Stanford GM Andrew Luck goes into detail about his involvement in recruiting 

With head coach Troy Taylor embattled with investigations, Andrew Luck has become Stanford football's new face. After spending two years as a part-time coach at Palo Alto High School, the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback returned to his alma mater, this time to be the Cardinal's general manager.

His role has been greater than many initially thought and on a Friday exclusive interview with "TheSFNiners", Luck explained how involved he has become with Stanford's recruitment process:

"Parts of this job are similar to an NFL GM, parts are certainly not. I mean, you know, we have our director of personnel and recruiting and that office that you know really makes sure we're identifying talent. We're working with Troy and all the coaches on identifying talent. Who we want here, and we ask how do we get him here. I'm certainly involved in how do we get a young man to Stanford right, and it's part of you know I certainly want to believe I sell this place as good as anybody around football. I lived here." Said Luck (9:00).

He went on to say that his experience as a student-athlete at Stanford allows him to sell the school and the program authentically. He highlighted that he strongly believes that Stanford is a great place to develop athletically, socially and academically. That last point has to be considered a strong suit of the school, as Stanford consistently ranks among the best universities in the world.

Luck also explained that he also has important responsibilities with the stakeholders of the program, including facing the media and the school donors. That last group is of even greater importance in the new NIL era of college athletics.

Stanford's Troy Taylor on the investigations he faces

While the 18 losses suffered over the last two seasons are certainly a big red flag in Troy Taylor's resume, they probably aren't his biggest blemish. The biggest stains on Taylor's record have to be the two internal disciplinary investigations he has been subject to at Stanford.

Taylor has been accused of bullying female staffers, making inappropriate comments to a woman about her appearance and attempting to remove an NCAA compliance officer. There are also violations of NCAA player eligibility rules.

For some, Taylor is on thin ice at Stanford. The coach holds a different view:

"I willingly complied with the investigations, accepted the recommendations that came out of themnand used them as a learning opportunity to grow in leadership and how I interact with others," Taylor said in a statement to ESPN last Wednesday. "I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively and collegially with my colleagues so that we can achieve success for our football program together."

Concerns at Stanford about the coach's behavior have warranted enough worry for the school to order two outside investigations on the coach. Both of which painted a less-than-complementary picture. However, the school has decided to give him a third year in charge of the program. A year that will probably make or break him.

Troy Taylor has to be happy about Andrew Luck becoming the face of the program. It puts him out of the limelight and allows him to focus on preparing for what's probably the most important season of his career.