It was an odd recruiting season for Stanford. The Cardinal had 24 verbal commitments by October, suggesting Stanford might have the best recruiting class in the Pac-10, and then added nine more commitments between then and signing day.

But on Feb. 3, it signed just 22 players, leaving it ranked about in the middle of Pac-10 recruiting classes. The Cardinal did collect a group of pretty good linebackers, which was the team's highest priority, but the final signed class did not quite live up to the promise of the fall.

Much of the apparent slippage had to do with Jim Harbaugh's recruiting method. He offered players scholarships long before they were admitted to Stanford, targeting players who looked as if they could make the grade, then outlined exactly what they had to do ...More