David Shaw explains his mindset ahead of 2022

With the attention of outsiders all swarming elsewhere David Shaw is making sure the team stays true to themselves

It is no secret that Stanford is tasked with playing one of the toughest schedules in the country with five ranked opponents on the docket, but David Shaw is making sure that he and the team aren't shying away from the challenge. 

Shaw expressed in an interview with 247Sports that the team was ready for this moment as soon as they committed to Stanford saying:

"I just try to remind guys that they came here for a reason," Shaw said to 247Sports. "So much of life is how you approach it, your mentality, right? Things can be daunting, or they can be exciting. There could be 'so much to deal with', or it could be 'hey these are great opportunities."

He also touched on the potential distractions that could arise from the national news cycle which has been a dark cloud looming over the sport with all of the conference realignment talks. Something that he hasn't let distract him from the task at hand saying:

"My mentality has never changed based on what's going on in Los Angeles," Shaw said. "We are focused on our team. We're trying to be the best team in the conference. All these things that have gone on haven't really affected us, you know, (NIL), all the money around, etc. We had a top-25 (No. 19 in the composite) recruiting class last year. And we don't do (NIL) stuff to entice people to come to Stanford. I think we're well on our way to being a top-25 recruiting class this year, again, by just selling Stanford, the experience on campus, the experience on our football team, the way that we teach and coach and then what you can do beyond Stanford. So what happens at other places, what conference somebody else is in, what happens to our conference one way or another – all those things for me have been subtext. The most important thing is that we are at one of the top universities in America and we've got an outstanding football program that's really gonna surprise a lot of people this year."

Stanford takes on Colgate to open the season on Saturday, and there seems to be a growing belief around the program that they will shock some people with their performance in 2022. The team has a slew of experience on both sides of the ball, and may benefit from finally getting over the injury bug that plagued them the past couple seasons.