Stanford football recruiting: scouting take on linebacker Jordan Fox

Stanford's recruiting class this year may not have lived up to expectations, but they have continued to add quality football players that are a fit for what they do on the field. Their latest commit, linebacker Jordan Fox, is just another example of that.

What kind of player are the Cardinal getting in Fox?

Jordan Fox - 3 star linebacker

Fox is well built and has the kind of frame where he should easily be able to add weight to the 225 he already weighs. If you throw in how long his arms are, his body type could be a fit on the outside or on the inside at linebacker or Stanford.

He plays Will linebacker for St. Peter's Prep (New Jersey) and is, unsurprisingly, a downhill linebacker. He does a very good job trusting what he sees and then coming up and filling. He shows a natural ability to work his way through the trash and scrape off to find the running back. As a tackler, he is fundamentally sound and consistently gets his pad level lower than ball carriers and will drive through on contact.

He didn't do the greatest job of getting skinny as inside blitzer. He'll need to get better at that and improve his timing as well.

The one thing I would worry about is that he was protected quite well by players upfront at his high school and isn't used to have to take on and fight through guards. He was able to get to football unblocked the majority of the time and he wouldn't have that same kind of protection in Stanford's scheme. If he isn't able to succeed in that area, he should be a candidate to play outside linebacker for them. I mentioned his length before, but he also flashes the speed off the edge that suggests he has some good potential as a pass rusher. He played on the outside more as a junior and did a nice job of setting the edge versus the run as well.

He opens up well in pass coverage and is fairly fluid in transitions. I don't think he's the kind of athlete that would excel against an elite running back in man coverage, but he should be more than capable when dropping off into a zone.

I think Fox could develop into a good inside linebacker in the Pac-12, but his best fit right now would be for him to play on the outside at Stanford.