CARLSBAD, Calif. -- There are no boxes left for Josh Garnett to check until he reaches the NFL. All the former Stanford guard can do now is wait. And train.
With NFL bloodlines and a high recruiting rating, Garnett is traveling a path that is ridiculously unsurprising. Of course he was going to make an immediate impact at Stanford. Of course he would eventually win Pac-12 championships and Rose Bowls. Of course he was going to be a unanimous All-American and win the Outland Trophy. Of course he was going to pave the way for Christian McCaffrey to have one of the greatest seasons in NCAA history.
You don’t have to read tea leaves to see what 6-foot-5, 321 pounds and a nasty streak will get you.
At a training facility just north of San Diego, Garnett is continuing down that path – one pound and one rep at a time. And with the NFL scouting combine coming up next week, Garnett has no time to look back on his Farm days. Much like the way he plays, Garnett is mauling forward with little regard for what’s in his ample wake.
“It’s been too much of a whirlwind to look back yet,” Garnett said. “I feel like once I’m done with football, maybe then I can sit back and really appreciate what we did at Stanford. But right now it’s about looking forward. Getting better. Getting stronger. Getting quicker. Working on my technique.”
He sounds a lot like David DeCastro did a few years back. And David Yankey. And Cameron Fleming. And Jonathan Martin and Andrus Peat. Stanford’s O-line pipeline to the NFL has been flourishing. Garnett and teammate Kyle Murphy are the latest to go pro.
Obviously, talent has a lot to do with that (take Garnett, whose father, Scott Garnett, played four seasons in the NFL). But so does Stanford’s scheme. NFL coaches and general managers appreciate offensive linemen who don’t have to be retrained. A lot of spread linemen will spend the majority of their careers with their hand off the ground. But Stanford’s pro-style has been a selling point.
“Don’t think for one second we don’t use that as a recruiting tool,” said Mike Bloomgren, Stanford’s offensive coordinator. “You want to come here and play real football. The kind of football guys in the National Football League know how to evaluate. That’s what we do.”
Bloomgren has seen the maturation of Garnett firsthand. From a freshman throwing down seven 24-ounce pieces of prime rib at the 2012 Lawry’s Beef Bowl to making the rubber chicken circuit for national awards, Garnett clearly established himself as one of the most accomplished linemen in Stanford history.
“Physical strength is one of his biggest assets,” Bloomgren said. “When he puts his hands on you, it’s going to be a tough down. If he gets his hands on you right, run or pass, the down is over for you. He wants to finish every block in the run game. That’s what we love as line coaches.”
Garnett isn’t without his flaws. One scouting report says he “falls in love with mashing opponents.” (I suppose there are worse traits for an offensive lineman.) Even the most elite collegiate athletes will be dissected and over-evaluated in the coming weeks as teams prepare to invest millions in them.
“I’m a guy that’s always been a bruiser,” Garnett said. “I was tagged early on as a run-blocker. A finisher. That stuck with me, and I still carry that with me. A big, finishing run-blocker. That’s been my calling card and that’s the mold you want as a guard.
“There’s a lot of information out there, mostly written by people who don’t make the decisions. I’m just focusing on the process and getting my numbers up. Getting my technique down. Controlling what I can control.”
Depending on what projections or mocks you look at, Garnett could be the first, second or third guard taken in the draft. It will depend on teams' needs and the flow of the draft.
“He’s a football junkie,” Bloomgren said. “He lives and breathes the game. He’s a guy that puts everything he has into it, and the game makes sense to him. The growth I saw from his true freshman year to his true senior year was substantial. What he can do pre-snap and what he can communicate to his teammates is next-level stuff.”
Of course it is.