Significant playing time for true freshmen has been a rarity at Stanford over the past 10 years. The likes of Andrew Luck and Solomon Thomas didn't even see the field in their first seasons on campus, while Christian McCaffrey -- who would post one of the greatest campaigns in college football history as a sophomore -- was little more than an afterthought as a freshman. Before November hit, he averaged only about one carry per game.

But based on the way that the Cardinal's 2017 recruiting class has shaped up, that trend may be changing. Stanford's coaching staff did insert true freshman offensive lineman Nate Herbig into the starting lineup midway through last season, and the program's newest crop of commits should give it flexibility to continue that youth movement moving forward.

Since the amount of available scholarships fluctuates annually, the natural ebb and flow of roster turnover put Stanford in position to sign a smaller recruiting class -- the Cardinal stand at only 14 commits right now -- this year.

Size-wise, that's reminiscent of the 2013 cycle, when Stanford inked only 13 players to a class that generated little fanfare at the time.

But aside from headcount, the 2017 crop couldn't be any more different.

This Cardinal class, currently ranked No. 10 in the country, is extremely front-loaded. It features five of the top 61 prospects in the nation -- as many as the rest of the Pac-12 combined, according to ESPN.com's Erik McKinney. The class' marquee names -- eight are ESPN 300 prospects -- look strong enough to contribute immediately on the field.

Last year, the Cardinal offensive line allowed 34 sacks. Stanford's rushing attack failed to muster even three yards per carry in the team's three losses. Despite a late-season surge, 2016 was the front's worst campaign since Jim Harbaugh took over in 2007.

In other words, the timing couldn't be better for an infusion of massive blocking talent.

And that's just what the Cardinal's 2017 class is supplying, as it happens to be headlined by behemoths Foster Sarell and Walker Little, two of the top-ranked offensive tackles in the country. The former is six-foot-seven, the latter is six-foot-eight, and tight end Colby Parkinson -- another touted prospect headlining this Stanford class -- is six-foot-seven.

So the shift that began when the team inserted Herbig into the lineup in 2016 should continue in 2017. Even if Sarell and Little don't start, Stanford will likely find room for them as supplementary offensive linemen in its oft-used diesel packages. That's how the Cardinal broke Andrus Peat and Joshua Garnett into their rotation back in 2012.

While it's very unlikely that Stanford's youth movement will extend to quarterback, the 2017 class also features Davis Mills at that position. He's ESPN's No. 2-rated pocket passer in the country.

Receiver Saiid Adebo, defensive tackle Dalyn Wade-Perry, defensive end Ryan Johnson, receiver Osiris St. Brown, and fullback Sione Heimuli-Lund round out the rest of the ESPN 300 prospects in the class.

With the departure of Thomas, a stalwart along the defensive line, Stanford will also need immediate assistance along the other trench. Wade-Perry and Johnson give them more options there, though those players must first navigate the Cardinal's offseason conditioning program. Coaches will use that to determine if they're strong enough to contribute on the defensive line as true freshmen.

The Stanford brass long yearned for Sarell and Little, who committed within a month of each other around the new year. There's already a consensus that both of those talents can help plug holes that plagued the Cardinal last season.

Beyond that, specifics of early playing for the rest of this class are still to be determined. But this much is certain: This Stanford recruiting haul has sizzle, as was readily apparent when Connor Wedington -- an explosive offensive weapon -- announced his commitment via an intricate video of a snowboarding run on Monday.

Thomas was the last Cardinal player to announce his commitment with similar theatrics -- he pulled out a miniature tree and nerd glasses on national signing day in 2014.

That, of course, was the beginning of a successful run. Stanford hopes that Wedington's stunt means more of the same is coming. At least on paper, the Cardinal's pieces are promising for early returns.