re: 4* RB EJ Smith (Emmitt's son)

If he is considering Stanford then education is important. In that order it would be Stanford, Ohio State then down the line Texas A&M then Flauda and Jawja in no particular order bringing up the rear.

Dallas J advances 28-21. Smith scores all 4 TDs and racked up some yards too. Looking for a final #. I really want this kid.

He's admitted to Stanford.

He's not going to A&M over Stanford.

(Or over other schools with more upside on the running attack)

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If he is considering Stanford then education is important. In that order it would be Stanford, Ohio State then down the line Texas A&M then Flauda and Jawja in no particular order bringing up the rear.

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Florida is the 6th ranked Public School in the country, ahead of Ohio State

Yeah but ya never know...I could see him staying in Texas

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Stanford has the 7th worst rush offense in college football (123). A&M is 50 places higher.

You'd think you would actually do research before posting something stupid like that

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The argument is, if he prioritizes the rushing attack, there are a whole bunch of schools better than A&M in that department, with similar academic reputations. (I actually think Stanford has more upside on the offensive line. On the negative, I want Shaw fired.)

If he doesn't prioritze it, as a Dallas Jesuit guy, he knows the value of a free education at Stanford vs. a free education at A&M.

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He's admitted to Stanford.

He's not going to A&M over Stanford.

(Or over other schools with more upside on the running attack)

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There was a pretty long debate on this after Marvin Mims dumped Stanford for OU.

I think everyone realizes that kids want to play football. The Silicon Valley proximity and runner-up status to Harvard/Yale/Princeton is not an allure to a lot of kids wanting to get to the NFL.

Smith may be different . . .he comes from a wealthy family and is coming from an academically competitive private school. In general, though, academic pedigree takes a big back seat to program quality.

How does LSU lose Billy Cannon or Shaquille O’Neal’s kid? You wouldn’t want to have to live up to the expectations that come with playing where you father was an immortal.

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By this logic, Northwestern, Duke, Vandy, Rice, and Cal would consistently been winning recruiting head-to-heads given academic prestige but that aint the way the world works.

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How many Heisman candidates have those schools had in the last 10 years? How many New Year's Day games?

Hey, you're giving this solid B- effort, but Stanford, at least until a year or so ago, has been the only consistent high academic school that has made a consistent dent in football performance.

And I think you are misreading my argument, which is a bit more that a school has to be a real deal, a real contender, to make choosing that school over Stanford a no brainer. If A&M were winning 10 games a year consistently then the argument wouldn't hold up.

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And I think you are misreading my argument, which is a bit more that a school has to be a real deal, a real contender, to make choosing that school over Stanford a no brainer. If A&M were winning 10 games a year consistently then the argument wouldn't hold up.

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I understand what you are saying . . . . I agree on the no-brainer part of it.

But all that translates to recruiting classes that are lucky to crack the top 20 in any given year. I think it is because Stanford's performance is so uneven. You have Top 5 finishes followed by un-ranked finishes. Add on to that the distance for most kids not on the West Coast and the somewhat under-achieving nature of the Pac-10 since USC and Oregon faded.

It appeals to a smaller audience of recruits, and kudos for the Stanford staff for occasionally overcoming this barrier and fielding strong teams.

Very few Student athletes grow up wanting to be the next Jim Plunkett or John Elway. Maybe Christian Mccaffrey.

But in this particular case I would not be surprised at all if E.J. chooses Stanford. I was not surprised that Walker Little chose Stanford.