New coach David Shaw has a number of challenges in the Cardinal's spring practice, which is divided into two segments, the first of which began Feb. 21.

His immediate goal is to establish his own imprint on the team, which won't be easy with team being so deeply identified with Jim Harbaugh and his emotional presence. Shaw has tried to put his stamp on the team with snappier practices that are long on quick-hitting information but short on duration.

Shaw's second mission is to replace several keys starters, particularly at wide receiver and the offensive line, which were strengths for the team in 2010, but need considerable restructuring for 2011.

"It's going to be a big spring for every receiver on our roster," Shaw said. "We have a quarterback (Andrew Luck) who can make them look pretty good, but at the same time they are going to need to put in the work. The competition is wide open, and it will be a fierce battle from the first day."

Shaw's ultimate responsibility, though, is to maintain the level achieved by his predecessor. The Cardinal finished 12-1 last season, winning the Orange Bowl over Virginia Tech in convincing fashion and finishing with a No. 4 ranking, its highest in 60 years.

With the return of Heisman Trophy runnerup, QB Andrew Luck, Shaw will be expected to continue the success initiated by Harbaugh, but a team whose head coach, defensive coordinator and primary offensive coach now hold the same positions for an NFL team -- the San Francisco 49ers -- obviously has a lot of questions about the people now in charge. That's especially true in the case of Shaw, who has never been a head coach at any level.

He is familiar with his personnel and the method that worked so well the past few years, though. So don't expect the approach to change too much. The Cardinal plans to continue its physical run-first approach despite the presence of Luck and the loss of several key members of the offensive line.

And with Luck as well as all its running backs returning, Shaw and the Cardinal will be expected to approach the success it had in 2010 in the new Pac-12 in 2011. The Cardinal is in the same six-team division as Oregon, so getting to the first Pac-12 title game will not be easy.

The biggest concern may be on defense, because Vic Fangio, who got much of the credit for the dramatic improvement in the Cardinal's defense last season, is no longer the defensive coordinator, having taken the same position with 49ers.

Stanford now has co-defensive coordinators to try to replicate what Fangio achieved in his only season at Stanford. And they must replace several key defensive players, including inside linebacker Owen Marecic, nose tackle Sione Fua, cornerback Richard Sherman and outside linebacker Tomas Keiser. Though Stanford will retain the 3-4 alignment that worked so well last season, defensive coaches have suggested they may use a 4-3 more often in 2011. Any such modification will come in for criticism if it is less successful than the 2010 version.

It also will be interesting to see whether Shaw can maintain continuity over the split spring sessions. The Cardinal ends its first session March 5, then takes three weeks off during exams before beginning again on March 28. The final spring practice is not until April 9, which means 15 spring practices will be spread over seven weeks. Harbaugh began the split-spring last season, and it seemed to work rather well.

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