Eight Cardinal players invited to NFL Combine; new running backs, strength and conditioning coaches hired

The Stanford football team will be well-represented at the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine, with eight players receiving invitations to display their skills for scouts as potential draftees in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Fifth-year senior Josh Mauro (above) will perform for NFL scouts at the Scouting Combine in hopes of improving his draft stock. (SAM GIRVIN/The Stanford Daily)

Offensive tackle Cameron Fleming, running back Tyler Gaffney, fullback Ryan Hewitt, defensive end Josh Mauro, outside linebacker Trent Murphy, free safety Ed Reynolds, inside linebacker Shayne Skov and offensive guard David Yankey will represent Stanford at the Combine, which will be held from Feb. 22-25 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Stanford has the highest number of invites among Pac-12 teams, ahead of the seven invitations for USC players and six for Oregon players. This will be the largest representation for Stanford at the Combine since 2003, when it sent seven players.

According to CoachingSearch.com, Stanford has filled the void at running backs coach with Carolina Panthers assistant wide receiver coach Lance Taylor. Taylor previously worked with current Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren in the New York Jets’ organization. Taylor replaces Tavita Pritchard, who moved to quarterbacks coach after Mike Sanford was hired by Boise State.

On Friday, it was announced that Ryan Cidzik, the Director of Strength and Conditioning for Football and Outdoor Sports at Columbia University, had been hired by Stanford to serve as a sports performance coach under strength and conditioning coach Shannon Turley. Cidzik will replace Bill Hughan, who departed Stanford after just one year. Hughan will become the Director of Football Sports Performance at Vanderbilt under new head coach Derek Mason.

Update: On Feb. 12, the team confirmed that Taylor would take over as running backs coach.