STANFORD — USC’s Sam Darnold. Washington’s Jake Browning. UCLA’s Josh Rosen. Washington State’s Luke Falk.
Each of these Pac-12 quarterbacks could be considered among the top 10 in the nation, and Stanford must find a way to neutralize all of them this upcoming season.
The solution for the No. 14 Cardinal is a revolving door in the secondary, anchored by cornerback Quenton Meeks and strong safety Justin Reid, both of them juniors on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list
“I’ve been around the NFL my whole life,” said Meeks, who at 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighing 197 pounds, is one of the top-rated cornerbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft, should he opt to turn pro. “I mean, my dad was a NFL coach for a long time, so I went to a Super Bowl before my first birthday. Football is kind of my blood and I’ve watched football since I can remember. So I’ve definitely seen the game change. When I was born, it was mostly I-formation, running the ball, play-action mostly. Now it’s spread out. It puts a lot of pressure on the secondary, and I love it like that. I love being in the hot seat most of the time, I love going against the best athletes on the field. …
“And the Pac-12 is the best passing conference in the nation.”
NFL scouts also have their sights set on Reid (6-1, 204), with his older brother Eric taken 18th overall in the 2013 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.
Will Justin turn out to be a better pro?
“I feel like that’s a conversation for the future,” said Reid, with a smile. “We talk about it sometimes, but I’ll cross that bridge whenever I get there.”
Instead, the focus is on the plethora of gunslingers in the Pac-12.
To help patrol the secondary, reinforcements are required. That’s where Stanford holds an edge over most of its competition.
At cornerback, the cavalry includes Alijah Holder (6-2, 191), Alameen Murphy (5-11, 192) and Terrance Alexander (5-10, 187).
At free safety, the Cardinal is loaded with Frank Buncom IV (6-2, 200), Ben Edwards (6-0, 199) and Brandon Simmons (6-0, 199).
It’s an embarrassment of riches, for which Stanford head coach David Shaw won’t apologize.
“I feel no guilt about anything,” Shaw said. “These guys, I’m so excited because it’s the athleticism, yes. The experience helps a lot, because a lot of guys have played. I’m excited about how unselfish they are and how well they play together and how versatile they are. We have a bunch of different guys that can play safety, can play nickel, can play corner. So it’s been fun to mix and match knowing that week by week, game plan by game plan, we can move different guys to different positions and know that they’re able to go there and play at a high level.”
“We’re real deep,” Reid said. “And it’s so nice, too, to be able to get so many guys out on the field. It keeps everybody fresh, and everyone has a different playing style, which will be really trippy for quarterbacks. … It just gives them a bunch of different looks that a quarterback wouldn’t be expecting, so that way somebody is coming down with the pick.
“That’s our mentality. Somebody is getting the turnover every single game.”
The man in charge of the defensive backs is Duane Akina, who joined the staff in 2014 after a 13-year stint in Texas. Previously, he spent 14 seasons in Arizona, which back then featured the “Desert Swarm” defense.
It’s no surprise that his secondary is filled with interchangeable replicas, or carbon copies.
“Every place I’ve been, we’re looking for length, we’re looking for good athletes and looking for guys who can also see the game,” Akina said. “The intellectual side of the game is something that’s very important, no matter where I’m at.”
That’s where the loss of fifth-year senior Dallas Lloyd could be felt the most.
After converting from quarterback to safety in 2014, Lloyd rose up the ranks in the secondary, eventually leading the Cardinal with five interceptions last year.
But his biggest impact came from an innate ability to communicate on and off the field, to help his teammates understand their multiple assignments.
“We put a lot of pressure on these guys on the back end to make some calls, to make some matchups right, and that’s where Dallas was just outstanding,” Akina said. “So we’ve challenged many of these guys to be a better version of Dallas Lloyd. And every year we keep wanting to raise the standard of the players. It was laid down by Jordan Richards, and then Ronnie Harris came in with the leadership. Those guys were the models, and then Dallas continues to raise the standard in the room. It’s wonderful to see.”
“Dallas was like a mentor to me,” Reid said. “His role on the team while he was here was so important, because Dallas raised the intellectual standard of the entire room. One of the things that is so nice about the secondary that we have now, is I feel like our intellectual capacity and how intelligent we are defensively in order to read route combinations and things like that is at a height or altitude that has never been at before.”
With such statements, it’s not surprising to see Reid slowly emerging as a field general.
“It’s one of those, where when he talks, we trust him,” Akina said. “And that’s part of becoming a leader, it’s earned.”
The low point to last season came during back-to-back defeats to Washington and Washington State.
Meeks and Holder sat out the blowout losses while nursing injuries, which pushed guys like Murphy and Buncom into the forefront, with Reid utilized in multiple positions.
“Those injuries last year gave us an opportunity to be where we are today,” Akina said.
It definitely expedited the development of the secondary in terms of depth.
Suddenly, it’s as if no one’s job is safe.
“I love the competition, because it just makes all of us better,” Reid said. “Nobody has a reason to coast or think that they’ve made it. Everyone is still pushing to keep getting better, and one of the best things about our room is it’s not combative at all. We’re all boys, we all love each other and we all want to see each other get on the field and make plays.”
Now it’s a matter of delivering on the field, beginning with the season opener Aug. 26 against Rice in Sydney, Australia.
But that’s just a warm-up act for the Sept. 9 trip to No. 4 USC, where a Heisman Trophy candidate and possible No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft awaits.
It’s a litmus test for the Cardinal, with the reputation of the secondary on the line.
“If you’re not shooting to be the best, then why are you out on the field, why are you playing this game?” Meeks said. “So everybody in the room, they want to be the best player they can be, the best player in the nation. We push each other to be that and we expect to be the best group. But we know that comes with work and that comes with film study, knowing what’s happening, communicating on the field, being on the same page with each other.
“And we know it takes more than one or a couple of guys, it takes a whole unit as a whole. So we coach each other up hard, we’re on each other hard and when we make plays we’re all celebrating with each other. So, no matter what, we know that we want to be considered the best, but we know it takes work and we’re willing to put the work in.”
