The reaction and impact of Sione Lund transferring to Utah
Former Stanford freshman running back Sione Lund announced via Twitter Wednesday that he was transferring to Utah, and in doing so addressed some of the tough battles he’s endured off the field.
The challenges started at a young age for Sione. He was adopted by the Lunds when he was 10 and, according to this story, within 10 days of Sione moving in with the Lunds his father, Clyde Heimuli, "had a massive stroke and never recovered."
Lund has been open in the past during interviews and with his own tweets that he has struggled with depression. It’s likely that the consideration for his well being is why a rare transfer to a school in the same conference occurred without a fuss. It was clear what was best for Lund was to go home to Salt Lake City.
“God bless that young man,” said head coach David Shaw Wednesday night. “He has been through a lot. He has an outstanding family. He is in a great place right now in his life and I’ve been communicating with him and his family. I’m so excited for him, so happy for him. This is the best thing for him and his family. We are 100 percent in support of him and his decision. Outside of whenever they play us, I’m going to be his biggest fan. I think he is a great young man and has a bright future.”
On April 14 Lund posted on his Twitter account that entering his senior year at Brighton High he was diagnosed with “major anxiety and depression.” In that post he described some of the struggles, including that “feeling lonely felt like the problem and the cure.”
One of the reasons Lund chose to talk about his situation was to encourage others to “open up and accept help.”
Lund talked with the Stanford coaches through his decision to transfer and especially praised Shaw for his understanding. He messaged Cardinal Sports Report that the coaches were “nothing but supportive” and “I cannot thank them enough.
“The people I met at Stanford were second to none,” he said. “The campus was beautiful and the support and love you receive from everybody you’re around is the best. I have nothing bad to say about the place. It was great! But for me as a person, internally I knew that being home would be best for me.”
It was a tough decision for Lund, who put in a lot of work in the classroom to be admitted to Stanford. He was accepted by Stanford in November of his senior year. The following quotes from an April Cardinal Sports Report story after a junior-day show how enthusiastic Lund was about Stanford for many months before he signed.
“I always leave with something that amazes me about Stanford and the campus and I'm always leaving with something that makes me happy with my decision," Lund said.
"I just left with the impression of like, man, I made a great choice and I'm pretty solid and I'm happy with my decision."
While it was not a football decision that caused Lund to transfer, there are on-field implications for Stanford because of his departure. Cardinal fans had good reason to be excited about the potential of the 6-foot, 230-pound back to beat defenders into submission.
Lund is built in the mold of previous Stanford great Toby Gerhart and he was incredibly productive in high school on both sides of the ball. Rivals.com evaluated him as an “athlete” because of his ability to also play linebacker and he was the No. 150 overall recruit in the 2017 class.
Without Lund on the depth chart Stanford may look to take another running back in the 2018 class to join Justus Woods, who is already admitted to Stanford. Woods has potential to be a big, physical back for the Cardinal who also has shown some promise as a receiver out of the backfield.
It’s also possible this development creates greater momentum for current freshman wide receiver Connor Wedington to return to his high school position full time. Wedington was recruited by most schools as a running back and was all-state in Washington.
There have been some reports that Oregon State’s Ryan Nall is interested in transferring to Stanford, but that is unlikely to happen.
There also is the possibility that Bryce Love stuns many people in the college football world and returns for his senior season, which would immediately erase any questions about the short-term future of the position.
But, in the likely event Love decides to enter the NFL draft, Stanford would look to someone, or several someones, to emerge from the group of: Cameron Scarlett, Trevor Speights, Dorian Maddox, Woods, possibly Wedington and maybe another freshman candidate.
Speights has come on strong in the past couple weeks and there is zero doubt about the physicality he brings to the position. Several of his runs, his stellar pass protection and performance on special teams have made it clear he delivers more hits than he takes.
Wedington is the x-factor of the group. The plan through his recruitment, and discussed several times since, was to start him at receiver and eventually move him to running back. It seems there's some wiggle room in whether he's more of a receiver or a running back next season, but if no one else grabs hold of the job then Wedington may get a shot.