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So far, the quarterback competition at Stanford is going as head coach David Shaw has planned: Five men enter, two men leave.

The original five — Brett Nottingham, Josh Nunes, Robbie Picazo, Kevin Hogan and Evan Crower — all entered spring drills with, according to Shaw, an equal chance to be the guy replacing Andrew Luck.

As the spring session winds down in the next few weeks, Shaw said he believes that Nunes and Nottingham have separated themselves from the pack of five.

"We've got a couple of good, viable candidates," Shaw said. "It's not like no one has played well and we can't make a decision. Both (Nunes and Nottingham) have played well. But no one has separated themselves just yet. The positive is we have a couple of good options. Thankfully we have a little more time to see who separates themselves."

If you're a Stanford fan, this is a very good sign. The last thing you want to see at the end of spring practices is a quarterback competition going into the summer that still involves five quarterbacks. That's a recipe for chaos and an indication that there is still no direction. It doesn't appear this is the case.

No one, Shaw included, expected there would be a starting quarterback by the end of April. But the hope all along was that two -- possibly three -- players would emerge to take the competition to the next level when the Cardinal start camp in the summer in preparation for the 2012 season.

Nottingham, who was the backup to Luck last season, appeared in six games for the Cardinal, completing 5 of 8 passes for 78 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown strike Coby Fleener in the season opener against San Jose State. Picazo was the only other quarterback on the roster to throw in a game last season, completing 3 of 3 balls for 15 yards. Drew Terrell's lone pass -- the heralded one-handed catch by Luck -- wasn't enough to earn him a spot in the arms race.

Nunes was originally penciled in as Luck's backup last season until a turf-toe injury sidelined him for most of fall camp and a good part of the season. In an interview last week, Nunes said he was feeling 100 percent and the turf toe was no longer an issue.

While it's in vogue at some schools to use multiple quarterbacks, Shaw reiterated that the practice is not an option for him.

"The quarterback position is unique because if you were talking about another position, two or three guys can compete for another spot, and we can rotate at outside linebackers or running backs or receivers," Shaw said. " But we're not going to rotate quarterbacks, so you don't want to lose a single rep. You want to jump in there when you get an opportunity so it is competitive."

All of the above quarterbacks were outstanding high school players. Nottingham was a four-star recruit from the 2010 class and Nunes ranked 137th in the 2009 ESPNU 150 list -- coming in as the 12th-ranked quarterback in the nation.

Hogan and Crower were both three stars. Hogan was mostly sought after by the ACC and Big East while Crower was wooed by the Pac-10/12. Picazo joined the program as a walk on after setting a slew of records at Tesoro High in Las Flores, Calif.

"All of these guys are leaders in their own right," Shaw said. "It's hard to be the overall, true leader that you want to be when you're not a starting quarterback. So there is some jockeying there."

Stanford quarterback Josh Nunes isn't spending much time lamenting what happened last preseason. Penciled in as the backup quarterback to Andrew Luck, Nunes had a turf toe injury in the third week of fall camp that kept him sidelined for four games.

The injury may have cost him the backup role -- but he's determined not to let it damage his chances to take over as Stanford's starting quarterback in the fall.

Nunes, who now wears a steel plate in his shoe, said the injury no longer bothers him and he's spent the past two weeks splitting reps with Brett Nottingham -- last year's backup -- with the first team offense.

"I think the competition is going great," Nunes said. "I believe a competitive atmosphere makes all the guys better. We know that every single day we're competing for that spot and we all bring that great atmosphere to practice and that helps us to be efficient and really make the most out of every play and every opportunity. There are no wasted plays. There can't be."

Nottingham is considered Nunes' stiffest competition. After Nunes went down last fall, Nottingham won the backup role -- and held it throughout the season. While head coach David Shaw said he won't name a starter until late in fall camp, there is an assumption that Nottingham has an advantage since he has the most game experience of any returning quarterback. Nunes knows that could have been him last season had it not been for the injury, but says it's not worth burning calories on what-could-have-beens.

"It is what it is," he said. "You can never account for the injuries. I feel like you have to make the most of your opportunities and you can only control what you can control. It really sucked getting hurt like that -- especially with the amount of time we all put into it. It was disappointing, but you can only come back as strong as you can. Being out I tried to take as many mental reps as I could and really study the offense."

And who better to study than Luck -- the presumptive No. 1 pick in next month's NFL draft?

"Besides seeing what he does on the field, the biggest advantage is being able to see him go through the process," Nunes said. "For me, it's his attention to detail and the drive and tenacity he has to learn. He always wants to be the first one to know things and then go out and apply them in practice or even sessions outside of practice. It was great to see how he goes through the process."

While Nottingham and Nunes have been splitting the main reps with the first team, Robbie Picazo, Evan Crower and Kevin Hogan are also in the mix. Nunes said it's not hard to maintain friendship among the competition -- though things can get a little testy at times.

"It can definitely get a little edgy because we're all competing hard," he said. "But if it weren't like that we'd have a problem because everyone is really passionate about getting that spot. But they are all great guys and I think we handle it pretty well. The coaches let us know whose taking what reps in the rotation so that makes it easier."

It was 33 days ago today that Stanford head coach David Shaw said it would be "safe to assume" that recruiting a quarterback for the 2013 class would be a priority.

Over the weekend, assumption turned to fact.

The Cardinal picked up a commitment Saturday from Ryan Burns of Ashburn, Va. -- a 6-foot-5, 220-pound pro-style prototype who looks the part with pads on, and without.

Commitments this early -- especially from top-flight players like Burns, who is on the ESPNU 150 watch list for 2013 -- come with a double-edged sword. On one hand, you feel pretty good about locking up a player who is projected to be one of the best in the country at his position. But that also means you have to work to keep him. No doubt, other programs will be swooping in over the next 11 months to try to lure him away.

At the same time, he could turn out to be one of Stanford's strongest cheerleaders, which was the case with outside linebacker Noor Davis, who committed to Stanford last May and worked tirelessly to bring in more talent to bolster the 2012 class.

"I think every program in the nation always has one or two guys who commit early and is determined to help build the class," Shaw said in a signing-day Q&A.

It sounds like Burns is pretty solid with his commitment though, telling Mike Farrell of Rivals.com that neither Andrew Luck's departure, nor the outstanding offensive line class the Cardinal picked up in 2012, had an impact on his decision.

I would have picked Stanford regardless of how the previous [quarterback] did, but I had a really good time meeting him last summer.

Burns on the offensive line class:

It is a big bonus, but I would have picked them regardless.

The news comes as the current Cardinal squad is in the thick of a quarterback competition to replace Luck. Stanford started the first of two spring sessions last week with an emphasis on base offense and defense. Shaw said he doesn't expect to have a quarterback named until close to the start of the season, but hopes he'll have at least a pecking order in mind by the time Stanford wraps up spring drills.

Brett Nottingham, Luck's understudy last season, and Josh Nunes took the majority of snaps in an 11-on-11 drill, according to Tom Fitzgerald of the San Francisco Chronicle, and Nottingham said his game "wasn't that sharp. Lots of things to clean up, but it's still relatively early in spring ball."

Shaw described Nottingham and Nunes as "not great, but solid."

The two are competing with Robbie Picazo, Kevin Hogan and Evan Crower to replace Luck, who graduated with most of Stanford's passing records and is all but inked in as the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

Burns is the second Cardinal commit to the 2013 class -- and also the second from Virginia. Linebacker Doug Randolph (Woodberry Forest), also on the ESPNU 150 watch list, committed to Stanford in June of 2011. Last year's Stanford media guide lists offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton as the primary recruiter in Virginia. The Cardinal appear to have a pretty good grasp of the region, having just signed defensive back Alex Carter (Ashburn, Va.) in the 2012 class. Carter, who Shaw called a "lock-down corner" was 111th on the 2012 ESPNU 150 list.

Quarterback competitions are going to be on the minds of many as Pac-12 teams gear up for spring ball. Pac-12 bloggers Ted Miller and Kevin Gemmell decided to take a look at the two quarterback races they found the most intriguing. Ironically, it was Miller, not Stanford blogger Gemmell, who found the Cardinal competition the most intriguing. Gemmell thinks the arms race in the Pacific Northwest with new Washington State coach Mike Leach has the most intrigue.

MILLER: You want to talk about big shoes to fill? How about replacing a guy who’s touted as the best NFL QB prospect of a generation, a guy who endeared himself on campus for not only his statistics and unprecedented winning, but also for how he represented the school with class, intelligence and humility.

Yeah, replacing Andrew Luck is not unlike replacing Peyton Manning, which, oh by the way, Luck appears likely to do as the Indianapolis Colts have the top pick in this spring’s NFL draft.

The good news is the Cardinal offense will continue, as it did even with Luck, to emphasize a power, run-first attack, so the player who wins the QB job won’t be asked to win by throwing 40 times a game. Further, the new guy won’t likely be calling his own plays at the line of scrimmage, as Luck did. Whoever wins the job will be asked to be more of a game manager, a guy who plays within himself and doesn’t make mistakes.

The frontrunner is 2011 backup Brett Nottingham, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound redshirt sophomore who impressed coaches in practices last year after experiencing some early struggles with the complex offense his first year. He saw action in six games in 2011, completing 5 of 8 passes for 78 yards with a TD and no interceptions. He was a highly rated recruit out of Monte Vista High School in Danville, Calif., -- the Cardinal lured him away from a commitment to UCLA -- where he passed for 3,818 yards, 44 touchdowns and six interceptions his senior season. He’s smart and athletic and reputed to be accurate and efficient. You know: Luck-ish.

Nottingham will compete with Robbie Picazo and Josh Nunes, a pair of juniors, and freshmen Evan Crower and Kevin Hogan perhaps could enter the picture. Coach David Shaw, a believer in sustaining competition, won’t hand the job to Nottingham, and it’s more than likely the competition won’t be decided until the fall. But a pecking order is likely to be established by the time the Cardinal wrap things up on April 14.

GEMMELL: Every Pac-12 QB competition has its own level of intrigue and subplot. But it's the battle in Pullman, Wash., that piques my interest. Not just because of who the candidates are -- but who they could become.

Jeff Tuel and Connor Halliday, both coming off of significant injuries, are now products of the Mike Leach system. And that means whoever wins the job is probably going to put up monster numbers.

As the Pac-12 blog readers will discover, I'm a bit of a stat cruncher. So consider this: During Leach's 10-year reign at Texas Tech, his quarterbacks attempted an average of 654 passes per season and completed an average of 438 per year -- that's an average completion percentage of 66 percent. The 10-year average was 4,837 passing yards per season, 381 passing yards per game and 38 touchdowns. Why is this significant? Because whoever wins the job -- Tuel or Halliday -- if they put up "average" Mike Leach numbers in 2011, they would have led the NCAA in attempts, completions, total passing yards, finished fourth in passing touchdowns and would have been in the top 20 in passing efficiency rating (if my math is right, no promises).\

That means the next guy in Washington State is going to catapult atop national statistical rankings, get more national exposure and -- possibly -- play their way into the NFL draft down the line. Kliff Kingsbury and B.J. Symons both finished in the Top 10 in Heisman voting when they played for Leach.

There is the sidebar of veteran Tuel versus the youthful moxie of Halliday. Both have good size. Tuel, who hails from Fresno, Calif., is 6-3, 225. Halliday comes from Spokane, just an hour north of Pullman and is 6-4, 180. He'll likely put on more weight in the offseason. There will be plenty of time to pick apart every nuance and mechanical aspects of their game. But at first glance, this competition intrigues me more than any other because statistical history suggests whoever starts for Leach usually plays their way into the national conversation of top quarterbacks.

Don't expect Stanford to come out of spring ball with a starting quarterback, or go into fall camp with a starting quarterback, for that matter. Finding Andrew Luck's replacement will be a painstaking process, head coach David Shaw said, that probably won't be settled until a couple of weeks before the 2012 season kicks off.

"It's going to be a lengthy competition that you guys are going to want to hear about after each day," Shaw said. "But it's not going to bear any fruit, I'm sure, until a couple of weeks before our first game. We're going to draw it out and get as much data as we can on every single guy and let it play out."

One thing is for sure, the guy who replaces arguably the greatest quarterback in school history, is not going to have the otherworldly workload that the Stanford coaches heaped upon Luck.

"I wouldn't say the job has changed, I would say we've been ridiculously spoiled for three years," Shaw said. "All of the guys we have are really good and could start in a lot of places this year -- even the young guys -- they are good enough to start some place. When Andrew plays his last game -- after I'm done wiping my tears -- we just put what Andrew did off to the side and say 'that was that, and now here's what we need from you guys.'

"Let's bring the expectations way down, as we should, and let them earn whatever expectations we have for them with what they do in the field. There's no carryover, at all. We're starting ground one. Whoever is our starting quarterback next year will be a first-time starter in college football and we're going to protect him as such."

The preseason frontrunner will be Brett Nottingham by virtue of him winning the back-up role to Luck this season. But if we learned anything from the past few months, it's that preseason frontrunners don't always win.

Nottingham will be pushed by Josh Nunes and Robbie Picazo -- for starters -- plus bright freshmen who redshirted this season -- Kevin Hogan and Evan Crower.

Shaw said he likes what he's seen out of the two youngsters during weekly Friday scrimmages with the freshmen.

"We've seen why they are here," Shaw said. "Kevin Hogan, strong arm, really athletic, big kid. Tough. Physical. With Evan Crower, smooth, quick, accurate, very polished. He also has that unshakable confidence that you like in a quarterback that lets you feel good about him being in the huddle.

"They both have a lot to learn to catch up to Josh and Brett Nottingham. There is so much football they have to learn to catch up to those other guys. But athletically, I'm pleased with both of them."

Shaw said when he looks up and down his roster, he likes what he sees at the quarterback position, and isn't going out of his way this season to try and recruit another signal caller.

"If we brought one in, he'd have to be someone we can't pass up, which is still a possibility," Shaw said. "But we're not trying to bring another quarterback in. But if one of the top ones wants to come, we'll entertain him. We feel good about our quarterback situation right now."

Despite the surplus of raw talent, Shaw said he's not looking to do a quarterback rotation.

"We will be more than fair to the team by making sure that we find out everything we can about every one of these guys," Shaw said. "It's not just who's going to be the starter Day 1? It's who's going to be the second guy? Is there going to be somebody we have to play even if he doesn't start? All of those things are possibilities.

"I'm not a big fan of switching quarterbacks and doing that whole deal. But if there's a guy that can come in and do something a couple of times a game, hey, we do it at running back, we do it at receiver, we do it at tight end we do it at tackle. If the guy can come in and help us in some way, shape or form, I'm not adverse to doing that either."

To David Shaw the wide receiver, Bill Walsh’s player meetings were more than daily get-togethers to plan for the upcoming opponent. They were road maps. Blueprints. An ongoing archetype that would later be the philosophical foundation for David Shaw the offensive coordinator. And eventually, David Shaw the Stanford head coach.

“We started every meeting with the run meeting,” recalled Shaw, a wide receiver who played at Stanford for Walsh in the early 90s. “We started with how we were going to attack their front. Receivers were taught not just coverages, but fronts. We had to understand where the linebackers had to sit and where the safeties sit. He taught us the game of football.

“I was also one of those receivers that wasn’t the fastest guy, but I was a good blocker. So I was being put in the game to help the running game. I was being put in to crack linebackers and do all of that. It was just a mentality thing that we were going to be a complete offense.”

And now, two decades later, Shaw still holds those core beliefs that Walsh passed on close to him: run the football, be physical up front, and above all, have balance.

“That's who we are,” Shaw said. “It's who we've always been. When Jim [Harbaugh] first got here, we talked about establishing a balanced attack and it's been constant. It's what we've been trying to do from the beginning. Our guys know that when we can run the ball well, and be efficient with the run and run it physically between the tackles, it makes everything else go.”

Through three games this season, the Cardinal have struck that balance that Shaw so eagerly wants to see. They’ve run 201 offensive plays, 54 percent on the ground (109 rushes) and 46 percent (92 passes) through the air. They’ve totaled 1,444 yards of offense, 59 percent in the passing game (856) and 41 percent through the running game (588 yards). They've scored 17 touchdowns -- eight on the ground, nine in the air.

If anything, Shaw would probably favor things slanted a little more toward the running game.

"You run the ball and stop the run," he said. "That's where football starts."

Everyone touches the ball; quarterbacks, running backs tight ends, receivers, fullbacks. Quarterbacks Andrew Luck, Brett Nottingham and Robbie Picazo have completed 68 percent of their passes to 13 different players.

With a quarterback like Luck, it would be easy for some coaches to abandon their principals and turn the team into a five-wide spread unit for a couple of seasons. But that wouldn’t do Luck much good. NFL coaches traditionally prefer players well-versed in the pro-style offense, those who can release quick and know what it means to work under center.

And once he leaves, you're stuck installing a whole new system. No, that's not Shaw's approach.

Sure, the Cardinal have a few spread formations. But they also run out of I-backs and power-I. They have triple-I formations. And three-tight end formations. And jumbo packages with extra linemen.

They are scary multiple. And that’s what gives opposing coaches heartburn.

"They manipulated us very well," said Arizona coach Mike Stoops following his team's 37-10 loss Saturday night.

Tuesday morning on the Pac-12 coaches conference call, he reiterated just how tough it is to defend Stanford.

"They come up with new formations week in and week out with what you can do with those tight ends," Stoops said. "You see this a lot in the NFL. When they break them out, they become tough matchups for linebackers as well and then they play-action pass so well from different sets."

The tight ends have certainly enjoyed the balanced offense to date. The trio of Coby Fleener, Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo have combined for 19 catches, 365 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. But they know their biggest contribution is in the run game.

"That's where it all starts and that's the mentality we have as a team," said Ertz. "The coaches do a really good job instilling that, that we are run-first team. Once we do that, the safeties slip down and it opens up the passing game. The running game sets everything up."

Aside from Walsh, Shaw also credits his time with Jon Gruden in Philadelphia and Oakland as a major contributor to his philosophy. If Walsh laid the foundation, Gruden was the mortar that solidified it.

“He always said he’s the son of a running back’s coach,” Shaw said. “We were going to run the ball. He was also proud of the fact that he was always amongst the NFL leaders in number of rushes on first down. You re-establish your mentality every drive. You establish your offense and your offensive line and you let those guys come off the ball.”

Following the Arizona game, many of the questions asked of Shaw centered around the passing game -- specifically the play-action and exactly how his players are able to get so wide open. His answer was what you'd expect.

Balance.

"It's no secret," Shaw said. "You put on any of our films and we try to establish the line of scrimmage every play ... It starts with the running game. And we're going to force teams to activate the safeties and the secondary players in the running game. If they do it consistently enough, then we have play-action possibilities. It's nothing more complicated than that. We try really hard to make sure we get into formations and personnel groupings that really stretch the defense and make them try to play every gap. We'll run the ball strong, we'll run the ball weak and then hopefully we continue to get the safeties to come up and hopefully we get some play-action and get some guys open."

Just like Bill Walsh taught it.

Stanford opens preseason camp today. Here's a quick look.

Who's back: Eight starters on offense, seven on defense and both specialists

Big names: QB Andrew Luck, FB-LB Owen Marecic, C Chase Beeler, WR Ryan Whalen, KR Chris Owusu, DT Sione Fua

What's new: A lot. Vic Fangio is the Cardinal's new defensive coordinator after spending the previous 24 years coaching in the NFL, including the last four with the Baltimore Ravens. Pep Hamilton is the new receivers coach after spending the last three seasons as quarterbacks coach of the Chicago Bears. The highly respected Randy Hart takes over the defensive line after a year at Notre Dame (his tenure at Washington started with Gil Dobie and lasted through Tyrone Willingham). Derek Mason takes over the secondary after three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. Brian Polian will coach special teams after spending the previous five campaigns at Notre Dame. Lance Anderson has switched from coaching defensive tackles to LBs.

Key competition: Other than CB Richard Sherman and SS Delano Howell, things are fluid in the secondary. The competition over the lone void on the offensive line -- right tackle -- includes fifth-year senior, Derek Hall, and a sixth-year senior, James McGillicuddy. Coby Fleener and Konrad Reuland will compete at tight end. As for backup QB, redshirt freshmen Robbie Picazo and Josh Nunes are battling, but the athletic Alex Loukas, who's been doubling as a safety, might get the call, if needed.

Breaking out: Owusu seems primed to transform from a fast guy to a deep threat. LB Shayne Skov should take a step forward after an impressive debut as a true freshman. The TE position is stacked, with four guys 6-foot-6 or taller who could do damage. LT Jonathan Martin and RG David DeCastro, both sophomores, are two of the conference's most promising linemen.

Quote: Coach Jim Harbaugh on Luck: “You look at Andrew and you wonder what makes a youngster that good. You know it has some to do with mom, dad, God; he has such talent. He has tremendous arm strength. He is as accurate as any quarterback I’ve seen. He is athletic and can run with the football. He rushed for 400 yards last year. He is a brilliant kid, not just book smart, but also with football."

Notes: The Cardinal has switched to a 3-4 defense, with Thomas Keiser and Chase Thomas switching from defensive end to outside linebackers. ... Marecic will go both ways. He will start at inside linebacker and also see significant action at fullback, his position last year. ... Harbaugh said that senior Jeremy Stewart, though listed second on the depth chart behind Stepfan Taylor, is the top candidate to replace Toby Gerhart at running back. ... Four-time Pro Bowl selection Chester McGlockton will serve as a defensive assistant.

ESPN's "College Football Live" is running down its list of the most irreplaceable players for the 2010 season. So we thought we'd take a stab at it for every Pac-10 team, including a different take for USC.

Arizona: C Colin Baxter. Centers are the quarterbacks of the offensive line, and Baxter is a good O-line QB. He earned second-team All-Pac-10 honors in 2009 and his backup, sophomore Kyle Quinn, has little experience. With Baxter, the Wildcats should be strong up front. Without him, the line would be a question.

Arizona State: K Thomas Weber. Weber, the 2007 Lou Groza Award winner, is a weapon when healthy. While his backup, sophomore Bobby Wenzig, didn't do a terrible job filling in for a hurt Weber last year -- he made 3 of 4 field goals and 10 of 12 PATs -- he's no Weber, who's 11-for-15 from 40 or more yards during his career. The Sun Devils may struggle again on offense next fall, which means that Weber's range will be critical for getting points on the board.

California: LB Mike Mohamed. Mohamed earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors in 2009 after leading the conference with 112 tackles, 16 more than any other defender. The Bears are replacing two of their four starting linebackers and, oh by the way, they didn't play the position terribly well last fall. It would be a big hit to lose both Mohamed's skill as well as his experience and leadership.

Oregon: WR Jeff Maehl. With the demise of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, the Ducks likely will be a little more pass-happy next fall. That makes Maehl, the Ducks' best receiver, critical. He caught 53 passes for 696 yards and six touchdowns in 2009 and steadily improved throughout the season. The Ducks' next two returning receivers, D.J. Davis and Lavasier Tuinei, combined to catch 47 passes for 450 yards and two TDs.

Oregon State: RB Jacquizz Rodgers. It's not just that Rodgers is the conference's leading Heisman Trophy candidate. It's also about the Beavers' uncertain depth at the position. Jovan Stevenson and Ryan McCants combined for 164 yards rushing in 2009. Rodgers had 1,440. McCants turned in his best work yet this spring and the running game had its moments even without Rodgers, but let's just say the ground production likely would suffer -- big -- if Rodgers went down.

Stanford: QB Andrew Luck. Pretty obvious, eh? The Cardinal's offense is already replacing Toby Gerhart. It can't afford to lose Luck also and expect to compete in the top half of the Pac-10. Backups Josh Nunes and Robbie Picazo are both redshirt freshmen, though if Luck went down, it's possible senior Alex Loukas could move from safety back to QB, where he started one game in 2008.

UCLA: LB Akeem Ayers. Ayers is an All-America candidate who has a knack for making big plays. If the Bruins' already-rebuilding defense lost him, it would then be replacing all three starting linebackers from 2009. His backup, Isaiah Bowens, is a redshirt freshman.

USC: CB Shareece Wright. Michael Lev of The Orange County Register already beat me to this one in his list of indispensable Trojans. Wright's career has been riddled by injuries and he was academically ineligible last year, but he's long been considered the Trojans' best cover corner. USC is replacing all four starters in its secondary. Wright has four career starts and was a standout this spring. If he went down, the Trojans would have one career start returning in the secondary. That is not a good thing.

Washington: QB Jake Locker. Locker is the Huskies' best player and their unquestioned leader. He's likely going to be a high first-round NFL draft pick next spring. But it's not just how important Locker is. Because last year's backup, Ronnie Fouch, opted to transfer, Locker's backup in 2010 will be either redshirt freshman Keith Price or true freshman Nick Montana. Neither, obviously, has any playing experience.

Washington State: DE Travis Long. Long, though just a sophomore, is the Cougars' best pass-rusher and best overall defensive lineman. After a year of getting bigger and stronger, he's expected to be much better in 2010. The Cougars' defensive line already lost tackles Toby Turpin, who was kicked out of school for an academic incident, and Josh Luapo (academic ineligibility) and is waiting to find out the academic status of tackle Bernard Wolfgramm. They are not deep enough up front to recover from the loss of Long. His backup, sophomore Adam Coerper, has no experience.

Everybody get my Christmas list?

To the notes.

JT from New York writes: Do you think the success of Utah, Cincinnati, Boise, and Oregon, and the fall of USC, Georgia, and Notre Dame, will put a damper on the star system for recruits and the overall ranking of recruiting classes? Seems that the emphasis placed on the incoming guys becomes less and less relevant (or relates less to success) every year given the season ending outcomes.

Ted Miller: Short answer: No.

Folks love reading about recruiting. They love ratings. They love the whole thing, even when they are complaining about it.

Any responsible recruiting guru will tell you that the "star system" is an inexact science, but measuring things in shades of gray is part of college football -- see the national polls and BCS system as a whole.

I also don't know if the recruiting rankings look that much different than the final polls. If you go here, you see a lot of Alabama, Texas, Florida, USC and other national powers.

If you're asking why schools that typically don't rank highly in recruiting seem to end up scattered throughout the national polls annually, there are a handful of explanations.

Evaluation: Some staffs are particularly good at projecting how a high school senior might develop physically over the next few years. They also seem to see the inner football player. Oregon State's Mike Riley would be a good example, as would Arizona's Mike Stoops.

Development: A good strength and conditioning program is critical, and nutritional guidance is often underrated. On the field, it's about assistant coaches who are superior teachers of fundamentals and technique. Often less highly rated guys take coaching better, too.

Coaching: A well-coached team can make up for talent deficiencies by outsmarting its opponent. I'd throw Brian Kelly and Chris Petersen into that pool and I suspect you could add Chip Kelly, though he's been a head coach for just one year. Those guys strike me as schematic savants. But coaching isn't just a big brain. It's also motivating and unifying a locker room. Again, that's Riley and also Jim Harbaugh and, though he's also a newbie, Washington's Steve Sarkisian.

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Kai from Castro Valley, Calif., writes: The new thing in college football is to leave high school early and join college spring camp. What are your thoughts? Good or Bad decision?

Ted Miller: It's not really a new thing. I recall back in 1991 being among the throng who couldn't wait for super-recruit Eric Zeier, the pride of Marietta (Ga.) High School, to win the starting quarterback job of Georgia. But it seems like early-entry -- some call it "greenshirting" -- really became more popular over the past five or six years.

The reason players opt for early-entry is simple: They want to get their career started and showing up early might help them play sooner.

Quarterbacks, particularly, seem to want to get a head start with the playbook and coaching -- see Philip Rivers, John David Booty (who skipped his entire senior year of high school), Tim Tebow, Matthew Stafford, Matt Barkley, Richard Brehaut, etc.

The oft-cited downside: What about enjoying your senior year of high school? Why skip a step growing up?

That's not invalid, though it might be a tad sentimental.

To me it comes down to this: What's right for the young man and his family?

If a player is that focused on football and getting his career started, then there's no reason for him to spend his final months of high school trying to figure out when everybody's parents are going out of town so they can throw a righteous house party.

Also, there are a number of advantages for the student-athlete: He gets more bang for his buck on scholarship -- it's a free semester. And it also gives a young man a chance test drive the school and program before he gets lost in a crowd of 25 or so incoming players.

This is a nice story on the topic by the LA Times' David Wharton.

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Mike from Seattle writes: After reading your post on the pac-10 quarterbacks returning next year I found myself wondering who is the deepest?

Ted Miller: That's tough to evaluate, but here are the backup situations (class standing is for 2010).

Arizona: Junior Matt Scott. He started three games last year, so he's not completely green.

Arizona State: Both junior Samson Szakacsy and sophomore Brock Osweiler saw significant playing time in 2009. Michigan transfer Steven Threat, a junior, started eight games in 2008. One of those three will start.

California: Neither sophomore Beau Sweeney nor junior Brock Mansion have seen significant action.

Oregon: Senior Nate Costa and sophomore Darron Thomas are a solid tandem with some game experience.

Oregon State: Sophomore Ryan Katz and junior Peter Lalich will compete to replace Sean Canfield this spring.

Stanford: Redshirt freshmen Josh Nunes and Robbie Picazo will be very green behind Andrew Luck.

UCLA: Sophomores Richard Brehaut and Nick Crissman will start spring behind sophomore Kevin Prince on the depth chart. Brehaut threw 17 passes in 2009, Crissman two.

USC: Junior Aaron Corp and senior Mitch Mustain will backup sophomore Matt Barkley, unless one opts to transfer.

Washington: Junior Ronnie Fouch stepped in for an injured Jake Locker in 2008, though things didn't go well. Redshirt freshman Keith Price and incoming freshman Nick Montana also are in the mix.

Washington State: Junior Marshall Lobbestael figures to be sophomore Jeff Tuel's primary backup.

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Kevin from Fullerton, Calif., writes: What do you think about the Beavs playing TCU next year along with Louisville and at BSU? Yikes! Not a great schedule for starting fast. I'm excited because those are all great games, but I'm just not confident the Beavs can win big, early OOC games.

Ted Miller: It's great that Oregon State is giving college football fans games that they can get excited about. Both Boise State and TCU probably will start out next year ranked in the top-10, and Oregon State also figures to be ranked in the preseason, perhaps even in the top-15.

Now, we all know that Oregon State has started slowly in recent years, but the 2010 squad will be veteran at just about every position other than quarterback. So the Beavers may be more in sync early.

Win these games, and the Beavers could launch a special season. And, even if they lose, they will have plenty of ranked teams in the Pac-10 they can crawl over as they make their typical late-season run back into the national polls.

Still, it's a brutal slate, particularly playing TCU in Texas and Boise on the blue turf. And some folks still will sniff over TCU and Boise State not being BCS conference teams, no matter where they are ranked. Losing to, say, a 15th-ranked Penn State squad still doesn't carry as much downside as losing to a No. 6 Boise State team.

Please, that's not my idea. Just the way it is.

If I were the Oregon State athletic director, I wouldn't have scheduled these games. If I were an AD, I'd always go with an A, B, C scheduling philosophy, with "A" being a marquee game with a BCS conference foe, a "B" game vs. a solid team -- not a Boise State or TCU -- and always at home and a "C" game with a patsy.

Still, it's hard to raise too much hell about matching up against two ranked programs during the early-season. I can't wait to watch both those games.

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Aaron from "SEC country" writes: Maybe the Pac-10 is generally the #1 conference. When you look at the map, they should be! Where the SEC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12 and ACC - 55 of the 65 AQ schools - are all either contiguous or co-located and must compete with each other for players and exposure, other than outlier Colorado the Pac-10 is the only game in town west of Texas.Example: the SEC. 4 of 9 SEC states are shared with ACC and Big East schools (i.e. Florida, which has 2 ACC schools and a Big East school). The SEC East borders ACC and Big East country to the north and east and Big 10 country to the north. The SEC West borders the Big 12 and Big 10 to the north and west. So, programs like Miami, FSU, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Louisville, Missouri and Cincinnati compete directly with the SEC for players, coaches and media attention. Whatever obstacles the Pac-10 has, that sort of direct competition is not among them!Meanwhile, the Pac-10 has a whole 1/4 of the country to itself! So, the question must be asked: isn't the Pac-10 doing a better job of exploiting this clear advantage?

Ted Miller: Maybe.

First, I would direct you to this map of U.S. population density.

Second, I think some of the Pac-10 blog readers would say, "You had me at your first sentence."