Stanford among the finalists for highly-touted 2025 WR Vernell Brown III

The Stanford Cardinal are in the mix for for one of the best receivers in the country

The Stanford Cardinal are in full rebuild mode with Troy Taylor and his staff hitting the recruiting trail hard.

They brought in the No. 30 recruiting class in the country in what was Taylor's first class, and are now looking to build on that success in 2025. They already landed one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Bear Bachmeier, along with a couple of offensive linemen headlined by Josh Williams, who pledged earlier this week. 

On Thursday, Stanford was named as a finalist for one of the top receivers in the country in four-star Vernell Brown III.

Four-star WR Vernell Brown III  :: Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Brown took to the app formerly known as Twitter on Thursday to announce his top-11 schools, with Stanford being featured among a handful of other college football powers.

Where’s 🏡????@Hayesfawcett3 @CoachVB_ESM @JonesHSFootball pic.twitter.com/0td3I7PHtP

— Vernell "Trey" Brown III1️⃣™️ (@VB3_9) February 22, 2024

Joining the Cardinal as finalists were programs such as Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, and Clemson. Brown is one of the fastest players in the country as he also excels at track. On the gridiron, he racked up 70 catches for over 1,300 yards and 10 scores this past season. He also added three punt returns and one kick return for a touchdown. Brown is also featured on defense for Jones High School in Orlando, Florida. 

The Cardinal will have a lot of work to do to pry him out of Florida, especially when you consider his father played at Florida himself. He would however be a perfect player for an offensive mind like Taylor, who could showcase his speed and elusiveness in a variety of ways. 

ESPN puts Stanford's head coach Jerod Haase on the hot seat

According to 247Sports, he ranks as the No. 249 player in the country, No. 11 athlete, and No. 35 player in the state of Florida.