Toohill discusses Stanford commitment

Stanford landed the ninth commit in its 2015 recruiting class on Monday when Southern California linebacker Casey Toohill delivered a verbal commitment to the Cardinal during a campus visit to The Farm.

"I talked to Coach Shaw after lunch," Toohill said. "We just talked about everything. He asked us how we were doing. We were in his office. And near the end of his conversation, I told him that I looked at other schools and it's always been about finding the best fit. Everyone has asked me, and I said I've always prided myself on being a student as well as a football player and I couldn't think of a better fit than Stanford for everything I wanted and everything that I need. I just thought it was perfect. So I told him I wanted to be a Cardinal."

"He was really happy. He was really excited and he said that the other coaches would be really happy. I got out of the office and the other coaches kind of saw me in there and he told them, and they were really happy. He told the team at the end of practice that I committed, actually, and that got some applause, some cheers. That was nice."

The visit was Toohill's second this summer to Stanford. He was previously on campus in late-June to participate in one of the Cardinal's summer camp. A strong performance at camp led to an offer, which Toohill received last week.

So, with an offer from the Cardinal in hand and the possibility of making an early commitment on his mind, Toohill and his family made the return trip north on Sunday and Monday to learn more about his future college home.

"Yesterday I didn't do much with (Stanford's coaches)," Toohill said. "I walked around campus, saw more of the campus, loved it. And then today we got a stadium tour, saw more of the campus, went in the Hoover Tower, sat in on every meeting and watched practice."

"I really, really liked obviously the campus (as well as) the team meetings. I thought Coach Shaw was just awesome in the team meetings, loved Coach Anderson. There was a lot going on, so many installs, but everyone seemed to know what they were doing. All of them practiced well. It was fun watching them practice. They all had energy and it seemed like an environment I really wanted to be in."

Toohill did not spend a ton of time with Stanford's current players - his time on campus was structured with a variety of activities - but he did spent a few minutes chatting with fellow San Diego area natives Jordan Perez and Alijah Holder.

If Toohill has his way, several other San Diego natives will join him (and current Cardinal kicker commit Jake Bailey, a San Diego county resident) in Stanford's 2015 recruiting class.

"Two kids who both live in San Diego, both cornerbacks, both have Stanford offers, are friends of mine: Frank Buncom and Quenton Meeks," Toohill said. "I'm really good friends with Quenton. So I'll be in both their ears a little bit over these next couple of months and I hope they can join me."

Toohill plans to start working on the Stanford application shortly.

"Coach Anderson talked to me about it," Toohill said. "He went through the whole application with me and told me about how I should apply, start the application now and try to get it in. He went through the class schedule, my test scores, and we just kind of went over everything that was expected of me and that would help me get into the school."