Toner on Stanford commitment

On the heels of signing punter Jake Bailey in the 2015 recruiting cycle, Stanford continues to reload its special teams units.

The Cardinal extended scholarship offers to Texas long snapper Richard McNitzky and Hawaii kicker/punter Jet Toner last week. Both announced commitments to the Cardinal on Sunday.

Toner's relationship with Stanford began several months back, at the beginning of the summer. That's when he started speaking with the Cardinal's special teams coach, Pete Alamar, who paid him a visit at his high school late in the spring evaluation period. Toner then returned the favor in June, when he visited The Farm and participated in the Cardinal's specialists camp.

Alamar made a return trip to Hawaii a few weeks back to check in on Toner again. The Cardinal then extended the Punahou High School standout a scholarship offer last week.

"I was excited," Toner said. "I was really excited. It's definitely a dream school and a huge opportunity so when I got that offer it was just kind of surreal - it was crazy. It's definitely exciting. I'm still excited. It's a huge blessing."

Toner, who also has an offer from Army, didn't need much time before coming to a decision. He actually made up his mind on the spot, though he didn't officially reveal his decision to the masses until Sunday.

"I committed on the spot, actually," Toner said. "Throughout the whole recruiting process Stanford was my No. 1 school. (It's) definitely where I want to be in every aspect, football and academic support. It's just such a great opportunity that I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Toner joins fellow Hawaii native Nate Herbig as a member of the Cardinal's 2016 recruiting class. Additionally, there's a good chance Toner will play a season with Luke Kaumatule, who also attended Punahou.

"He's such a great guy and he's been a huge role model for all of the students coming out of my high school," Toner said of Kaumatule. "His younger brother is one of my good friends, Canton Kaumatule, he's at Oregon now. And Nate, I actually just got in contact with him. We're going to start to talk more and he's a really great guy. It will be nice to have someone from Hawaii that will come up with me and we can share where we're from together. That will be great."

Though there are some indications that he projects (at least in part) as a placekicker on The Farm, Toner has yet to learn how, exactly, he fits into their specialists picture.

Toner is prepared to handle anything the Cardinal asks of him.

"They haven't specified yet but I'm just going to have to fill the void wherever they need me," Toner said. "I'm ready to do both, whichever one needs the most support, I guess."

Toner said that his career-long field goal in an actual game is 54 yards, but he's hit from 57 in a scrimmage.