TCU Head Coach on Preparing for Stanford's Elic Ayomanor

Jason Burke | Aug 28, 2024

Sep 23, 2023; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal wide receiver Elic Ayomanor (13) reacts after scoring a touchdown against the Arizona Wildcats during the third quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports / John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

The best offensive weapon that Stanford football has on offense heading into the 2024 season is arguably wide receiver Elic Ayomanor. He finished last season with 62 catches for 1,013 yards, and put himself on the map, especially after his huge performance in the second half against Colorado last season where he hauled in 13 passes for 294 yards.

In his press conference before their week one matchup at Stanford, TCU Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes talked about the challenge that Ayomanor presents for his defense.

"He's very talented, if you turn on the second half of the Colorado game last year it was a pretty remarkable performance," he said. "Typically receivers don't take over games and he just took that game over. Most of those catches were on Travis Hunter, a corner that everybody says is going to be a first round draft pick."

Hunter is not only a potential first rounder heading into the season, but the Athletic has him ranked as the No. 3 overall draft prospect ahead of the season.

Dykes also added, "Very talented guy, he has great size and good speed. He competes hard for the football when it's in the air. You'll often see big, fast and a guy that goes out and competes for the ball all the time and those are the special guys. He's a certainly a special receiver so it will be a big challenge for us."

Stanford has finished with a 3-9 record each of the past three seasons, but only one of those campaigns came under current head coach Troy Taylor. With Ayomanor, the hope is that Stanford can go out and surprise some folks this season. The Cardinal come into their week one matchup with TCU as the underdogs.

While Stanford has released their depth chart for the opening week, they have not made a clear decision on who will be taking snaps under center, or who will be getting Ayomanor the ball. Part of that appears to be gamesmanship, with some potential tricks up Taylor's sleeve against TCU. The other side of the coin is that Taylor feels confident in all three of his options in juniors Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson, and freshman Elijah Brown.

In that same Athletic piece, they rank Elic Ayomanor as the No. 37 draft prospect on their big board. He is a redshirt sophomore, and in hearing the way that an opposing coach talks about him, it sounds like he is going to be a problem for opposing defenses this season.