Former Stanford center and current broadcaster Mike McLaughlin spent some time with me talking about Stanford football. Here is his outlook on the upcoming season.
Q: Talk about your expectations for the team this year? On paper it looks like things are going the right direction?
I think everyone can see the talent the staff has brought in. I think a lot of the guys are coming into their own. Right now we have the best mix of old leadership as well as young talent that we have had in since even before I was at Stanford. I think that is going to translate into a good a seven, eight-win season this year. There are going to be some tough games out there where maybe we don’t have the talent to run with the big guys but obviously we proved several years ago that we can beat USC in their place. Seven or eight wins minimum is completely achievable.
Q: Who are you looking to for real breakout years? We all know Toby Gerhart is a star in the making, someone needs to come through at quarterback, but who are some of the guys that have been on the fringe that are really ready to break out?
Erik Lorig, Tom Keiser and Tom McAndrew, I think those guys on the defensive line are going to have a surprisingly good season. I don’t know if you have seen them lately, but they are huge. They have put on some good, solid muscle. It reminds me of guys I played with like Carl Hansen, Kailee Wong, they look like those guys and those guys were beasts.
Some of the younger guys like David DeCastro. They are going to have to find ways to get him in the game. I think the offensive line is - since I can remember watching Stanford football team, short of Walsh’s first and second years here when they had Chuck Gillingham and a bunch of other guys - this is the best talent of offensive line that we have had in decades. We have guys that are strong and can play multiple positions because guys get hurt and being able to switch guys around is huge. I think Chase Beeler, Burt McBryde, Chris Marinelli, Matt Kopa, these are solid guys. They are not big, huge guys but they are going to do really well. Jonathan Martin has the opportunity to be someone that can start and play. There is going to be a really good offensive line this year. Losing Alex Fletcher is huge, but the guys stepping in are going to pick up the slack.
Alex Debniak, his athleticism is unbelievable. I think you are going to see a guy like him, a Clinton Snyder with that unbelievable talent running around the field with athleticism. It reminds me of what USC has at linebacker, if that is where they choose to play him.
Obviously I look for Toby to continue running like he has, running over people.
I am glad to see Coach Harbaugh has made it an explanation point on bringing in athletes. For years it slipped to “I just need to get guys that can get into school.” I think the job that the recruiting department is doing at getting guys that can get into the school but also are the top recruited recruits. They are finding these little sleeper guys. Those are the guys that are going to make the difference. The guys that don’t necessarily get a lot of the press or the rankings but are the ones that come in and play ball and those are the ones that are tough to find for a school like Stanford that has to look everywhere.
Q: They already have 23 commitments for next year, some beyond that. It appears that Stanford is becoming a destination again thanks to the resurgence.
I think what it shows is guys want to get on the bandwagon now. They look at the opportunity to come to Stanford as huge. I remember when I was getting recruiting I thought, “Oh my gosh, of course I am going to Stanford.” Not only is it a great school but football is also going to be great there. It is Pac-10, we can be competitive, Walsh was obviously recruiting me at the time. It was just this aura of great things and I think recruits are starting to see that. I think Harbaugh and company are really taking advantage of that.
Q: How has the game changed in 10 years since you played?
Recruiting is completely different now that you have all these boutique recruiting websites. Coach Harbaugh uses twitter. Coach Lynn is on Facebook. It is interesting how they are using technology. When I was getting recruited cell phones are very nascent. It was still very old school. Call home, send a letter, invite you to camp. It is totally different now. That is the big difference that I see now.
One thing I can’t stand I would love to see change is there are too many bowl games. There should be less. It is diluted, most teams lose money. It is a marketing ploy for recruiting but there are too many bowl games.
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Thank you again to Mike McLaughlin for taking the time to talk with me. If you would like to hear more from Mike, make sure to tune into the radio broadcasts this fall of Stanford football. Mike has also started a new blog which you can read at: http://smalltimebroadcaster.blogspot.com/
OTHER ARTICLES IN THE SERIES:
PART TWO: Remembering the Rose Bowl year
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