Stanford Coach Troy Taylor Reveals How Cardinal Plan To Use The Transfer Portal
With Early Signing Day having come and gone, there is still talent out there to be added around college football.
Stanford's head coach Troy Taylor spoke with the media on Wednesday following the conclusion of signing his 23-man class, which lost just one player in Ricky Johnson who flipped to Mississippi State.
When discussing what was next for Stanford, Taylor revealed that they would look to add a couple of more high school recruits and would also look to grab players out of the transfer portal. Something that many people don't think Stanford is capable of doing, but in fact they are. They just have to use it differently than just about every program in the country, as Taylor explained they focus on undergraduate transfers.
When addressing whether Stanford was close to the 85 scholarship player threshold, which they weren't close to in 2023, Taylor provided insight on what's next.
"We're pretty close to that eighty-five," said Taylor. "We were well below it during the season so the goal was to sign a big class which we have. We're still working...The transfer portal for us it's going to be limited.
"We're going to compete hard try and fight the right guys. Graduate school transfers are never going to be something that we rely on heavily. We can get some undergraduate transfers, so we're looking at a few guys. It's much less than other schools but frankly, it helps in recruiting when we talk to the high school athletes. We draw comparison to these schools who will bring in forty or fifty new players, we're not going to do that so they're going to be able to compete with people in their class."
Taylor and company brought in six transfers prior to this season, and actually landed seven before losing running back Justin Williams-Thomas to Cal.
In terms of this cycle, they have offered a handful of transfers but haven't brought any in yet. On the bright side, Stanford's team was so inexperienced this past season that players who needed experience all were thrown into the fire. Stanford is set to lose just one starter in tight end Benjamin Yurosek, who opted to transfer.
The willingness to use the portal is what should stand out being that the prior regime had no plans to do so, but Stanford will always be about recruiting and development.
