In the summer of 2011, current Stanford center Graham Shuler, then a senior in high school, visited campus. He played some pick-up basketball with future football teammates.

The Cardinal's new crop of freshmen had just moved into their dorms, and Shuler remembers one of the newcomers -- still relatively anonymous at that point -- soar high off the court.

"He grabbed a rebound, and he just took off," the lineman said. "It seemed like it took him only two strides to cross the court, and he took off again from the free throw line to put in a finger roll over everybody. It was like -- 'Yo! Who in the world was that?'"

It was Kevin Hogan, Stanford's future starting quarterback.

At the time, Andrew Luck's senior 2011 flurry was just preparing for takeoff, so it would be over a year before the outside football world discovered Hogan. But Shuler's introduction came early, and he remembers it vividly to this day as a precursor to the wild ride that has followed.

A chance to establish consistency

Hogan, entering his fifth season on the Farm, is one of Stanford's elder statesmen now. The instinctual, gritty athleticism that Shuler first saw several years ago on the basketball court has served the quarterback well throughout his college football career. But Hogan has also struggled at times, and it's this inconsistency that has made him somewhat of an enigma.

Moving forward, Stanford wants to enjoy a full year of the excellent play that Hogan delivered over the final three games of 2014. During that stretch, the Cardinal offense found its groove. Hogan posted a 222.4 quarterback rating in Stanford's 31-10 road manhandling of UCLA.

"We found a good rhythm and I want to carry that forward," Hogan says. "We saw how good we could be."

If the good times do indeed roll on, Hogan's athleticism may prove to be the key to unlocking his comfort zone. That approach was effective when the quarterback did considerable damage with his legs over the final three games of the season en route to efficient passing performances. (Hogan averaged over 6.5 yards per rush in all three of those contests after surpassing 5 yards per rush only once in Stanford's first 10 games.)

"It's just like anyone: A receiver would like to catch a hitch before a 50-yard go route," Hogan explained in December. "You want to get into a rhythm with your bread and butter plays.... I'm the same way. If I can roll out or do a QB run, I'd like to get that first hit and first play out of the way. You feel like you're in the game. I appreciate those plays when they're called early, and I try to lobby for them."

One can almost sense an affinity for contact in Hogan's words, and recognizing his nose for the gritty side of the game may be the ticket to consistently unleashing his strengths. It's no coincidence that a smile creeps across receiver Devon Cajuste's face when he's asked about Hogan's demeanor in the huddle.

"Even though I can't see what's happening when I'm running a route, I always know when something happened in the backfield," Cajuste says. "Because Hogan's super excited in the huddle after he gets hit."

Cajuste points to another aspect of Hogan's skill set that differentiates him from many quarterbacks, one that led directly to a touchdown run against Oregon State in 2014.

"He actually reads blocks [when he's scrambling], and we appreciate that as wide receivers, " Cajuste grins. "Because he never goes left when the block is set up for the right."

Highs, lows, and the future

Hogan's mercurial Stanford career has taken him through both tragedy and triumph. The high came early on: After replacing Josh Nunes as the Cardinal's starting quarterback in 2012, Hogan was the quarterback of Stanford's first Rose Bowl championship team since 1972.

But if the 2012 rip through Autzen Stadium and Pasadena represented Hogan's peak, 2014 marked the valley. This was the aforementioned 2014 season of erratic play, the one during which his father, Jerry, succumbed to cancer.

"I can't imagine going through something like that," Shuler says. "But Kevin's a rock, and one thing that amazes is how well he carries the legacy of his dad."

Just three weeks after Jerry's passing, Hogan earned MVP honors in Stanford's 45-21 victory over Maryland in the Foster Farms Bowl. He acknowledged his father after that performance. The success provided the Cardinal staff with firm reassurance that Hogan would be able maintain a consistently high level of play moving forward into 2015.

"Those last three games [of 2014], that's probably the best football that he's ever played," Stanford coach David Shaw says. "Kevin's in a good place now. He's smooth, confident, relaxed, and accurate."

When he reflects on the progress he's made as a quarterback since his freshman year, Hogan feels that he's on solid ground, too.

"My decision-making is a lot sharper and quicker," he says. "I can get through my reads more quickly. I understand defensive structure and scheme, which allows me to play faster while staying comfortable at the same time."

Quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard says that Hogan "has used [his late 2014 success] as some ground to stand on when he's talking to the offense," and Shuler senses this, too.

"Kevin will be one of the first people to tell you that he is more reserved, but this year, when practice is having trouble getting going, the voice you hear is his," Shuler says. "And that's really cool, because in years past, Kevin would say a couple things, but not this much. I think he feels a sense of ownership for this group of guys, more so than in the past."

As a starting quarterback during a golden era in Stanford football history, Hogan's name won't soon be forgotten around the program. But his final 2015 hurrah represents an opportunity to tack on an exclamation point of great significance -- one that can boost NFL dreams and an already-storied college legacy.

"Our goal is to pick up the script where we left off last year," Hogan says.

And to finish the larger script, the one that started on that basketball court back in 2011, in fitting style.