The Cardinal are really taking this “noise” thing to heart.
On Wednesday, the team practiced on the turf section of the Elliott Practice Fields due to the turf section’s closer proximity to the speakers that have been emulating the vast sound levels that the team will encounter on the road at Husky Stadium on Saturday.
“We did it today just because it’s louder in there,” Shaw said. “It was our short-yardage, goal-line and third down, so we figured there’s going to be a lot of noise so we went inside today. We’ll go back outside tomorrow.”
But according to Shaw, the team has been using music and not just crowd noise because the goal of the sound is just to make it difficult for the team to communicate. In addition, Shaw notes that the use of music often adds energy to the practices, especially based on the personal tastes of the players.
Pump-up music isn’t all, though — the Cardinal were at one point blasting the University of Washington’s fight song at Tuesday night’s practice, and of course, there’s the emulation of the Spirit of Troy before the annual match ups against USC.
“Before we play USC, we play [Tribute to Troy] at least 50 times a day,” Shaw said jokingly. “You can hear it pretty much anywhere around here.”
After noting at his press conference on Tuesday that fifth-year senior linebacker Joe Hemschoot was questionable for the game against Washington, Shaw confirmed after practice that Hemschoot would almost certainly be held out. In addition, senior cornerback Ra’Chard Pippens will sit out the Washington game with a leg injury. Both are expected to return for the Oct. 4 matchup against Notre Dame.
Finally, Shaw has been very impressed by the performance of his true freshmen this season, including defensive ends Solomon Thomas and Harrison Phillips, who will likely redshirt this season but have been practicing hard.
Cream rises to the top, but cream is not talent. Cream is the guys who are tougher, outwork & want it more than the other guys. #gostanford
— David Shaw (@CoachDavidShaw) September 25, 2014
Shaw also noted that cornerback Terrence Alexander and free safety Brandon Simmons have also been impressive, with both having earned Scout Team Player of the Week honors in the past few weeks.
Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.