The Stanford sand volleyball team won its inaugural contest in style, defeating Santa Clara 4-1 at the ACSR Sand Volleyball Courts on Tuesday. A crowd of over 200 fans showed up to support the Cardinal and catch a little slice of history.
But before we look ahead, we must do one final thing that all sports writers love to do: make comparisons. With the season officially over, where does 2012-2013 team rank among the best Stanford teams of all time?
Not that he really needs one as he heads for fame and fortune in the NFL, but I owe Zach Ertz a bit of an apology. Last May, I wrote that a tight end would be Stanford football’s next breakout player — but I chose Levine Toilolo over his fellow senior Ertz. I argued that the 6-foot-8-inch Toilolo’s height would make him an ideal target for whatever inaccurate quarterback replaced Andrew Luck, while Ertz would continue to thrive on underneath slant routes as an occasional contributor like he had in 2011.
Stanford alumni are eligible to purchase tickets to the Dec. 9 Colts game in Indianapolis, Ind., that will include a post-game field pass with an appearance from Andrew Luck ’12, Coby Fleener ’11 M.A. ’12 and Griff Whalen ’12.
There are a number of words that can be used to describe the mindset of Stanford football players throughout this week’s practices: focused, awakened and perhaps dissatisfied. But “panicking” isn’t one of them.
On its face, Stanford’s 2012 passing game will be all about newness. And Nunes.
Stanford football’s “Mr. Do Everything” is going to have to do even more this season. Redshirt junior fullback Ryan Hewitt more than earned that label from head coach David Shaw in 2011. He blocked dominantly for the one of the nation’s top 20 rushing attacks, pounded the ball forward in short-yardage situations and averaged three receptions a game out of the backfield.
It’s 8 a.m. on a sunny, brisk Monday morning in mid-July. Most of the Stanford campus is fast asleep at this time of the morning during the school year. In the summer, it’s eerily silent. But on the practice football field, redshirt freshman outside linebacker Kevin Anderson is already an hour into the team run, with half an hour still remaining.