2016 Stanford recruiting storylines: Part one

Stanford's 2016 recruiting class has been signed and sealed for a week now, but the events of the recruiting cycle remain fresh on the minds of many.

With that backdrop, Cardinal Sports Report will count down the six biggest storylines of the Cardinal's 2016 class and recruiting cycle.

First, some key developments that didn't quite make the cut.

**Historic five-star: California linebacker Curtis Robinson was elevated to five-star status by Rivals.com late in the year and maintained that lofty designation after a strong showing at the U.S. Army All American bowl. Robinson joins Aziz Shittu as the lone five-star defensive players to ink with the Cardinal in the history of Rivals.com, and Shittu, Kyle Murphy, Trent Irwin and Andrus Peat as the only five-stars regardless of position.

**Another strong DB class: Stanford's secondary, which possessed plenty of young talent heading into the 2016 cycle, took another step forward with the addition of a four-person class that includes several premier defensive backs. The Cardinal has now inked 13 in the secondary over the last three recruiting cycles; suffice it to say, the future of the positions looks very bright.

**Specialist emphasis: For what is believed to the be the first time in Stanford recruiting history, the Cardinal used a scholarship on a long snapper, inking Texas standout Richard McNitzky. They also offered and signed Hawaii kicker/punter Jet Toner. That duo, along with 2015 scholarship punter/kicker Jake Bailey, 2015 walk-on kicker Charlie Beall and 2016 walk-on kicker Collin Riccitelli, should help secure the future of the Cardinal's special teams units.

**Restocking tight end: Stanford extended both its first offer of the 2016 recruiting cycle and one of its last to tight ends. The Cardinal targeted and landed perhaps the nation's best at the position, Kaden Smith, early on. They then offered and flipped former Boston College commitment Scooter Harrington. Stanford viewed Harrington as a potential defensive player for much of his recruitment, but the early departure of Austin Hooper to the NFL and Eric Cotton's conversion to defensive end pushed Harrington to offense.

Due to its stringent academic requirement, Stanford has always been and will always be a true national recruiter. As Cardinal coach David Shaw puts it, Stanford's key recruiting territory is wherever top academically inclined athletes reside in a given year.

In 2016, several happened to be from the Northeast part of the country, which has not traditionally been fertile recruiting grounds for Stanford - or really any Pac-12 program, for that matter.

Yet Stanford ended up signing six prospects from the Northeast part of the country in 2016 - Andrew Pryts, Devery Hamilton, Dorian Maddox, Donald Stewart, Scooter Harrington and Clark Yarbrough, who lives in New Jersey but attends boarding school in Virginia. That's the Cardinal's most signees from the Northeast in the history of Rivals.com

Perhaps just as noteworthy as the number of Northeast commitments is the backstory on some of the prospects. Five of the six committed to the Cardinal in the final weeks of the recruiting cycle. Pryts, a Pennsylvania native, was committed to Penn State. Harrington, a Connecticut native, was committed to Boston College. Hamilton, a Maryland native, was committed to Michigan. Stewart, a New Jersey native, narrowed his choices to the Cardinal and Wolverines before choosing Stanford. And Maddox remained relatively under the radar until being offered, admitted and committing on the Friday before Signing Day.

All told, Stanford's Northeast haul is comprised of several talented prospects who figure to have large roles on The Farm before their college careers conclude.

On the heels of not signing a quarterback in the 2015 class, the position was a priority heading into the 2016 recruiting cycle.

Enter Rivals100 Southern California signal caller K.J. Costello.

Costello emerged on Stanford's radar several years ago, when he camped with the program after his freshman year of high school. He returned following his sophomore year for the Cardinal's Friday Night Lights camp. An impressive performance there paved the way for Stanford to offer two weeks later.

Before too long, Costello narrowed his extensive list of college options to three programs: Michigan, USC and the Cardinal. As the year progressed and the spring arrived, the buzz grew louder that the Trojans and Stanford had emerged as the two favorites.

But it was unclear which program held the edge. One week it seemed like the Cardinal, the next USC.

Unlike many programs, which offered multiple 2016 quarterbacks, Stanford honed in on Costello early in the cycle, and essentially poured all of their QB recruiting efforts into convincing the Santa Margarita Catholic High School star to head to the Bay Area to play his college ball.

Ultimately, Stanford's recruiting efforts paid off. Costello announced his commitment to the Cardinal on March 26th.

In addition to being a huge recruiting win over some of the nation's national powers, Costello's commitment gave the Cardinal one of the nation's top signal callers who will have a chance to compete for Stanford's quarterback job before too long.

If Stanford's Jan. 15 - Jan. 17 recruiting weekend, which included 20 recruits on campus, was the "Big Visit," Stanford's Jan. 22-24 might be named "Flip Visit."

The Cardinal hosted four recruits on the second-to-last weekend of the 2016 recruiting cycle. One, Bo Peek, was committed to Stanford. The other three entered the weekend pledged to other programs - Paxton Segina to Rice, Scooter Harrington to Boston College and Devery Hamilton to Michigan.

Within a week of the visit's conclusion, all four were committed to the Cardinal.

Segina flipped his decision while on campus, Harrington the night after returning home and Hamilton a few days later.

Moreover, the same week as Harrington, Hamilton and Segina chose Stanford, so too did Texas defensive back and former Longhorn commit Obi Eboh.

So, to summarize:

A Texas native (Eboh) switched from the University of Texas to Stanford. A Rice football legacy and Texas native (Segina) switched from Rice to Stanford. A Pennsylvania native and Penn State football legacy (Pryts) switched from

In addition to demonstrating the universal and powerful appeal of Stanford football to academically inclined recruits, the flips yielded some very talented players at positions of need. Pryts, whose offer list and recruiting profile far exceeds his Rivals ranking, is the only true safety in Stanford's 2016 class. Segina, who impressed at Stanford's camp over summer, fills a need at receiver. Eboh, who has the versatility and ability to play several spots in the secondary, was a particularly important addition following the departures of David Long and Nygel Edmonds from the class. And Hamilton is among the best tackles in the nation - he, like several of the Cardinal's other 2016 OL signees, could compete for playing time early.

(Though he was uncommitted for many months before signing with Stanford, running back Trevor Speights actually made an early commitment to Arizona before backing off.)