STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford coach David Shaw finalized another successful recruiting cycle here while forging a connection back to the Andrew Luck era. But it didn't come through the signing of touted quarterback K.J. Costello, as some might expect.
Luck, who lived in Europe until the fourth grade while his father managed two World League of American Football teams, once spoke fluent German.
Stanford's 2016 recruiting class, in turn, features two players who currently speak fluent German. One is 6-foot-7 offensive lineman Devery Hamilton, who lived in Germany up until the age of 9. The other is defensive lineman Thomas Schaffer, also 6-foot-7, whom the Cardinal claim will become the first Austrian to ever play in the FBS.
Schaffer grew up in Vienna but attended high school at Lake Forest Academy in Illinois to pursue his dream of playing American football.
"I really hope you guys [the media] get to talk to Schaffer at some point," Stanford coach David Shaw smiled. "You’re gonna see him, but you’re gonna hear Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
Shaw said that Stanford's academic reputation internationally was instrumental in luring Schaffer to the Farm. He also visited Oregon and Wisconsin and received a host of FBS scholarship offers.
"Stanford is a special school," Shaw said. "People that he knew had parents who went to Stanford. … His family in Austria says, 'We know Stanford.'"
Schaffer was introduced to football in Europe, where he played for Austria's U19 team and caught the attention of onlookers. Schaffer's next step will involve high-level football in America, playing alongside a teammate, Hamilton, who speaks his native language fluently. And it will come for the program whose most famous recent alumnus, Luck, also has European and German-speaking ties.
"We have some guys with some interesting facts about them," Shaw said. "It will be really nice throughout the years to hear all of their stories. These guys do all these cool things. But that's what Stanford is about. It's about guys who are well-rounded even outside of football."