STANFORD, Calif. - Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw announced Wednesday that 19 student-athletes will continue their academic and athletic careers at Stanford.
Some of the nation's finest high school talent will converge upon Stanford from nine states: California (6), Texas (3), Georgia (2), Utah (2), Washington (2), Alabama, Iowa, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
Fourteen members of the 2017 recruiting class officially submitted their National Letter of Intent and Financial Aid Agreement to Stanford University. Five more have officially confirmed their enrollment at Stanford starting in the fall of 2017.
"We're very excited about how this class came together," said Shaw. "We believe we have a great group of young men who are also very good football players. We needed to add a top-flight quarterback. We wanted to add some special players to our offensive line. And we needed to add dynamic football players who can score touchdowns for us at the skill positions. We sought to add defensive linemen with size and pass-rush ability who can also stop the run. We needed more athleticism at linebacker and defensive back to continue to play the high-level defense we have played here for years."
Recruiting pundits tabbed the class among the best nationally, including a No. 11 ranking by PrepStar, No. 13 by ESPN and 247Sports, No. 18 by Rivals and No. 24 by Scout.
Stanford signed an unprecedented five recruits who own a No. 1 national position ranking: offensive tackle Walker Little (Houston, Texas/Episcopal) by 247Sports; offensive tackle Foster Sarell (Graham, Wash./Graham-Kapowsin) by Scout; quarterback Davis Mills (Duluth, Ga./Greater Atlanta Christian) by Scout, Rivals, 247Sports and PrepStar; tight end Colby Parkinson (Simi Valley, Calif./Oaks Christian) by Scout, 247Sports and PrepStar; and fullback Sione Lund (Holladay, Utah/Brighton) by ESPN and PrepStar.
Little is ranked the No. 1 overall recruit in the nation by 247Sports, Sarell is ranked the No. 2 recruit in the nation by Scout (and No. 3 by PrepStar), while Mills is ranked No. 6 nationally by Scout.
Little, Sarell and Davis are Stanford's three highest-ranked recruits in the modern era of college football recruiting services. The Cardinal's previous top signees were Trent Edwards (No. 7 in 2002) and Andrus Peat (No. 9 in 2012).
Eleven of Stanford's 14 signees are rated four- or five-star national recruits. Among the 14 signees, nine are in the Top247, Rivals 250, ESPN 300 and PrepStar All-America 350, with eight in the Scout National 300. Five are Top-100 national recruits.
Stanford's average rating per signee is third in the nation on Rivals and fourth nationally on Scout and 247Sports.
Sarell and Little will be accompanied on the offensive line by Drew Dalman (Salinas, Calif./Palma), the nation's consensus top-10 center and son of former Cardinal and Super Bowl XXIX champion Chris Dalman. Parkinson joins Stanford's traditionally dominant tight end corps along with Tucker Fisk (Davis, Calif./Davis Senior), son of former Cardinal and NFL veteran Jason Fisk.
Coming to Stanford after throwing for over 2,700 yards and 34 touchdowns against one interception as a senior, Mills is joined by backfield mates Lund and Connor Wedington (Lake Tapps, Wash./Sumner). Wedington ranks as one of the nation's top athletes. Wide receiver Osiris St. Brown (Brea, Calif./Mater Dei), a consensus four-star recruit, totaled 1,127 yards receiving on 62 receptions and 19 touchdowns as a senior.
Replenishing the defensive line will be Ryan Johnson (Axis, Ala./St. Paul's Episcopal) and Dalyn Wade-Perry (Englewood, N.J./Pope John XXIII), filling the void of departed All-America Solomon Thomas and fifth-year seniors Jordan Watkins and Luke Kaumatule.
Stanford's secondary will benefit from the combo of Paulson Adebo (Mansfield, Texas/Mansfield) and Stuart Head (Woodstock, Ga./Etowah).
The 2017 freshmen class will be joined by fullback Houston Heimuli (Woods Cross, Utah/Bountiful) and outside linebacker Gabe Reid (American Fork, Utah/Timpview), who signed with Stanford in 2015. They are finishing the second year of their LDS church missions -- Heimuli in Indianapolis and Reid in American Samoa. Inside linebacker Levani Damuni (Providence, Utah/Ridgeline), a four-star recruit by Rivals, will serve his mission before enrolling at Stanford in 2019.
Defensive end Dylan Boles (Adel, Iowa/Van Meter), outside linebacker Thunder Keck (Northfield, N.H./Hotchkiss [Conn.]), tight end Kyle McCombs (Laguna Beach, Calif./St. John Bosco), safety Joe McGrath (San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights) and long snapper Will Sweeney (Larkspur, Calif./St. Ignatius) have confirmed their enrollment.
Paulson Adebo • CB • 6-1 • 184 • Mansfield, Texas • Mansfield
Drew Dalman • C • 6-3 • 271 • Salinas, Calif. • Palma
Levani Damuni • ILB • 6-2 • 235 • Providence, Utah • Ridgeline
Tucker Fisk • TE • 6-4 • 265 • Davis, Calif. • Davis Senior
Stuart Head • S • 6-4 • 200 • Woodstock, Ga. • Etowah
Ryan Johnson • DE • 6-4 • 245 • Axis, Ala. • St. Paul's Episcopal
Walker Little • OT • 6-7 • 310 • Houston, Texas • Episcopal
Sione Lund • RB • 6-1 • 235 • Holladay, Utah • Brighton
Davis Mills • QB • 6-4 • 205 • Duluth, Ga. • Greater Atlanta Christian
Colby Parkinson • TE • 6-7 • 235 • Simi Valley, Calif. • Oaks Christian
Foster Sarell • OT • 6-7 • 315 • Graham, Wash. • Graham-Kapowsin
Osiris St. Brown • WR • 6-2 • 185 • Brea, Calif. • Mater Dei
Dalyn Wade-Perry • DT • 6-4 • 330 • Englewood, N.J. • Pope John XXIII
Connor Wedington • RB/WR • 6-0 • 190 • Lake Tapps, Wash. • Sumner
Dylan Boles • DE • 6-4 • 255 • Adel, Iowa • Van Meter
Thunder Keck • OLB • 6-3 • 205 • Northfield, N.H. • Hotchkiss (Conn.)
Kyle McCombs • TE • 6-5 • 230 • Laguna Beach, Calif. • St. John Bosco
Joe McGrath • S • 6-2 • 195 • San Antonio, Texas • Alamo Heights
Will Sweeney • LS • 6-2 • 235 • Larkspur, Calif. • St. Ignatius
