Defense begins to buckle down in second spring practice

Familiar faces abounded at Elliott Practice Field on Saturday as Stanford football continued its second session of spring practice with an open scrimmage.

But unlike countless times before, former Cardinal standouts, including Andrus Peat, Jordan Richards, Lee Ward, Coby Fleener and Griff Whalen (amongst others), joined the scores of fans in attendance as spectators — all getting a close-up look at Stanford’s youth movement and rapid reloading process ahead of the 2015 season.

Though Saturday’s practice had its fair share of miscues — including three fumbles — the young Cardinal raised a lot of eyebrows and showed more than just flashes of the team’s sky-high potential.

“Our youth is significant. It’s there. But so is the talent,” said head coach David Shaw.

Whalen, entering his fourth year with the Indianapolis Colts, seemed to concur, sharing his thoughts on the Saturday morning session via Twitter.

Cardinal looked really good today. Always fun to watch some @StanfordFball spring practice #livescrimmage #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/jSZubNwgQY

— Griff Whalen (@GriffWhalen) April 5, 2015

The revenge of the defense

In the first session of spring ball, the Stanford offense flexed its muscles and got the better of its defensive counterpart. Lance Anderson’s side, however, rebounded in a big way on Saturday as the Cardinal defense remained stout throughout the day and repeatedly came up with huge stops on the final goal-line drills, forcing the entire offense — coaches included — to do 20 push-ups.

With the task of replacing eight starters on one of the most statistically dominant units in the nation, the Stanford defense experienced growing pains early on, but have made significant strides in the last few weeks.

Stanford particularly showed improvement in the secondary, where the Cardinal must replace four starters following the graduation of Richards and Kyle Olugbode, along with the departure of Alex Carter to the NFL and Wayne Lyons’ transfer to Michigan.

After practice, Shaw expressed his optimism that Stanford’s contingent of highly-touted defensive backs will be ready to step up.

“We’re growing at the corner position,” Shaw said. “All of our young guys are showing really good promise. Elijah Holder, Alameen Murphy and Terrence Alexander have grown. I’m also really excited to get Ronnie Harris back in training camp.”

Shaw also went on to praise the play of his safeties: Kodi Whitfield and Dallas Lloyd, both offensive converts who appear to have the inside track to start next season, especially if Zach Hoffpauir decides to pursue professional baseball.

Defensive line growing through extra reps

The major lack of depth along the defensive line emerged as a major story during the first session of spring practice as Harrison Phillips, Nate Lohn and Jordan Watkins held down the fort without any backups.

Rising sophomore Harrison Phillips will be called upon to help pace a defensive line that is currently facing depth issues. (DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)

Despite rising sophomore Solomon Thomas returning to the field from a toe injury and fifth-year senior Torsten Rotto moving over from the linebacker position, Randy Hart’s group continued to battle depth issues with the loss of Lohn to an apparent leg injury.

Nevertheless, the defensive line impressed throughout the day, helping to hold Stanford’s rushers to 47 yards and applying frequent pressure on the Cardinal’s three quarterbacks, Kevin Hogan, Ryan Burns and Keller Chryst. The standout amongst the group was Phillips, who has beefed up to over 270 pounds after starting last season at 255.

While the lack of available backups has taken it’s toll on the unit, rising sophomore Thomas, who redshirted last season, expressed gratitude over the opportunity for additional repetitions.

“It’s definitely been valuable. Of course, it’s been hard sometimes, but we just have to fight through it and do the best we can,” Thomas said of the heavy workload for the defensive linemen. “It’s good repetition and getting a good feel of the defense. I’m very thankful for these reps.

“I’ve developed a lot as a player. My knowledge of the game has grown a lot [since arriving at Stanford]. Learning from Henry Anderson and David Parry and learning from going on scout team against Andrus Peat, Josh Garnett and players like that have prepared to be a better player.”

The Fantastic Four

While Fleener was in attendance at practice, it’s safe to say that the era of the “Tree Amigos” has long past. However, Stanford’s new bumper crop of young, athletic tight ends might ease the nostalgia of the days of Fleener, Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo.

Out with the Tree Amigos and in with the Fantastic Four.

On Saturday, Stanford’s four reputed tight ends Austin Hooper, Greg Taboada, Eric Cotton and Dalton Schultz dazzled fans right from the opening drive as the first-team offense marched down the field and scored behind a bulldozing catch-and-run from the rising sophomore Schultz. Throughout the day, the quartet remained a steady outlet for all of the Cardinal quarterbacks and showed glimpse of what Stanford’s offense could look like next week.

For Schultz, the nation’s top rated tight end recruit in 2014, the experience of playing with three other standouts at the position has been valuable.

“It’s such a difference,” Schultz said of playing tight end at Stanford. “I was basically the only tight end at my high school. Having this group of four really good tight ends just brings everybody up. One guy has a good day and that brings up somebody else and they have a good day. All of us feed off of each other. It makes a huge difference.”

Gearing up for the spring game

Stanford’s spring practice will culminate next Saturday at the annual Cardinal and White Spring Game in Stanford Stadium.

Shaw confirmed that seven players will not play in the game due to injury: offensive linemen Nick Davidson, Brendan Austin and Jessie Burkett, defensive linemen Lohn and Aziz Shittu, corner Ronnie Harris and receiver Francis Owusu.

Unlike most programs, who hold standard scrimmages, Stanford will continue it’s unconventional tradition of pitting the entire offense against the defense and employing a unique scoring format to determine the winner.

“Hopefully, the people who were confused by it last year will be less confused,” Shaw said.

Contact Vihan Lakshman at vihan ‘at’ stanford.edu.