for a starting spot his freshman year.

Webb made a significant jump from an unranked four star to No. 35 overall. The Georgia native is an impressive pass rusher who plays violently with his hands and with great acceleration. His tackles are often high-speed collisions.

Webb told Cardinal Sports Report after his offer from Stanford that he has "high interest" in the program but is not sure when he'll be able to visit. Anderson and head coach David Shaw visited Webb's school in January. He communicates the most with Anderson and defensive line coach Diron Reynolds. Stanford has had a lot of recruiting success in Georgia but it will be tough to win the commitment of the sought after Webb.

He's from Littleton, Colorado, but he's quite big. Gentry doesn't talk much about his recruiting process and will take a two-year LDS mission after high school, but he plans to visit Stanford March 1-3 for a junior day. He visited Stanford before he was offered and loved the experience. A top student as well, the combination of academics and football at Stanford is appealing to him. Expect Stanford to be in it until the end with Gentry.

Stanford is in the mix to get a visit from the talented safety who starred from one of the best teams in the country as a junior. Duncanville's defense put up historic numbers against some of the best competition you can find in high school football. Thompson's size and physicality creates a lot of possibilities for where he can play on the field. Stanford will need to get Thompson on campus this spring to have a real shot of him joining the top talent who have traveled to The Farm from the Lone Star State in previous years.

Stanford could put together a great wide receiver group in this class. Bryce Farrell is committed, Stanford is a strong favorite for John Humphreys and Silas Starr has a high level of interest in the Cardinal. Bryant is the most recent offer at the position and he's an impressive talent. He's not the biggest receiver and is similar to Farrell in that regard. Like Farrell he's a speedster and tougher than he looks at first glance. Bryant excelled at The Opening LA Regional.

Stanford offered Baker Feb. 7 and it's easy to see why. He's a towering figure at 6-8 and moves exceptionally well for his size. He has several Division I basketball offers as well. He also reports a 4.35 GPA in his Twitter bio.

He messaged Cardinal Sports Report after the offer: "I’m very interested in Stanford! Its a great school and would set me up very well for my future. I have been in contact with a lot of the coaching staff and am building strong relationships with a lot of the coaches!"

Stanford is doing well with the Virginian speedster. Tyree is currently in the midst of indoor track season and mixing in some visits with that schedule. He was just in Norman to see what the Sooners have to offer. He's already visited Stanford once and is hoping to get back to The Farm in April. He has a good relationship with position coach Ron Gould, who has prioritized him going back a year as a special talent. He is dynamic with the ball in his hands and shows his toughness by playing defensive back.

Ransom was unranked when Stanford offered last June and now it's a completely different recruiting world for the Arizona safety. He has offers from almost every national recruiting power and hopes to put together a top school list by the end of the spring. He messaged Cardinal Sports Report Monday that he would love to visit Stanford again but he's not sure he can make that happen this spring. Stanford is still one of the schools recruiting him the hardest: "They've done a great job recruiting me".

The only unoffered recruit featured in this article, Butterfield would have one if that was decided by a popular vote among the fans. The son of former Cardinal quarterback Mark Butterfield, Jay is an elite prospect who plays in the Bay Area. He seems tailor made for an "easy win" at football's most important position but Stanford is undecided how it will proceed with 2020 quarterback recruiting.

Tanner McKee, a former top-100 recruit in 2018, will attend Stanford starting next summer after serving a two-year LDS mission. Shaw is wary of stacking quarterbacks and having one transfer as soon as he gets stuck behind one or more competing teammates. In this situation Shaw has previously said he prefers the idea of bringing in an athletic quarterback who can realistically move to another position. That has happened once under Shaw when Dallas Lloyd got to Stanford in 2012 and it became clear quickly he was a better fit at another position. (And Lloyd committed to Stanford before Shaw became head coach in 2011.)

It will likely be an ongoing debate in the Stanford football offices about whether to make an exception for Butterfield.

Mullings' short fall in the ranking is probably for the same reason as Hinton, injury. He missed most of his junior season and has yet to attend a camp this spring. He has an offer to play running back at Stanford and coaching staffs across the country are split on which position he'll play in college. But everyone is in agreement that he's an impressive athlete. Mullings has a strong relationship with Gould and it goes back a couple years at this point. He hopes to visit Stanford again this spring.

Hardy told Cardinal Sports Report after he was offered by Stanford that "there is definitely a lot of interest because of the academics". Hardy wants to study engineering and Stanford is tough to beat for that field of study. Hardy is considering a visit to Stanford and the Cardinal need him on The Farm as soon as possible to compete with the long list of top programs recruiting him closer to his Chattanooga, Tennessee home.

Stanford may have one chance to win over Lindberg, who currently appears to be favoring Texas. Lindberg and his parents are scheduled to visit Stanford for the first junior day March 1-2. The Lindbergs are reportedly excited about the visit and Chad has expressed a high level of interest in Stanford back to last year. But it may be tough to pull him away from the Longhorns.