Danny Noonan says lack of atmosphere at Stanford games played major role in son Maverick committing to Nebraska

After being squarely in the mix for 2023 three-star EDGE Maverick Noonan, the Cardinal saw Noonan go on to pick his father's alma mater Nebraska.

Who is his father you might ask, his father is Danny Noonan, who was an All-American defensive end for Nebraska who went on to be a first round pick by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1987 NFL Draft. 

The elder Noonan broke down the deciding factor in his son's decision in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald. He did express that Stanford was in fact a finalist, and that after the elimination of Minnesota, Vanderbilt, and Iowa that it was between Nebraska and Stanford. 

While the coaching, academics, and weather of Stanford were all enticing Noonan didn't hold back when explaining what ultimately gave Nebraska the edge over Stanford saying:

“It seemed like Stanford and Nebraska were on two opposite ends of the spectrum,” Danny said. “Stanford, Maverick would have been another student. He wouldn’t have been recognized as a football player out there. "Nebraska, everywhere he goes, everything he says, somebody’s going to know it, somebody’s going to post it, whether it’s good or bad. That’s part of what Nebraska football is. Nebraska fans are great, very involved, very enthusiastic.”

He also went on to explain that the ambiance at each respective school's games was a huge factor for Maverick, and that the Cardinal just didn't have what he was looking for saying:

“One of the things you’ll miss at Stanford is you won’t have that pregame excitement where you can hear the fans yelling and screaming,” Danny said. “The place is rocking, and you get that adrenaline rush. You won’t get that at Stanford. You’ll maybe get 30,000 to 40,000 people, if that.”

While it likely would have been a tall task for Shaw and company to win over the legacy recruit who lives in Omaha, it does have to sting the Stanford program and fan base to hear there is a stigma stemming around the program's lack of support from fans and that is what caused them to miss out on Noonan. On the contrary, it is hard to compare the two programs in terms of crowd ambiance, as there aren't many schools on the West coast that can compare in terms of atmosphere when it comes to the schools in the Midwest and South. 

On the bright side for Stanford they were able to add a EDGE commit in Armel Mukam on Monday, and are hoping to continue building up the defensive line.