Gap Down Backer.

[djp73]

a lil Bronx attitude is just what that defense needs

[Soapy]

gotta have an edge out on the island

a lil Bronx attitude is just what that defense needs

indeed, hopefully his speed isn't too much of a concern

Average Transfer Class Rank: 3.4 Stars

Final Transfer Class Grade: 3.8 Stars

Man is grading himself and is barely passing.

I like a DB that can talk and be phsyical but a man named 'Paul' better get a cool nickname because no way a guy is shit-talking me with that name.

I thought about letting the GPT grade me but trusted myself to be impartial and yeah, not a good class

Ya not feeling Paul the Wall?

I find it so interesting how relying a ton on transfers makes so little sense for Stanford and so much sense for Bubba Mack. Go figure.

I'm looking forward to doing a review on how the volume and quality of transfers have held up over the years. A lot of the players on the team right now were high school but those early years were definitely heavy portal

[Soapy]

Stanford's title defense looms as Cardinal open fall camp with a few question marks
By Elijah Guerra, The Mercury News Sports Writer • 8 min read

The Stanford Cardinal will look to defend their national championship this season, beginning with hosting former Stanford quarterback Alex Rowe and No. 17 Houston in a few weeks. The Cardinal will need to defend their crown as college football's best with a team that lost some production and a lot of leadership from last year's team. Here are the players on deck as potential replacements as they battle it out in the fall:

RG Shaquille Marks
2031 stats: 81 snaps, 3 pancakes, 0 sacks allowed
Replacement candidates: Shontrelle Madu (redshirt junior), Brian Ireland (true freshman), Joseph Paschall (redshirt freshman)

Marks' injury history saw him slide to the seventh round but talent wise, he was probably the best player on the team last year. The upside of him missing nearly the entire year? The Cardinal already found a replacement in Madu who started the bulk of the season and was a solid replacement for Marks and could play himself into a draft position.

This competition is parliamentary in nature as Madu is pretty much an entrenched starter and will have a spot. The only thing that makes this compelling is if the coaching staff decides to start Madu elsewhere on the offensive line, whether at the other guard spots or even one of the tackle positions which would pave the way for someone like Brian Ireland, who the coaching staff are extremely high on, to potentially compete for a starting job.

OL Jalen Freeman
2031 stats: 1027 snaps, 38 pancakes, 2 sacks allowed
Replacement candidates: Wayne Hoffman (redshirt senior), Jared March (redshirt junior), Brian Ireland (true freshman)

Stanford literally and figuratively cannot replace Freeman with just one guy. In a figurative sense, after Marks, he was the best player on the offensive line and the leader of that unit. Literally, he played pretty much every position and ended the season at left tackle following a rash of injuries.

Assuming that presumed starter D.J. Baas is healthy and left tackle is squared away, we'll focus on Freeman's natural position which is at left guard. Hoffman was part of that big haul last season along the offensive line and saw significant playing time as a rotational player, playing 245 snaps. He's the likely starter there with March, an older but inexperienced player, as a live dog along with the aforementioned Ireland who will probably see the field at some point this season.

LB Richard Caussin
2031 stats: 80 tackles, 10 TFL, 2 sacks, 5 INT, 9 PBU
Replacement candidates: James Gattis (senior), Chester Oordt (redshirt junior), Darren Calmelat (true freshman)

A couple of options here for Caussin who finished third on the team in tackles and tied for first in interceptions, many of them coming in crucial situations. Gattis was the backup last year with thirty-eight ackles and seven tackles for loss but he's more of a run stuffing, thumper type of linebacker brought on short yardage situations.

Oodrt is a similar type of athlete to Caussin as that sort of hybrid linebacker whose physical profile if you tweak a thing or two ends up at safety but physicality is the concern there for Oodrt who is up to 226 pounds.

The wildcard is the true freshman from Wisconsin whose made some splash plays in the spring. Calmelat will need to develop into being a more consistent player if he wants to take over this role, an important one, in Stanford's defense but the physical tools and upside are there.

CB J.T. Kipper
2031 stats: 74 tackles, 5 TFL, 4 INT, TD, 12 PBU
Replacement candidates: Paul Garrison (redshirt senior)

Pretty open and shut one here. Garrison slides in as CB1, assuming that Kentrell Marvin stays at nickel.

EDGE Javon Canady
2031 stats: 17 tackles, 10 TFL, 2.5 sacks
Replacement candidates: Salesi Overstreet (redshirt junior), David Drake (sophomore)

This is one of the closer battles to watch this fall camp with Salesi Overstreet, the converted defensive tackle, and David Drake, the transfer from Maryland, being some of the better athletes on the defensive line and certainly look the part.

Overstreet brings a power element to the position that they haven't had in a while while Drake is a bit twitchier and a more natural pass rusher. They will probably both end up playing a ton as the Cardinal are in desperate need of improvement at the position and haven't had a double-digit sack artist in a while.

S Shaquille Duke
2031 stats: 64 tackles, 4 TFL, 4 INT, 3 PBU
Replacement candidates: Benjamin Streeter (redshirt junior), Jaron Azumah (sophomore), Mike Thomas (redshirt junior), Marco Stick (freshman)

An underrated member of last year's teammate, Duke's leadership and reliability will be missed as a guy that was a four-year starter and a fifth-year player. Both Azumah and Thomas had roles last year but in a more specialized fashion and are bigger, more physical players while Streeter, a converted corner, is the best cover guy of the bunch.

With an 186-pounder in Angel Bass at the other safety spot, the Cardinal would be losing a lot of size by featuring both Bass and Streeter which is where the four-star freshman Marco Stick comes in. He's a bit more polished in coverage than Azumah and Thomas and more stout than Streeter so he is a name to watch.

CB Chauncey Ankrah
2031 stats: 28 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 INT, 7 PBU
Replacement candidates: Greg Dillard (redshirt senior), Juan Becht (junior), Gordon Pratt (senior)

Arguably the most important position to replace and certainly on defense. Becht played a lot last year when Ankrah got hurt but his performance was up and down. Dillard is an experienced option out of the portal while Pratt, another portal add, had an inconsistent spring.

How good this position ends up being might be the litmus test on how good this secondary and defense as a whole turns out as its the obvious weakness of the team and something that teams will look to exploit.

[ShireNiner]

After sitting on it, Paul the Wall ain’t bad. I can roll with that.

[Soapy]

After sitting on it

[ShireNiner]

Now you’re fighting Sox for the perv of the year.

[redsox907]

[djp73]

all that movement in the secondary is concerning

[Caesar]

Calling it now. Garrison getting fraud checked at least once this season

[Soapy]

Now you’re fighting Sox for the perv of the year.

ya right, lemme chill

all that movement in the secondary is concerning

yeah, pretty much revamped

Calling it now. Garrison getting fraud checked at least once this season

that speed is concerning, ngl