Tom Fitzgerald previews Stanford football training camp, which begins Monday. Much of the focus is on Sophomore Andrew Luck, who will be pressured to lead the offense after the departure of Toby Gerhart. But Stanford’s defense must improve as well:
According to senior nose tackle Sione Fua, the defense is tired of hearing how bad it’s been. “The defense has really taken that to heart,” he said. “Switching to the 3-4 is great. It’s better suited to us.”
New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Fua said, “has a system but he allows us to be football players. There will be more blitzing, a lot of different looks. They’re not going to know where we’re coming from. It’s going to be a pretty dramatic change.”
Fitzgerald also asks five questions, the most pressing being the obvious question of who will replace Toby Gerhart:
That’s easy: nobody. But if a posse of tailbacks can come near his 1,871 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns, Stanford would be delighted. Senior Jeremy Stewart (who might have two years of eligibility left because injuries sidelined him early last year) is up against sophs Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney.