Herbig commits to Stanford

Less than a week after camping with Stanford and landing the scholarship offer he and his family had been dreaming about, offensive guard Nate Herbig committed to the Cardinal on Thursday night.

The massive 6-foot-4, 320-pound lineman from Honolulu (Hawaii) St. Louis was a top performer at the Rivals Camp Series: Los Angeles last month and followed that with impressive showings at a couple campuses, including Stanford last week where he was dominant in drills. He also visited Washington State last weekend before returning to the island and settling on his choice.

"All my life I've worked for everything I've got, and I want to go to a school where nothing is handed to me -- I want to work in the classroom and on the field," Herbig said. "On the trip, I built more of a relationship with coach (Mike) Bloomgren -- that was actually the first time I met him.

"He's a great coach. I actually learned a lot from him and I could see myself playing under him and coach (David) Shaw for four years."

Herbig held nine offers, with California, Colorado, Oregon State and Texas Tech among that group. The final call, though, came down to two schools.

"I was definitely going back and forth between Stanford and Washington State," Herbig said. "But what Stanford can offer me in the classroom is something no other school on the West Coast can. With the type of offense Washington State runs, they pass the ball a lot. I would be in a two-point stance there and I believe I'm more of a downhill blocker than can move off the ball."

Herbig intends to keep his options open in case something unforeseen pops up, but he doesn't anticipate anything changing with his recruitment.

"I only see myself playing at Stanford," Herbig said. "It's my senior season and last year we came close to a state championship. I don't want anything to take away my focus on St. Louis, so I'm happy to make this decision now."