Last Saturday was the Cardinal and White Spring Game at Stanford Stadium. Fellow LWOS writer, Matt Whisnant and I were on the scene. At first, we thought that we’d interview the eccentric couple that decided to camp overnight in the parking lot, as though they were in line for a Beatles reunion. However, we realized that we’d just be talking to ourselves since that was… us. That’s right, Stanford decided to open up one of the parking lots for overnight guests the night before the game. Exactly two people took advantage of that. I should note that Matt and I live approximately four miles from Stanford, so camping was hardly necessary, but there’s just something about football in April that feels special.
Spring football is sort of like a rebirth. The seniors have moved on and made way for the younger crop of student-athletes. (Oh, sorry. A “senior” is a student who has completed four years of college, SEC fans. A “student-athlete” is someone who plays football at a college and attends class, USC fans.) But how much can you really glean from a team’s performance in their spring contest under game conditions as artificial as Oregon’s turf? To me, the spring game is a progress report of sorts, and here is Stanford’s: defense good, offense OK, special teams… not special enough.
Stanford Cardinal Spring Game Review
Only one defensive starter from the 2014 squad will return to The Farm this fall, and that’s enough to make any Cardinal fan nervous. In the past couple of years, Stanford has lost defensive pillars like Chase Thomas, Shayne Skov, Trent Murphy, and Ed Reynolds, and each year I’ve wondered how the defense will recover.
And yet.
If Saturday’s game was any indication, the defense will be just fine. They seem to keep getting bigger and better, and bigger.
Harrison Phillips is an enormous dude and one heck of an athlete. In addition to playing football, Phillips was a successful high school wrestler who won multiple national championships. I’m surprised that he’s not wrestling at Stanford, but perhaps that’s because his only suitable PAC-12 opponent would be an actual California grizzly bear. As I said on Twitter, “If any of you people want to get in a fight with Harrison Phillips, you go ahead, but I ain’t helping you.”
Luke Kaumatule is someone else who has bulked up since the last time we saw him. The roster lists him at 6’7”, 276 pounds and I think that might be an understatement. At one point, he ran into Hogan and I was afraid Hogan might not get up. I sure hope David Shaw can find something for Kaumatule to do this year. It’s a shame to waste such a physical specimen.
Moving on to the offense. If you were part of the contingent that was raw about Hogan’s decision to return this year (i.e. The Hogan’s Haters), I hope you got a look at the backup competition this weekend. Ryan Burns and Keller Chryst duked it out in a back and forth game of who could overthrow the wide receivers the most. Needless to say, a few minutes of Chryst and Burns was enough to have Hogan’s naysayers reneging on their contractual obligations to Hogan’s Haters in favor of joining Hogan’s Heroes.
On the positive side of the backup competition, Chryst’s throws had some of the tightest spirals you’ll see, and his delivery and throwing motion is a thing of beauty. He’s very tall, but I think he’d do well to put on a few pounds. The roster lists him at 231, but unless he was weighed in full pads, I don’t see it. Going 1 of 8 is not going to cut it as Stanford’s backup. Burns completed half of his passes, and can hand the ball off with the best of them, so if need be, he’ll be able to ice down some of the games the Card has in hand this season.
I could go on and on about how good Christian McCaffrey is, but everyone knows that. Instead, I’ll talk about what a nice game Austin Hooper had. A couple of things have changed for him this year: he is now #18 (his high school number), and a source tells me that the team thinks he can be the next Zach Ertz. Hooper had some nice catches on Saturday, and I can’t wait to see what he can do with a little more practice. Unfortunately, Hooper was victimized on what I consider to be the play of the game: Hogan steps back, throws from his own 30, Hooper caught it in stride at the opponent’s 40 yard line with Alijah Holder in hot pursuit. Hooper runs to the 28 and is tackled and stripped by Holder. I hope Hooper learns to hang onto the ball, and I hope Holder continues to never give up on a play.
The second best play of the game was when Blake Martinez tipped a pass thrown by Chryst, which was intercepted by quarterback-turned-safety Dallas Lloyd. Following the play, Lloyd ran downfield and dunked on Martinez’s head in midair. It was hilarious, and the television broadcast didn’t do this justice. In all seriousness, it was a great play, and given that he’s wearing Pick-6 Machine, Ed Reynolds’ old number, we’ll assume that this won’t be the last takeaway for Lloyd.
As good as Stanford’s defense looked (the final score was 23-7 in their favor), and as much promise as the offense showed, this team has one glaring eyesore of a weakness: special teams. New kicker Conrad Ukropina missed all three field goals he attempted, causing Stanford fans some major PTSD. Alex Robinson’s first couple of punts were anything but impressive, though he did show signs of improvement throughout the game. It’s still early, but Pete Alamar needs to figure out a solution fast. And the solution isn’t another kicker with a case of the yips. If he can’t perform at the spring game, how will he handle the pressure at Oregon, USC, and beyond?
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