Stanford Football 2025 Preview
- Lewis Huston
- Aug 22
- 7 min read
There once was a time not too long ago that Stanford was considered the class of the Pac-12, playing in a BCS bowl five out of six years between 2010-2015. This was obviously at a time before NIL and the transfer portal where it was possible to develop players over the course of their career. Stanford, more than maybe any P4 team, has been hit hard by the new landscape as they now find themselves in a 6-year bowl drought with four straight 3-9 seasons. As bad as things went last season, they did pull off upsets over eventual 10-win Syracuse and a ranked Louisville.
Bad went to worse in the spring though when HC Troy Taylor was fired due to misconduct allegations. Although he hadn’t found any success in two seasons, it was still terrible timing and caused their top two returners (EDGE David Bailey and WR Emmett Mosley V) to both transfer out of the program. Hiring Andrew Luck as the GM can only be seen as a positive, and he went for an outside the box HC hire in the form of his former NFL coach and fellow Stanford alum Frank Reich. In what has been portrayed as nothing more than a stop-gap hire, Reich will look to right the ship and get this once proud program back on solid footing.
Offense
Two-year starting QB Ashton Daniels entered the transfer portal following the season after failing to make much improvement from the year prior. It left the door open for exciting RS Fr Elijah Brown to step, but Dylan Rizk (UCF) and Ben Gulbranson (Oregon State) both transferred in during the spring window to battle for the job. The veteran Gulbranson ended up prevailing as Reich named him the team’s starter for the opener last week. In terms of reliability and stability, this choice makes a lot of sense. He’s far from a difference maker, but also isn’t going to lose you games as he had a very respectable 8-4 record as a starter across four seasons. Brown was named the backup and I’d expect we’ll see multiple quarterbacks at times this year.
Running back has been a pain point for the Stanford offense, remarkably without a single 500-yard rusher since 2020. In an offseason full of turnover, they do return every RB of consequence from last year. There is reason for optimism though with a trio of guys that all played as true freshmen. Micah Ford started the most games and was the team’s leading rusher with 309 yds, highlighted by a 15 car 122-yd performance at Clemson. He battled injuries but at full health could be the one to finally eclipse 500 yards for the Cardinal. Chris Davis Jr and Cole Tabb combined to start five games, with Tabb starting the final two after not playing the majority of the season. Junior Sedrick Irvin also battled injury but has been largely ineffective through two seasons. Tuna Altahir was a two-year starter at Eastern Washington and will throw his name in the hat after 722 yds (5.2) and 3 TD in ’24.
Stanford had three legitimately good receivers last year, but all three are gone with Elic Ayomanor drafted in the 4th round and both Ismael Cisse and Mosley V off to the SEC. They’ll be replaced by three intruiging portal additions, headlined by former Top-70 recruit CJ Williams from Wisconsin. He totaled 31 rec, 396 yds and 2 TD in a poor pass offense. 1st Tm All-Ivy David Pantelis comes from Yale where he had an impressive 61 rec, 910 yds (14.9) and 8 TD in the slot. Pantelis has received positive reviews since joining the team. The final member of the group is Jordan Onovughe who appeared in four games as a true freshman for Coach Prime at Colorado. That sort of profile typically doesn't translate to "sophomore breakout" but he's one to watch simply due to opportunity. 4-star Top 100 recruit JonAnthony Hall will play immediately and possibly even start, but that may have to wait a couple weeks as he recently suffered an injury in practice that has his availability in jeopardy to begin the season. Caden High (South Carolina St) had a similarly productive year in the slot to Pantelis, but he’s undersized and making a huge leap in competition so I’m not expecting him to replicate that.
This is still an offense that plays a lot of two TE sets, and Sam Roush is one of the best in the ACC. Roush is a two-year starter that had 40 rec, 334 yds and 2 TD but will be at the mercy of the QB play as he had just 4.1 yac/rec, a true possession security blanket. Benji Blackburn is someone the staff likes after starting two games as a true freshman while new addition Brendon Doyle adds another redzone target with 7 TD in two seasons in the rotation at Memphis.
The offensive line improved marginally after a brutal ’23, although not as much as you’d like for a group that returned all five starters. This year they return three starters so the hope is they can continue to improve. Both guards are back with upperclassmen Simione Pale and Jack Leyrer, and they’ll need to cut down slightly on a combined 14 penalties. Kahlil House had some major growing pains as a true freshman LT, hitting rock bottom in the Louisville game when he allowed 10 pressures. It’s possible he could move over to RT with the more experienced Niki Prongos from UCLA. There’s less of a clear picture at Center but Nathan Mejia started 27 games at Sacramento State from ’21-23 before missing all of last year with an injury. Ziron Brown appeared in one game as a true freshman and seems like the only other competition here.
Defense
The defensive line put up some respectable numbers last year including ranking 32nd in stuff rate and 54th in sacks. Leading sack man David Bailey is a big loss though. NG Anthony Franklin has been a mainstay over the years with 33 starts the last three seasons. Outside of that though they’re going to be relying on guys to make big jumps. Ernest Cooper (22 tkl, 1.5 TFL, 1 sk) and Zach Rowell (13 tkl) are two that played over 400 snaps last year and will need to be more productive. Clay Patterson had an exceptional three year career at Yale but was dinged up last year and was never really effective in four games. Zach Buckey was the second highest graded defender behind Bailey with 11 tkl, 3 sk and 2.5 TFL in just 154 snaps. Can he have the same type of production with a larger role? Wilfredo Aybar has started seven games over the last two years and provides another body at DE.
Both the # 1 and # 3 leading tacklers are gone at linebacker, but Tevarua Tafiti (41 tkl, 3.5 sk, 4 TFL) returns to lead the defense. I like the Hunter Barth addition from Cal after coming on down the stretch with a career-high 38 tkl along with 4 TFL, 2 sk, 2 FF and a 76.8 PFF grade. Matt Rose could start at MLB after playing more there towards the end of the season. Jahsiah Galvan put up good numbers at Northern Iowa in ’23 but it didn’t translate to the FBS. He’s back and they’re hoping it’ll be different for this year’s FCS transfer Zach Johnson (83 tkl, 6.5 TFL at Idaho).
Arguably the three top returners are on the back end with CB Collin Wright and both starting safeties Mitch Leigber and Scotty Edwards. All of them are multi-year starters, and Wright should receive some draft buzz after two solid seasons. The other corner spot is up for grabs. Cam Richardson started and got extensive burn in three different games as a true freshman, but was the lowest graded player on the defense likely due to getting torched for 201 yards against SMU. Another true freshman last year Brandon Nicholson started five games but constantly got picked on. Even if either one takes a big jump, it still could be 1st tm All-Ivy transfer Jordan Washington starting on the other side. Outside of Wright, I’d expect some sort of rotation at corner. Jay Green transfers in from Washington as the only other safety with extensive experience.
Special Teams
The best aspect of Stanford’s squad last year might’ve been the kicking game, and luckily it returns intact. Emmet Kenney was 32/32 XP and 14/17 FG in his first year as the starter. Aidan Flintoft enters his third year as the starting punter, but the punt coverage unit will need to do a better job limiting a 38.6 RET% and 9.3 yds/return. There’s a huge void in the return game though as Tiger Bachmeier handled both kickoffs and punts but transferred to BYU with his younger brother who was just named their starting QB.
Schedule
I don’t have the statistics on this, nor do I have the time or energy to look it up, but I can’t remember a time where a power conference team may be underdogs in every single game. As the line has moved heavily in Hawaii’s favor prior to week 0, the only other opportunity on the schedule for the Cardinal to be favored is a Sept. 27 home game against San Jose State. Considering the Spartans have gone to three straight bowl games, that’s far from a guarantee. For a roster and a program needing confidence, starting out on the island followed by a road trip to Provo against BYU is not what the doctor ordered. The travel schedule is also brutal without back to back home games until the last two games of the year against rivals Cal and Notre Dame.
Overall Outlook
There’s a reason why Vegas has set Stanford’s win total at just 3.5, and it’s not because of a tough road schedule with a ton of travel in between. It’s because this is simply not a competitive P4 roster. The decision to name Gulbranson the starter was a move to try and win a couple games against the more winnable part of the schedule, but if that doesn’t happen and/or he struggles early then I’d imagine they go to Brown or Rizk the rest of the way. There are some promising pass catchers, experience in the secondary and a group of young running backs with potential. But it’s tough to sugar coat things for a roster that lacks top end talent or playable depth. It’s a recipe for another long season on The Farm as Andrew Luck tries to position this program for future success.
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