Stanford wide receiver Devon Cajuste poised for a huge season

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Because media members are not allowed to watch Stanford practices, quarterbacks/wide receivers coach Tavita Pritchard had to describe a moment late in Tuesday’s session.

A pass was inches off the ground when Devon Cajuste grabbed it, but he didn’t merely catch it, according to Pritchard. He “strangled” it.

“If you’ve seen the movie 'Sandlot,’ somebody hits the guts out of the baseball,” Pritchard said. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to see Dev pop the ball one of these days. He absolutely strangles it.”

At 6-foot-4, 228 pounds, many schools recruiting Cajuste out of Holy Cross High School in Flushing, N.Y., wanted him to play tight end.

Nothing doing, he told them. He wanted to play wide receiver. Now a redshirt junior, Cajuste loves to make acrobatic catches and pummel defensive backs with his blocks. He set a school record last season by averaging 22.9 yards on 28 catches. He scored five touchdowns, including a 51-yarder in the Rose Bowl.

Last year, when Stanford played Army at West Point, about an hour and a half from Cajuste’s home in Seaford, N.Y., he had a rooting section of more than 100 relatives and friends.

When the Cardinal play Army again Saturday at Stanford Stadium, Cajuste and the rest of the offense will try to atone for the many mistakes they made in Saturday’s loss to USC.

Cardinal wide receiver Devon Cajuste, (89) runs drills during morning practice on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday Aug. 9, 2014. Cardinal wide receiver Devon Cajuste, (89) runs drills during morning practice on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday Aug. 9, 2014. Photo: Michael Macor, Staff / The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, Staff / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Stanford wide receiver Devon Cajuste poised for a huge season 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Head coach David Shaw said after watching the game video that Cajuste played “extremely well. Just like all of us, not perfect. But he made some great catches when we needed him to. They tried to press him, and he’s a tough guy to press. In the slot especially, he got off a couple of big plays down the middle.”

Cajuste had a different viewpoint. “I actually think I did very poorly,” he said. “I made a few catches (three for 44 yards), but there were a lot of missed assignments. I could have blocked better. It just wasn’t good enough for me, especially as a debut.”

Cajuste was suspended for the Cardinal’s season opener against UC Davis, and though neither Shaw nor Cajuste would specify what the transgression was, Cajuste said he “learned something big” from the suspension.

He also has an unusual perspective on the loss to USC. “To me, it wasn’t disappointing,” Cajuste said. “I only saw the bright side. Yeah, we lost the game. People lose games. You don’t win them all. But the bright side is we drove down nine times. … Granted, we didn’t finish, but I’m pretty proud of the offense for doing that.”

Aren’t players supposed to mourn close losses in big games for days, Cajuste was asked.

“Me getting upset or spending any negative energy on it will do nothing for me,” he said. “I take what we did wrong — X, Y and Z — and move forward.”

Cajuste is just as single-minded about his approach to conditioning.

“In the offseason, Devon is a sight to behold,” Pritchard said. “He works like nobody you’ve ever seen. He’s somebody you would characterize as a workout warrior.”

He’s also one reason Stanford has opened up its offense this season. Another is that quarterback Kevin Hogan has another year under his belt, Cajuste said.

“We definitely trust the pass more,” he said. “I say we definitely go for that. That’s a huge difference. And we have even more depth (at the skill positions) than we had before.”

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald