The Stanford Cardinal are facing a lot of change on both sides of the ball for 2019. David Shaw will have to rebuild the offensive line and receiving core for the offense to be successful. That doesn’t even mention that the play calling for the Cardinal has grown stale and predictable and has to be changed. The defense also needs a new class of linebackers and some defensive backs to step up if they want to erase a two year decline. This might be a down year for Stanford, but they can still be successful with what Shaw has built.
Prestige Rank: 5*
Under Shaw the Cardinal have won three Pac-12 titles, made four BCS/NY6 bowls and have averaged more than 10 wins per year.
Last Year’s Record: 9-4(6-3)
Stanford’s 2018 record can be easily explained: they beat teams worse than them and lost to teams that were better than them. Washington, Washington State, Utah and Notre Dame were all better than Stanford and beat the Cardinal by an average of 11.8 points. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. All four of the losses came in just one five game stretch in the middle of the season. And while they might have lost to ND and Utah by a combined 40 points, they only lost to the Washington schools by a combined 7 points.
Key Losses:
Stanford loses their best offensive weapons from last year: RB Bryce Love and WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside. Love had the better career, but Arcega-Whiteside and his 14 touchdowns were more important in 2019. There’s also the bulk of the offensive line that will need to be replaced.
The biggest losses on the other side of the ball come at linebacker with Sean Barton and Bobby Okereke leaving. The pair combined for an absurd 185 tackles and 11 TFLs while leading the defense from the inside linebacker position. Okereke especially had a knack for coming up with big plays, as you can see here:
Projected Returning Starters
Offense: 3
- QB K.J Costello
- TE Colby Parkinson
- RT Walker Little
Stanford loses most of their offensive production, but the players the Cardinal do return are all excellent. Costello, Parkinson and Little were all top-50 recruits who are expected to be taken early in the NFL draft next spring. But there is also plenty of talent outside of those three. Former 5-star Foster Sarell looks to start at the other tackle spot and RB Cameron Scarlett was solid when he had to fill in for Love last year. There is also a young, but talented group of receivers with former 4-stars Connor Wedington, Michael Wilson and Osiris St. Brown all looking at bigger roles.
Defense: 5
- DE Jovan Swann
- DT Michael Williams
- LB Jordan Fox
- CB Paulson Adebo
- S Malik Antoine
On the defensive line, Stanford has Swann and Williams returning after productive seasons and former 4-star recruit Thomas Booker sliding in with them. Junior DT Dalyn Wade-Perry will also see playing time, as long as he manages to stay healthy. At cornerback, Adebo will still be a star after finishing third in the country with an incredible 17 passes defended, but the rest of the secondary might struggle. Senior CB Obi Eboh has been unimpressive, but is more experienced than younger(but more highly rated) options like true freshmen Salim Turner-Muhammed and Kyu Blu Kelly.
Linebacker will be the biggest question mark without Barton and Okereke, but there are plenty of options. On the outside, Jordan Fox and Gabe Reid are back after leading the team in TFLs and sacks without even being full time starters. There’s also talented players like Casey Toohill, Andres Fox and Caleb Kelly, who could all see playing time. The options on the inside are less experienced, but could also have more potential. Sophomore Ricky Miezan hasn’t played much, but is a great athlete as he was a top three lacrosse recruit in the country his senior year before he fully switched to football. There’s also senior and former 5-star Curtis Robinson who has struggled to see the field, but could finally live up to his potential this year.
Special Teams: 2
- K Jet Toner
- R Cameron Scarlett
Toner was excellent for Stanford last year, making all 34 of his extra points and only missed the very first of his 15 field goal attempts. Scarlett was solid as a kickoff returner as he averaged 23.6 yards per return, good enough for fifth in the Pac-12.
Circle this Game: Oregon- September 21
Stanford won’t be favorites to win the North this year so getting back to the Pac-12 title game will require some upsets. The first one that they will need to pull will be against the Ducks and luckily the game is in Palo Alto. They also have had Oregon’s number as of late, winning three straight against them. A loss for Stanford here, especially with Washington looming just two weeks later, would almost certainly leave the Cardinal outside the top two of the division.
Win the Pac-12 if:
With a little bit of luck and chaos, they might only need to beat one out of the two of Oregon and Washington to win the North. The game against rival Cal could also be important as the Bears are seriously improving. If Stanford can somehow manage to sneak into the title game, they could pull another upset against Utah or even be favored against anyone else who wins the South.
2019 Outlook:
The Stanford Cardinal have a brutal out of conference schedule with games vs Northwestern, at UCF and vs Notre Dame. They also play three of their four hardest Pac-12 opponents by the first week of October. Stanford has a lot to replace, but if they can sort out the offensive line and secondary, they’ll be in a good place and possibly even push for double digit wins. However, if they get hit with injuries or new players disappoint, the offense will continue to stagnate and the once vaunted defense will continue to regress.
