Stanford football aims to prove 2020 turnaround was no fluke
LOS ANGELES — Stanford’s players and coaches feel they’ve done enough over the last year to prove that they are legitimate Pac-12 title contenders.
They won four of six games in 2020 despite playing just once at home. They returned over 60 percent of their starting players despite leading the conference in draftees and have brought in seven four-star signees over the last two years to supplement their losses.
Even still, the Cardinal was picked to finish fourth in the North Division in the Pac-12 preseason media poll. It was less than the Cardinal expected. It’s motivation to do more.
“A lot of our guys will tell you too that they’ve noticed how we’ve been kind of picked to be the middle of the pack,” Eleventh-year Stanford coach David Shaw said Tuesday. “That’s not where our head is, it never is. Every single year we’re trying to win the conference. I believe we have the talent to do so.”
The Cardinal brought back a significant portion of players who allowed it to be so statistically successful in 2020. Six of its 11 offensive starters and eight of 11 defensive starters have returned to the program. The list includes star senior defensive end Thomas Booker, a preseason first-team all-conference selection on defense and special teams, junior running back Austin Jones, senior wide receiver Michael Wilson, junior offensive tackle Walter Rouse and junior cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly among others.
The team also added four-star freshman linebacker Wilfredo Aybar, four-star defensive lineman Aaron Armitage and is expecting contributions from EJ Smith, the former four-star running back prospect and son of NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith.
The Cardinal is also partway through a starting quarterback battle to replace Davis Mills, who was drafted by the Houston Texans. Senior Jack West and sophomore Tanner McKee are slated as likely frontrunners, with graduate transfer Isaiah Sanders and early-enrollee true freshman Ari Patu also in the mix. Shaw did not offer an update in Los Angeles, just that it would be concluded by the time the season began.
“I think we’re bigger, more physical, more athletic than people really know,” Shaw said. “No one was able to come watch us play in spring either to see what we have as a group. I think we have a really good football team.”
Although it came in a short season, the Stanford offense was better in 2020 than it has been in recent history. It scored 29.3 points per game, the second-most by the program in the last five years, and saw three receivers eclipse 250 yards despite playing just three games. Two of them, Brycen Tremayne and Wilson, returned to the program.
Shaw and Wilson, who was one of two Stanford players at Pac-12 Media Day in Los Angeles, also touted the team’s offensive line, which was forced to start three true freshmen last year as a result of injuries. Now, they said the offensive front is healthy, experienced and aggressive.
“Myles Hinton, Walter Rouse, Branson Bragg, Drake Nugent, just getting back to the old ways of Stanford football: hard-nosed, smash-mouth offensive linemen that just want to take your head off,” Wilson said.
Shaw and Booker also offered glowing reviews of the team’s defense, saying the unit has made significant improvements after a poor showing in 2020 that saw them allow 31.7 points per game, the Cardinal’s most since 2002. Booker said his unit is showing a higher capacity for stopping long offensive plays and thwarting positive drives.
“It’s helping guys like me get off of blocks,” Booker said. “Guys can’t double team me as long. You have to pick your poison. Do you want to stay on me and let Jacob [Mangum-Farrar] and Ricky Miezan come through the hole and blast your running back? Or do you want to come off them and let me make a [tackle-for-loss]?”
It all bodes well for a Cardinal team that has lofty aspirations of reestablishing itself as a Pac-12 powerhouse. Booker and Wilson spoke of it several times, adding that it’s a goal often discussed in the Cardinal locker room. They want to prove their critics wrong.
“I do believe we’ll be battling for the conference championship, then we’ll see where we are after that,” Shaw said.