Three recruits that Stanford is hoping to officially sign on National Signing Day

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National Signing Day is just one sleep away, which means that some of the biggest names that have yet to sign will likely be announcing where they are playing their college football.
Stanford is one of the many programs across the country that is vying for the services for an unsigned player, in fact, there are three recruits that were once Stanford commits that may be lured elsewhere. While David Shaw didn't have much success on the field, he was able to attract some very talented recruits to Stanford.
It's not that new head coach Troy Taylor isn't as good of a recruiter, but by the time he was officially announced as the head coach it was just days before early signing day. Thus leading to the recruits that were committed and likely planning on signing not being familiar with the new staff, and being poached by other programs.
The Cardinal have already lost their three top-ranked recruits following Shaw's announcement, as Hunter Clegg (Utah), Jaden Platt (Texas A&M), and Walker Lyons (TBD) all backed off their commitment. However, now that Taylor has been at the helm for a month he has had a chance to get in the ear of recruits and develop those relationships.
There are currently three recruits that have yet to announce where they will be playing their college football, let's take a look at who they are and where they might end up.
LJ Martin, RB (Four-star)
Stanford badly needs some reinforcements at running back as we saw this past season when reserve safety Mitch Leigber ended up as the starting running back and it was a need that was addressed in the class. LJ Martin and Miami native Sedrick Irvin headlined the class as the two running backs, but Martin opted to not sign and has since visited elsewhere. The Cardinal did bring two-sport athlete Caleb Hampton who will also be playing baseball, but surely they would love to have Martin on the roster come fall camp as well.
Martin's recruitment has been kept pretty quiet as it is known he took a visit to BYU, but other than that he has not been linked to another school. Prior to committing to Stanford, he was projected to end up at Texas Tech, so that could be another school to look out for.
Cameron Brandt, DL (Three-star)
Following the news that Shaw stepped down, Brandt was one of the recruits that was contacted the most by other programs. Schools such as Texas, Cal, and Washington all got into the mix for the defensive lineman out of Sierra Canyon. The trenches struggled last season, but the defensive line has some young rising stars.
Despite a handful of programs reaching out, it is between Stanford and Michigan for Brandt's services.
Walker Lyons, TE (Four-star)
At one point Walker Lyons was the highest ranked commit in Stanford's class, but now he is on the receiving end of a full court press from some of the most notable programs in college football. There are some Folsom ties between he and Taylor, but it will take a lot for Taylor to pull this one off.
Georgia is viewed as the favorite to land him with USC and Utah also being in the mix, but one thing that cannot be taken away from Taylor and the new staff is the amount effort they have put in to luring him back to the Farm.

Managing Editor and Publisher of CardinalCountry.com, formerly a Pac-12 Network Production Assistant and a contributing writer for USA Today's Longhorns Wire. I am a proud graduate of Quinnipiac University's sports journalism master's program. Follow me on Twitter @Kevin__Borba
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