Gap Down Backer.

[Soapy]

'Tis the season for competition as Stanford open up spring practices
Chris Wallace -- 247Sports Stanford Football Insider

The first three questions at Stanford head coach Bubba Mack's press availability on Monday was all about quarterback Alex Rowe and Stanford's pursuit of other quarterbacks in the transfer portal, most notably Penn State's Henry Delos who signed with Ohio State after visiting Stanford.

Mack didn't get into specifics but made it clear that the team explored all options during the transfer portal window.

"I think we owe it to everyone that we are diligent in improving our football team in all facets," Mack said, "No one is immune or exempt from competition. Obviously, a more established starter, there are just less players, generally, that are going to be an upgrade but make no mistake about it, no one's spot is locked or safe. You have to earn it every day, every week, every practice. I was in the NFL for ten years and almost every year, the team I was on drafted another center or signed another center so I get it and I think our guys get it too."

Stanford did bring in a portal quarterback in Earl Nienhuis who was a backup at Wake Forest last season. He joins Rowe and returning redshirt freshmen LaMarcus Hook, Tevita Luck, and D.J. Sapp in the quarterback room.

In the limited portion of practice that was open to the public, Nienhuis certainly stands out with his size at six-foot-three and 220 pounds, definitely the most sturdy of the quarterbacks.

Who replaces Trumaine Lasike's production?
Stanford is no stranger to having to replace Heisman finalists, having done so three seasons ago when Tavien St. Clair left early for the NFL. The Cardinal did so by loading up at running back, bringing in three 1,000-yard rushers and going from a quarterback centric offense to one that centered around their running game instead, led by Trumaine Lasike.

Now, the Cardinal need to replace the 2,000+ yards and twenty five touchdowns that Lasike is taking with him in the NFL and even more than that, a belief that no matter what, they were still in the game because they had one of the best players in college football.

The most simple, and most likely, scenario is that Rashawn Crouse and Anthony Masifilo, who both had around 900 rushing yards last season, see those numbers bump up closer to 1,200 a piece. In 2029, Lasike led the way with 1,640 yards but Trent Parrish rushed for 1,241 and Jamarice Wilder rushed for 1,070 as well. In his last season at Kennesaw State, Mack had two 1,000-yard rushers in Kam Davis and Wilder and a 884-yard rusher in Greg Burrell.

We know who the top two will be so the question, when it comes to replacing Lasike's production, is who will be that third rusher and are they going to be closer to a 500-yard rusher, which would mean a huge drop off, or closer to that 1,000-yard mark which would keep pace with last year's rushing output.

The top candidate is obviously Malik Marshall, the five-star true freshman. He's had a crazy recruitment, from being a Stanford lean to Notre Dame lean to back to Stanford before eventually signing with Notre Dame only to not really sign with Notre Dame and now he's in Palo Alto. With that behind him, Marshall is a talented running back whose probably, of the bunch, the most similar to a Jamarice Wilder in terms of his shiftiness and able to hit explosive runs which would help supplement that portion of the offense that Lasike took with him.

Another option, who also has some big play capability, is Trevon Winbush, the other true freshman. Winbush's commitment went a bit under the radar since at the time, the fanbase was still focused on trying to land Marshall so it was seen, by some, as a consolation prize. He might be faster than Marshall and while he doesn't have his wiggle, like Lasike, if he gets a clear runway, he's leaving defenders in the dust.

A sneaky, dark horse selection for that third running back spot is Fernando Hooey, who probably looks the most similar to Lasike with his body type and running style.

Eric Levrone certainly looks the part at linebacker
The loss of Manu Toomer and Isaiah Lanovoi is major, especially Toomer's playmaking and knack for finding the football.

Stanford went into the portal to try to replace that production, bringing in Eric Levrone, Taylor Bagent and Mike Thomas.

Thomas has the most experience, playing in twelve games last year as a backup for Utah but in terms of eye test, Levrone stands out the most. He was listed at six-foot-two and 243 pounds on Colorado's roster and the Georgia native looks the part.

It's important to note that Lanovoi, and some extent Toomer as well, didn't really come online until the latter part of their college careers so this could be the case with Levrone where transferring to a school like Stanford and how they use their linebackers might see a late surge from him.

The path to playing time, or starting, isn't completely open though. Richard Caussin has been a mainstay for the past few season as a backup and before Lanovoi took over as a full time starter the last two seasons, he narrowly beat out Desmond Spann and James Gattis for that job so they remain firmly in the picture to replace him.

[djp73]

Bumping at the top of a page???

Lasike’s production is going to be a struggle to replicate

[Soapy]

Bumping at the top of a page???

Lasike’s production is going to be a struggle to replicate

I always bump on 8, no matter the count

Definitely going to need others to step up. Won't be a 1:1 replacement situation

[djp73]

i thought the whole point of a bump was to get the actual post at the top of the page?

[Soapy]

i thought the whole point of a bump was to get the actual post at the top of the page?

people have different PPP settings so i avoid posting on 8 or above

[Soapy]

Stanford's Athya Shade looks to put it all together following transfer from Kennesaw State
Kam Seidu-Harris
April 3, 2031

Stanford defensive tackle Athya Shade has always looked the part, even when he was a three-star prospect coming out of Miami, Florida.

Shade wasn't highly recruited as he split time between basketball and football and many coaches wondered if Shade, already a 310-pounder as a high school sophomore, had the motor and the love of the game to play at the next level. Shade's motor ran hot and cold in high school, equally capable of taking over a game or being a complete non-factor.

It's one of the things that Stanford head coach Bubba Mack, then the head coach at Kennesaw State, saw in Shade as soon as the Owls began recruiting him.

"He told me to my face that if I put it all together, I could play in the NFL," Shade recalls of his first conversations with Mack back in 2027, "That just always stuck with me because he kept it real with me."

----------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------

Shade didn't want to go to Kennesaw State. His top school of choice, Miami, wasn't looking at him. Neither were USF, UCF, FIU or FAU. The talent was there, evident to any scout that came through Felix Varela Senior High School but the mental side left many doubting. Mack and his staff were willing to bank on the upside, trusting their culture to figure it out.

By the end of Shade's senior season, Mack was already having conversations with Georgia Tech and Stanford, eventually taking the job in Palo Alto. Shortly after, Shade got a call from Mack. He was half-expecting Mack to try to recruit him to Stanford, which he says he would have committed on the spot, but instead Mack surprised me.

"He told me to go to [Kennesaw State]," Shade recalls, "I always respected him for that because he didn't have to do that. He didn't even have to call me but he told me that was the best place for me and my development and that if I stuck with it and trusted the staff, I'd turn into a real ball player."

Shade followed through with his commitment, appearing in nine games as a true freshman where he flashed, registering four tackles for loss. He saw an increase in role the following year, playing in all twelve games before having his breakout campaign last season with nine tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, earning All-Conference USA honors.

Shade says he's thankful for the staff at Kennesaw State, which helped transform his body and improve his conditioning but that he wanted to test himself at the Power 4 level which is what brought him into the portal. Stanford was one of the first schools that reached out, putting in motion a reunion that's been four years in the making.

The Cardinal return four defensive tackles, including three sophomores in Tim Bing, Cameron Drake and Deontae Shorter but they're on the smaller side. Last year's nose tackle, Shaquille Pullard, is listed at six-foot-three and 295 pounds and while size isn't everything, Shade is longer (6'4") and the heaviest defensive lineman (319 pounds) on the team by a wide margin.

"He does a good job of taking care of his gap and making things easier for the guys around him," Mack said of Shade after Thursday's spring practice, "I think as we increase the physicality of the practices, he's really someone that's going to keep improving and having a bigger and bigger impact."

[Caesar]

Having a murderer writing for your publication is crazy work.

I feel like this is the most tampering tampering that has ever tampered. Mack gotta be sanctioned for this.

[djp73]

i thought the whole point of a bump was to get the actual post at the top of the page?

people have different PPP settings so i avoid posting on 8 or above

I assumed everyone used multiples of 10

[Captain Canada]

It's funny because that was a fun and quaint article written by someone I'm convinced can't spell

[djp73]

It's funny because that was a fun and quaint article written by someone I'm convinced can't spell

his wife probably wrote it for him