Shaw sessions Part One: Recruiting philosophy

Stanford is only a few weeks removed from putting the finishing touches on a 2016 recruiting class that ranks as one of the best in recent program history, but the program has already shifted its focus to 2017 - Stanford is expected to host several top targets this weekend for a Junior Day visit.

Cardinal Sports Report had a chance to sit down with Stanford head coach David Shaw earlier this week to discuss the 2016 recruiting class, the outlook for 2017 and Shaw's philosophy on the ever-evolving recruiting process.

Below is the first portion of our interview with Shaw, which focuses more on big-picture recruiting topics. The second part, which will be published later in the week, will discuss items specific to the 2016 and 2017 classes.

Shaw sent out a pair of tweets that garnered significant exposure during the stretch run of the 2016 recruiting cycle. Each used the hashtag "facts over hype," and each drew attention to Stanford's recent accomplishments on the football field and the prestige of the university as a whole.

The timing and content of the tweets led some to believe Shaw posted them to directly combat specific instances of negative recruiting from other programs.

Shaw said that was not the case. Rather, he intended the tweets to be a statement on how the recruiting process has evolved in recent years - changes that Shaw feels have not all been for the best.

"(The tweets referenced above) have not been toward anybody in particular, but have been toward where recruiting has been in the last calendar year-plus," Shaw said. "I've said it from the beginning: I did my career backwards. I started in the NFL and have now gone to college. I've gotten into the recruiting world the opposite way.

"And I look at this as insanity.

"And it's not toward anybody in particular, but it's across the board. Everything is ramped up, everything is so early, everything is so crazy. And so many people are recruiting on things that don't matter - just flat out don't matter. What's the school like? What's the football program like? What kind of people are there? Do I fit? Do I belong? The school/academics. Those are the things that we should be recruiting on and the kids should be making decisions on.

"But that's not a lot what's going on out there. And typically, what I'm asked directly from different people - people in (the recruiting) world and some recruits and their families - once again, it's not to point the finger at anybody else, but to say: What do you guys do? How are you guys approaching this? (My answer is that) we're a great school and a great football program. We have great people. And to me, that's what we try to emphasize. That's what we try to focus on.

"So those last couple of tweets for me were just about OK, for those that care and those that are interested, here's what we are about, and here's what I'm about, personally. And it got some attention, which is great. But also, for me, it also helps draw the line for those that are out there that want to be a part of what we have and those that you say know what, that's not what I'm looking for, which I'm fine with, also."

Stanford's historic recent run of football success has been well documented. The Cardinal has played in three Rose Bowls in the last four years and seven straight bowl games overall.

That success has, naturally, boosted the Cardinal's recruiting stature.

But Shaw has noticed a difference in the way Stanford is received by prospects as the Cardinal heads into the the 2017 recruiting cycle compared to even 2013 and 2014, well after the likes of Andrew Luck and Toby Gerhart emerged as Heisman Trophy finalists and the Cardinal had played in multiple BCS bowls.

"Absolutely," Shaw said. "Because we're not looked at as the new kid on the block anymore. Less and less do you hear, 'Well yeah, Stanford was pretty good, but.'

"We've been good. We've been up there with the big boys and competed against them and won Rose Bowls and Orange Bowls and all that stuff. So the fact that we are more established - I wouldn't say that we're established yet - that we're more established as one of the better teams in college football, one of the better programs in college football, which is what our record says. So what that helps is something I said actually a while ago, which was one of my goals as we recruit guys is that they have no memory of Stanford not being one of the top programs.

"I think we're on our way to doing that. We're not there yet. But that helps when the better players in the country are saying, 'Hey, I'm going to send you my transcript. I'd like to know if I have a chance,' as opposed to us running them down and trying to convince them. So the fact that before we ever contact the guys we're already on some of the best players' lists I think is huge."

There might not be a Power 5 program anywhere in the country that relies as heavily on a national recruiting base as much as Stanford. In 2016 alone, the Cardinal inked six prospects from Texas and another six from the Northeast.

A handful of other programs which recruit nationally have employed an increasingly popular tactic to try and build brand recognition and build relationships with recruits in regions far from campus: satellite camps.

While all schools hold on-campus camps over summer to evaluate potential recruits, the satellite camps, which have been utilized by the likes of Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Penn State, among others, take the camp experience to corners of the country well away from a college campus.

Stanford has no plans of joining the trend. The limited number of academically qualified recruits in any given geographic region makes it impractical.

"(I've) never considered it," Shaw said. "And at the same time I have no problem with people that do it. It doesn't affect me or us in any way shape or form. As was described to me when I first got here, our recruiting philosophy is the rifle, not the shotgun. So for us to hold a camp somewhere away from here for a bunch of guys in an area, there's a high likelihood that there is one or no recruits for us in that area.

"To put that much time and expense into something that can't yield - not that we wouldn't want it to, it can't - it can't be economically worth it or worth our time. We'd rather put the time in trying to get a guy to come here because we're recruiting one guy from here, one guy from there.

"So once again, I don't have any problem with people that do it - it takes a lot of expense off of the recruits to get exposure. I once again have no problem with that."

In fact, Shaw would like to see the NCAA roll back rules that currently prevent coaches from attending camps hosted by the likes of Nike and Rivals. Those camps are held in all parts of the country and include many of the nation's top prospects.

"I'd love to go back to the old Nike camp days or regional camps, however they want to do it," Shaw said. "I think that's great because that puts the expense back on the universities. Let's go back to holding those - they have the All Poly camp, which is a phenomenal thing. All those kids can go to one place and get seen by a bunch of different schools. So the satellite camps, hey, for people that do it, more power to you. For me it's not about them, it's about the kids getting exposure to a bunch of different universities without them having to fly over the country."

The first step in Stanford's recruitment of any prospect has and will continue to be the same, no matter the recruit's talent level: a thorough examination of his high school transcript. If the grades don't meet a certain standard, Stanford will not proceed with its evaluation.

If they do, however, the Cardinal will.

But there's not a specific or clearly defined pecking order of the traits Stanford values in a prospective recruit beyond the initial academic review. Shaw and the Cardinal hope to find the complete package.

"The order is difficult because for me, I want it all. I want to be greedy," Shaw said. "I don't want just the academics or just the character or just the athletic ability. We want everything. And if there's something missing they need to go someplace else. For us, it's not one thing over the other - there's no hierarchy to it.

"We have an idea of what we're looking for and a phrase we started using here a couple of years ago, which is we have to trust our eyes. So that's why we want guys to come to camp. We want to see them perform. We want to see them and coach them on the field and see what they can do. And we need to see that transcript. Then we need to talk to them and get to know them and talk to people about them, and if anything along that chain doesn't fit, then we have to say, 'OK, what is that? And does this guy fit here?' No matter what it is - a character issue, an incident happened something happened. OK great, let's investigate.

"The hard part always for us is that we're not around these kids 24/7. We get an idea of who they are but we also have to recognize there's a difference sometimes between a young man that's still a young man that's going to grow and mature and someone who quote unquote has a character issue. So for us as far as what we're looking for, we can call it just like everyone does, the Stanford guy. We're looking for that Stanford young man, no matter where he is. I think we've been able to find a bunch of them."

SIGN UP TODAY: Want the latest in Stanford team and recruiting news? Consider joining the rapidly-growing Cardinal Sports Report community. Less than 30 cents a day (with an annual subscription) will provide access to insider team and recruiting discussion and tidbits as well as the most comprehensive coverage of Stanford football available.