By Luke Holthouse

Stanford offered offensive lineman Thomas Oser ’13 an athletic scholarship on Saturday, June 23. The Cardinal was ranked by the Associated Press as the seventh best football team in the country following its 11-2 record in 2011 and the school itself was ranked by US News & World Report Magazine as the seventh best university in the country. 

Oser now has two offers from the ten best football programs in the country according to the Associated Press. In addition to seventh-ranked Stanford, Oser also has an offer to play for Oregon Ducks, who finished last season 12-2 and were ranked fourth in the AP poll. 

In addition to Oregon and Stanford, Oser has received offers from San Diego State, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Washington State and Vanderbilt. Oser’s current teammate Chad Kanoff ’13 committed to play quarterback at Vanderbilt last month. 

Oser said that he does not know when he wants to commit. He also said that he is waiting for a potential offer from USC, who finished 10-2 last year and were ranked sixth in the AP end of the year poll. Oser worked out for Trojan coaches and says he has a good chance of receiving an offer from the school. He said that he has also received interest from several Ivy League schools, which do not offer athletic scholarships. 

Oser says that he wants to find a school that balances good academics with strong athletics as he hopes to one day play in the National Football League. 

The last offensive lineman to graduate from Harvard-Westlake then play college football at Stanford, Jonathan Martin ’08, developed into professional level talent and ended up in the NFL. Martin was signed  by the Miami Dolphins this year after being drafted by them in the second round of the NFL draft. He was the 42nd player selected in the 2012 draft. 

Oser played center last year for the football team, but says he will make the switch to left tackle this season.