The Stanford Daily reports...
The Stanford Daily
Big Weekend for Stanford Cardinal Football
by Blaise Kolumbo
Wednesday, October 13th 2010
Palo Alto, CA – Coming into the season there was much discussion back-and-forth about whether the Stanford Cardinal football team would be as strong as they were last year or not. As it turns out, eight weeks into the college football season the Cardinal has climbed all the way up to number 4 in the Associated Press National Rankings. Their position ranked that high up the ladder is well deserved. Especially after upsetting three ranked teams so far and chugging out to a perfect 6-0 record, 3-0 in Pac-10 play.
Their two biggest wins of the season were back-to-back games where they traveled from Palo Alto to Boise, Idaho to play then ranked #1 Boise State – thanks to a late touchdown the Cardinal shocked the world 28-23. The following week they traveled to Los Angeles to take on then ranked #5 Southern Cal Trojans. This game wasn’t nearly as close as the Cardinal’s namely Stefan Taylor ran roughshod to the tune of a school record 231 yards and 3 touchdowns. Stanford put the men of Troy down easily 35-7.
After a bye week in which Stanford hosted the fifth ranked middle linebacker recruit in Cameron Jones of Alamo, Texas as well as wide receiver Billy Goat of Franklin, Wisconsin. The two recruits rated their visits as a “C+” mainly because there was no football game last weekend. Cameron admitted he was very interested in seeing the team and the atmosphere on gameday and was a little disappointed he was brought on the week he was. However, Cameron still ranks the Cardinal’s as his favorite school while Billy Goat has our university as his second favorite school.
During the bye week two recruits gave their hard commitments but unfortunately neither was to Stanford as Michael Franklin of Los Angeles and Eric Brooks of Carmichael, California pledged their allegiance to the Cal Golden Bears. Michael was a four-star linebacker while Eric was a three-star wide out.
Have no fear however as this weekend when the Stanford Cardinal plays host to 17t h-ranked Utah Utes who boast a 5-1 record, 2-1 in PAC-10 conference games; not only do our boys look to improve their record to 7-0(4-0) but the coaching staff, football players and university students look to make a big impact on the 9, count them 9 visiting recruits.
“This is a very important weekend for us and our program,” started Coach Harbaugh. He continued, “not only do we have an opportunity to better our record but we have the bulk of our recruiting class here for the weekend with their families. These recruits are the future of this program, I am going to do my best to accommodate to their every need and show them one hell of a great weekend. By the time they leave we hope to have a few commitments as well as impressed these young men immensely.”
The nine recruits visiting are as follow: 4-star Andrew Schmidt offensive tackle from Pasadena, 4-star Kevin Bush defensive tackle from Paine Field Washington, 4-star athlete Brent Smith of Los Angeles, 4-star cornerback Kenny Thomas from Plainview Texas, Joe Beard is a 3-star offensive tackle from North Highlands Cali, 3-star Dominique Easley is a fullback out of Lompoc Cali, 4-star defensive end Bo Morton is a beast from Placentia Cali, David Johnson is a 3-star tight end from San Leandro Cali and Myron Harvey is a 3-star fullback from Prescott, Arizona.
With so many prospects on campus this weekend look for Stanford to give one of the best performances on both sides of the ball in hopes of luring in some commitments.
I, Blaise Kolumbo, am predicting a Stanford Cardinal victory scored 28-10.
The Stanford Daily
Big Weekend for Stanford Cardinal Football
by Blaise Kolumbo
Wednesday, October 13th 2010
Palo Alto, CA – Coming into the season there was much discussion back-and-forth about whether the Stanford Cardinal football team would be as strong as they were last year or not. As it turns out, eight weeks into the college football season the Cardinal has climbed all the way up to number 4 in the Associated Press National Rankings. Their position ranked that high up the ladder is well deserved. Especially after upsetting three ranked teams so far and chugging out to a perfect 6-0 record, 3-0 in Pac-10 play.
Their two biggest wins of the season were back-to-back games where they traveled from Palo Alto to Boise, Idaho to play then ranked #1 Boise State – thanks to a late touchdown the Cardinal shocked the world 28-23. The following week they traveled to Los Angeles to take on then ranked #5 Southern Cal Trojans. This game wasn’t nearly as close as the Cardinal’s namely Stefan Taylor ran roughshod to the tune of a school record 231 yards and 3 touchdowns. Stanford put the men of Troy down easily 35-7.
After a bye week in which Stanford hosted the fifth ranked middle linebacker recruit in Cameron Jones of Alamo, Texas as well as wide receiver Billy Goat of Franklin, Wisconsin. The two recruits rated their visits as a “C+” mainly because there was no football game last weekend. Cameron admitted he was very interested in seeing the team and the atmosphere on gameday and was a little disappointed he was brought on the week he was. However, Cameron still ranks the Cardinal’s as his favorite school while Billy Goat has our university as his second favorite school.
During the bye week two recruits gave their hard commitments but unfortunately neither was to Stanford as Michael Franklin of Los Angeles and Eric Brooks of Carmichael, California pledged their allegiance to the Cal Golden Bears. Michael was a four-star linebacker while Eric was a three-star wide out.
Have no fear however as this weekend when the Stanford Cardinal plays host to 17t h-ranked Utah Utes who boast a 5-1 record, 2-1 in PAC-10 conference games; not only do our boys look to improve their record to 7-0(4-0) but the coaching staff, football players and university students look to make a big impact on the 9, count them 9 visiting recruits.
“This is a very important weekend for us and our program,” started Coach Harbaugh. He continued, “not only do we have an opportunity to better our record but we have the bulk of our recruiting class here for the weekend with their families. These recruits are the future of this program, I am going to do my best to accommodate to their every need and show them one hell of a great weekend. By the time they leave we hope to have a few commitments as well as impressed these young men immensely.”
The nine recruits visiting are as follow: 4-star Andrew Schmidt offensive tackle from Pasadena, 4-star Kevin Bush defensive tackle from Paine Field Washington, 4-star athlete Brent Smith of Los Angeles, 4-star cornerback Kenny Thomas from Plainview Texas, Joe Beard is a 3-star offensive tackle from North Highlands Cali, 3-star Dominique Easley is a fullback out of Lompoc Cali, 4-star defensive end Bo Morton is a beast from Placentia Cali, David Johnson is a 3-star tight end from San Leandro Cali and Myron Harvey is a 3-star fullback from Prescott, Arizona.
With so many prospects on campus this weekend look for Stanford to give one of the best performances on both sides of the ball in hopes of luring in some commitments.
I, Blaise Kolumbo, am predicting a Stanford Cardinal victory scored 28-10.
High school senior Kicker A.J. McCray became the first commitment of the season for head coach Jim Harbaugh. McCray is rated as the 15th best kicker amongst his peers hailing from Claremont California. A.J. was the team's place kicker as well as field goal specialist for his entire four year stay at Claremont Preperatory Academy. A three sport athlete A.J. was also starting point guard on the varsity basketball team and starting striker on the varsity soccer team. McCray had offers from other Pac-10 rivals in UCLA, Cal and USC for his kicking services but A.J. was quoted saying, "when Coach Harbaugh showed up at my house the first time and met with my family and myself I was totally blown away by his presense and his plan for the Cardinal. I knew right then I wanted to be coming to Stanford and I'm glad we could get it done so early in the process that I can relax and play football without that stress anymore." McCray was using an unofficial visit to Stanford where he commited shortly before the team's home opener got started against Arkansas.[/LEFT]
Coming to Palo Alto from Prescott Arizona will be JuCo Junior Myron Harvey. Harvey is a three-star fullback who is just over 6 feet tall at 6 feet 1 inches while weighing in at a hefty 251 pounds. Myron and Dominique Easley were the two fullbacks Coach Harbaugh targeted at the beginning of the season, when Myron committed Dominique decided to commit elsewhere. Myron is quick on his feet for how big he is, as well he is very strong having won the Arizona Junior College Strongman of the Year award. 
Joe Beard is a three star center out of North Highlands, California. He stands a very tall 6 feet 6 inches and tops the scale at 308 pounds. Joe has been the starting center at North Highlands High School since his sophomore year and has excelled ever since. He has very good technique with his hands, his first move is quick and he punches hard. The only weakness the kid really has is his footwork but with many ladder drills that can be fixed. 
After defeating the Washington Huskies Aaron Wheeler, a 3-star wide receiver from Detroit, Michigan decided to give Coach Harbaugh his verbal commitment. The senior stands 6 feet 3 inches and weighs in at 190 pounds. Aaron has excellent hands, he can make any catch with one or two hands. He accelerates well off the ball also. However he is going to need to work on his route running abilities and getting a bit stronger in the upper body for when the cornerbacks try to bump at the line of scrimmage. 
Mike Anderson is 3-star cornerback from Fresno, California who also decided to give Stanford his hard verbal commitment after the Cardinal thrashed Washington up in Seattle. Mike brings tremendous height standing at 6 feet 4 inches tall. His coverage skills are excellent, he leaps for the ball at its highest point and can read the play before the ball is snapped. He’ll adapt well but he will most certainly need to get his weight up to go with his long frame and work on not over pursuing the runner and missing the tackle.
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