Five questions heading into the offseason for Stanford football

How can the Cardinal regroup and improve for next year in order to become a serious contender in the ACC?

Nov 29, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach Troy Taylor looks on against the San Jose State Spartans in the fourth quarter at CEFCU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images / Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

With another season of Stanford football complete, it is now time for the program to transition to the offseason, where preparations for an improvement in 2025 are in full swing. Finishing the season 3-9 for a fourth consecutive year, it is only natural for changes to be made to ensure as much progress as possible is made. And with a massive sense of urgency to win looming on The Farm, the Cardinal will have a lot of questions that they will need to address before the start of next year.

With the offseason now here, here are the five biggest questions for Stanford football heading into the winter and spring.

What will the quarterback situation look like?

One of biggest inconsistencies that plagued Stanford all year long was the quarterback situation, with the team struggling to get a consistent string of strong performances from quarterbacks Ashton Daniels and Elijah Brown. Brown, a true freshman out of Mater Dei, was expected to have a role this season but with an injury sustained early in the year, he was limited to only three games and retained his ability to redshirt. Getting a small sample size, it remains to be seen what Brown truly has.

Daniels, who started for a majority of the year, showed flashes of brilliance but also struggled with turnovers, throwing 12 interceptions on the year, including a massive late game pick against Wake Forest that spoiled a potential scoring drive and led to a 27-24 loss. While he did lead the team in rushing, running for nearly 670 yards, a tough ACC requires being able to also get strong yards through the air and with an even bigger urgency to win, the Cardinal may need to think long and hard about their most important position.

While Daniels was the starter for Stanford for much of the past two seasons, he is expected to enter the transfer portal, leaving the quarterback position truly up for grabs heading into 2025.

Which running back will step up next year?

As a team, the Cardinal rushed for 1,592 yards and 11 touchdowns without having a single runner surpass 1,000 yards. But one of the most glaring characteristics of that stat is how not only were none of the rushing touchdowns scored by a running back, with Justin Lamson leading the team with eight touchdowns and Daniels adding on three more, but the leading rusher was a quarterback. Both Lamson, along with Daniels, are headed for the transfer portal.

Freshman Micah Ford, who evolved into the team’s lead ball carrier, had the most yards out of any Stanford running back this year, rushing for 309 yards on 76 carries.

There are two areas to think about here heading into the offseason. One is trying to figure out which running back can become a workhorse in order to take some pressure off of the quarterback and open up the offense and allow it to become more multi-faceted.

The second thing is really establishing an identity in the run game in a strong ACC and letting some of the young guys like Ford really get going and giving them a bigger role on the offense. The last time the Cardinal had a running back reach at least 1,000 yards was in 2017, when Bryce Love ran for 2,118 yards, a season in which the Cardinal finished 9-5 and ended up as the No. 20 ranked team in the AP poll.

A good running game is crucial for success and if the Cardinal hope to see any success in the ACC, establishing a strong run game will be a big step.

Is Mosley V a focal point?

It is safe to say that the Cardinal struck gold with freshman wide receiver Emmett Mosley V. Missing the first few games of the season dealing with an injury, Mosley then made his debut against Clemson and quickly evolved into a major piece to the offense, finishing with 48 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns, putting together two 100-yard or more games in the process. His best game came in an upset win over then No. 19 ranked Louisville, where he caught 13 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns, offering Stanford a full glimpse of his potential.

Going into next year with a good amount of experience under his belt and having a full offseason this time around, Mosley could very well find himself not only as more of a focal point on offense, but with Elic Ayomanor’s future still uncertain, he could end up being the top receiving option at Stanford.

Providing exceptional size and length, standing at 6’2” and weighing 190, Mosley fits the build of a prototypical receiver. After showing that he can dominate against anyone, he very well could become the Stanford edition of what a program like Alabama had with DeVonta Smith.

With Bernadel and Sinclair out of eligibility, who becomes leader of the defense?

For the last few seasons, the Cardinal defense would take the field knowing that Tristan Sinclair’s presence would be out there, as the sixth year senior was the bonafide leader of the defense all throughout 2024. But in addition to Sinclair, the Cardinal also had Gaethan Bernadel out there for two years, another guy who evolved into a well respected leader in the locker room. And with both of those guys leading the team in tackles for the last two years, they happen to also both be out of eligibility, meaning that a new voice will have to step up in 2025.

Defensively, the Cardinal were very good in many regards, at one point being one of the best teams in both the ACC and all of college football in run stopping, with Bernadel and Sinclair being a large reason for that with their ability to swarm to the ball. But while the Cardinal had some great moments on defense, they were also near the top in college football for the amount of players that made their college debuts this season as well as number of freshmen used.

With Sinclair and Bernadel both gone, the Cardinal will have options of guys who could step up and lead, with players like David Bailey and Collin Wright coming to mind and with a big year necessary in 2025, the need for a new respected voice is urgent.

Where do you retool the offensive line?

Early in the season, the offensive line was in a constant state of shuffle. Each and every week for the first few games of the year saw a new unit on the offensive line take the field, with the team hoping that they had finally found their permanent alignment.

But injuries to players like Levi Rogers combined with inconsistent play saw different guys forced to step up, with freshman Kahlil House being a guy who went from having a limited role at the start to eventually becoming a starter at tackle. But while some guys look poised for a starting role next year, the constant changes on the line led to the Cardinal being tied for 122nd in all of college football for sacks allowed, allowing their opponents to get to the quarterback 39 times in 12 games (3.25 per game average) and also struggling to have the team establish a consistent run game.

Blocking is everything in football, with an offense unable to really get anything going without protection, and in a conference like the ACC, blocking is especially important when going against the top teams with strong defensive lines like Miami, Clemson and SMU. Head coach Troy Taylor’s offense is explosive but if the Cardinal want to fully unleash it next year and transform into a top ACC offense, they will need their offensive line to find a strong rhythm.