Stanford football and the other schools of the Pac-12 conference wrapped up the second and final day of Pac-12 Media Day on Thursday at the Paramount Pictures Studio in Hollywood, California. Stanford head coach David Shaw, senior starting quarterback Kevin Hogan and senior strong safety Jordan Richards represented the football program in southern California.
In addressing the media gathered in Los Angeles, Shaw offered an update on senior wide receiver and 2014 Biletnikoff Award watch list selection Ty Montgomery. Montgomery, who missed all of spring practice after suffering a knee injury on a kickoff return in the Cardinal’s Rose Bowl loss to Michigan State, has also been recovering from an arm injury. Shaw said that Montgomery might be held out of the Cardinal’s season opener on August 30th against UC-Davis, and that “it will be close” as far as whether the consensus All-American will be ready to go against USC in Week 2.
Shaw also shrugged off the Cardinal’s place in the preseason Pac-12 media poll, as Stanford was picked to finish second in the Pac-12 North behind Oregon.
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t use it as motivation. I don’t get happy or sad about it. It is what it is. I might pick Oregon [as well],” Shaw said.
Shaw also added that the media hype surrounding a program in the preseason will disappear once the season begins in late August.
Finally, in talking about the losses of senior leaders from last year’s Pac-12 champion squad, particularly linebackers Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy, as well as defensive end Ben Gardner and running back Tyler Gaffney, Shaw stated that losing players to graduation and the NFL is nothing new for the program.
“We’ve lost a lot of senior leadership, but that’s what happens every year,” Shaw said. “Every year you lose guys and guys step up. I’m excited about where we are, and the fact that we’re bringing back a three-year starting quarterback.
“We are also bringing back one of the most explosive players in college football in Ty Montgomery. We are led by a young, athletic line that needs to gel for us. I am looking forward to the new tight ends that will step in, and the receiving corps and rotation in running backs that will be exciting to watch.”
Shaw, Hogan and Richards all conducted on-air interviews on the Pac-12 Networks as part of their participation in Pac-12 Media Day. It was announced this week that Hogan was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. In a joint interview, Hogan and Richards both said that the class of 2015, as well as the Card’s fifth-year seniors, have embraced the leadership roles that they inherited with the graduation of the class of 2014.
“We talk about as a group of seniors as being a product of the program — the past players, each other and future Stanford football players,” Richards said. “Over the past four, five or six years, there is a standard that has been set, and that we need to meet or exceed those expectations. As leaders on this team, we need to make sure everyone is on board and ready to pay the price it takes in order to win.”
“Something that we preach is that the price always increases,” Hogan added. “We are never going to settle. We are never going to relax. We have a big banner on our field that says you are either getting better or getting worse. You never stay the same. We wanted the coaches to put more on us, because we feel it will make us better.”
Stanford football opens on August 30 at home against UC-Davis.
Contact David Cohn at dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu.