Prior to his time Saturday at Stanford, tight end recruit Joseph Fauria had
already attended two Junior Days - USC and UCLA. With the Bruins offering
a scholarship to the Encino (Calif.) Crespi Carmelite High School standout and
the Trojans yet to jump on board, Fauria was focused on comparing his Junior Day
experience on The Farm to that he enjoyed at Westwood.
"They both have great areas, and they're both in California," Fauria begins.
"Stanford was something new I haven't seen before. I got a really, really
good vibe with the coaches. They're an all new coaching staff. Coach
[Tim] Drevno - loved him. How can you not love the guy? I think our
relationship got a lot better. I got to meet with him in person, and I
could see myself being coached by him. I was the only tight end there on
Junior Day, and there was a lot of one-on-one between me and him. He got
to hear my insight and my knowledge of the game of football, and I got to hear
his as well."
"I had a great experience, and Stanford is probably close to my top school
right now," he adds.
Before embarking on the trip, Fauria listed a handful of criteria which he
holds important toward his college decision: tradition, education and the
coaching staff. He was particularly keen on the tight ends coach, with
whom he will have his closest relationship in college.
"This was a huge, huge step," Fauria exclaims. "Coach Drevno was
a kick. He fit into all of the criteria that I was looking for in a tight
end coach. He basically felt the same way about me."
No doubt some of the exuberance which Fauria felt on Saturday derived from
the final event that transpired before he flew back home. Stanford offered
the 6'7" 247-pound athlete a scholarship.
"That's actually a pretty funny story," the recruit recalls. "The
ending of the Junior Day was to go to the baseball game. Before that,
Coach Drevno and Coach [Lance] Anderson told me to hook up with Coach Drevno
about a half hour before I leave. The time had come, and I went to Coach
Drevno to tell him that I was about to leave. He said, 'Let's take a walk
over to Coach [Jim] Harbaugh.' We're on our way, and we had a good talk.
Stanford has such a huge campus, that the baseball field to the office was a
long walk. That was another good time for me and Coach to build our
relationship some more."
"I met with the head coach, and he said with a little chuckle, 'We want you
to be our first commit at Stanford.' I said, 'Whoah, Coach, don't I have
to be offered a scholarship in order to commit?' He said, 'Whoah.'
The head coach has a great personality. That's what I got from him.
He went outside kind of surprised and asked one of the assistant coaches, 'Why
doesn't Joe Fauria know about his scholarship?' The written offer had been
sent out on Friday, and all of the assistant coaches had held out because they
wanted me to hear from the head honcho."
"I was really surprised, and I was also honored to be thought of by Stanford
because of their academics," Fauria offers. "I really believe in them and
that the whole new coaching staff and head coach will turn the program around.
I got that vibe. It's really tough after the one-win team last year.
To get a good vibe from the coaching staff is really tough, but I really got it
and I really believe in them. That would be great to be a part of."
And what did the tall tight end recruit answer to Harbaugh's initial
question?
"After the whole little episode when I found out about my scholarship, I
shook his hand and said, 'Coach, I'm honored that you guys thought of me.
I'm really excited, but right now I don't want to make a decision,'" Fauria
recalls. "I was actually kind of tempted after a great day and great
experience. I had a smile on my face and kind of wanted to, but my family
has to know about this. Of course, when I told my mother, she screamed on
the phone. I'm going to visit my uncle and see what he has to say about
all of this crazy recruiting. I told [Harbaugh] that I would like to take my five
official visits, and right now Stanford would probably be one of those."
Fauria compared notes during and after Stanford's Junior Day with several of
his friends also in attendance. He traveled with his quarterback, Kevin Prince, for the weekend. While at Stanford he connected with two other
friends who are also among the Southland's top slingers: Ryan Griffin and Dayne Crist. The latter gave Fauria a good ribbing for the win by Sherman Oaks
(Calif.) Notre Dame High School over Crespi in November.
"He was saying, '21-3. 21-3. 21-3.' That was the score in
the game. I shoved him, 'It was 21-10 and you know it,'" laughs Fauria,
who had a touchdown in the game that was called back on a penalty. "We
were kidding around."
"Dayne and I have known each other since we were 10," he continues. "We
played on the same basketball team and won fourth place in [AAU] Nationals. We haven't had as much of a relationship in between, but this whole
recruiting process is bringing us closer as friends. He's really cool -
nothing against him for beating us. I've known his family for a long time,
and they're really nice. I wish him well. We do have some
scholarships that are alike and we joked about going to school together.
He said he would always update me with what's going on, and me the same for him.
We text each other. I congratulated him on his recent USC offer, and he
texted me after the Junior Day and asked me if I got offered."
"We talked a little during the tour and exchanged our current likes and
dislikes," Fauria says. "We got a taste of each other's ideas and
thoughts."
At least for Fauria, his thoughts on Stanford were decidedly positive after
Saturday.
"I can tell you in one sentence: I couldn't find one bad thing about Stanford
as a whole," he declares.
"Actually, wait, there a lot of caterpillars and their webs or silk. My
head was hitting a lot of them - there were so many trees at Stanford," Fauria
laughs. "But I can deal with that. That was one minor thing, but
aside from that it was perfect. I was really, really pleased and just
really fulfilled in what I went there looking for."
Following the experience and offer, Fauria updates his new top seven
favorites as Stanford, UCLA, Notre Dame, Nebraska, LSU, Colorado and Oregon.
All have offered except the Irish.
Noticeably absent is USC, where the 6'7" athlete visited with his
grandparents on Sunday for his second Junior Day of the weekend.
"It was okay," Fauria offers. "I had already gone to their first Junior
Day, so this was my second time. I had already seen everything, and USC is
basically in my backyard. It's not like I haven't been there before."
"I didn't get the same vibe that I got from the Stanford coaching staff," he
adds. "They weren't treating me as if they really wanted me to be part of
the program like Stanford did. I had a really good time and connection at
Stanford with their tight end coach, and I had only like two words with the USC
tight ends coach, Brennan Carroll. It was a good Junior Day, but it wasn't
what I wanted really."
Fauria is currently in the thick of Crespi's two-week spring break.
That is a prime time to make visits to schools, and he indeed is today arriving
on the East Coast. Fauria is visiting family rather than a college campus,
however. His uncle, Washington Redskins tight end Christian Fauria, along
with his aunt and cousins (also his godchildren) are in Boston. The
primary motive of the trip is to visit his relatives, but there is also a
recruiting component.
"It would be good to explain to my uncle what's going on and see if he can
help me a little bit, even though recruiting is so much different than it
was 20 years ago," Fauria explains. "It would be good to get some of his
insights into colleges and coaches. With his being in the NFL, he has so
many connections. It would be good to get some one-on-one time with him
and get him caught up on things. I'm also going to show him some
basketball films, as well. I have a few dunks on there."
Christian Fauria came from not only a different time, when he too was a tight
end at Crespi, but he also possessed a different level of college recruitment.
At 6'3" and a skinny 180 pounds, the elder Fauria picked up just a pair of
scholarship offers: Northern Arizona and Colorado. Though he may not be
able to easily relate to the attention and options that his nephew already has
at his disposal 10 months before Signing Day, the uncle can speak
authoritatively on how to find success in college and pro football. He was
a team captain at Colorado and earned All-American honors before being drafted
in the second round. He has enjoyed a 12-year career in the NFL and wears
two Super Bowl rings.
Those rings came when Christian Fauria played four years with the New England Patriots. His offensive coordinator was Charlie Weis, now the head coach
at Notre Dame. The Irish are one of the younger Fauria's favorite schools,
and his uncle will no doubt offer some of his experiences and perspectives while
they are together in Beantown.
"After I speak with my uncle, I'm going to call Charlie Weis and see what's
going on. He told me to do that," the junior tight end tells us.
"I'm going to make sure to give ND a call while I'm in Boston."
It sounds like more news could be coming quickly for Joseph Fauria. His
story is one of the hottest in Cardinal recruiting and on the West Coast today,
so stay tuned for all of his latest breaking news as it develops.
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