Five issues Stanford needs to resolve before opener
STANFORD >> For a major college football program, Stanford had an unusual start to the off-then-on 2020 season.
The Cardinal opened training camp this month at Woodside High School in adjacent San Mateo County. The team worked out on a high school field surrounded by a track. It had to hold two separate practices a day — splitting the team between veterans and newcomers — because of county health limits on outdoor gatherings.
Though cleared to practice on campus now, it wasn’t exactly the way Stanford had hoped to prepare for a huge season-opening challenge on the road Nov. 7 against reigning Pac-12 champion Oregon.
Here are the five big issues the Cardinal needs to resolve before kickoff in Eugene:
A quick ramp-up
Because of Santa Clara County health department guidelines to help stop the spread of COVID-19, Stanford could not train on campus until Wednesday to have a maximum group of 75 people in an outdoor setting, according to state public health guidelines for intercollegiate athletics.
Now back on campus as the county has moved into a less restrictive tier of guidelines, the Cardinal must follow a strict set of protocols, including PCR testing, to adhere to the directives from the state and Santa Clara County. Coach David Shaw acknowledged that the landscape could change if the county re-institutes more restrictive policies because of increasing cases of the novel coronavirus.
“Whatever we have to do, wherever we have to do it, that’s what we’re going to do to get ready to play this game that we love to play,” Shaw said.
It’s all part of a confusing time. Some players went home in late summer when Pac-12 leaders announced that the season would not start before January. They were recalled to campus when the conference reversed course.
Stanford now needs to progress quickly before facing the Ducks, who are picked to win the conference again this season.
Rebuilt offense line
Injuries were a huge factor in Stanford’s 4-8 record last year, and no position group suffered more than the offensive line. Midway through the season Stanford had only six healthy linemen, four of them freshmen.
All-conference left tackle Walker Little opted out of this season to prepare for the NFL draft. He suffered a season- ending injury in the 2019 opening game. But the Cardinal returns two all-conference candidates in senior center Drew Dalman and senior tackle Foster Sarell.
After that, coaches expect competition between the freshmen who were thrust into starting roles prematurely last year. Walter Rouse, who allowed only two sacks in 11 starts after replacing Little, is joined by fellow sophomores Barrett Miller, Drake Nugent, Branson Bragg and Jak Hornibrook. They will try to earn spots around Dalman and Sarell as Stanford hopes to turn a problem area into a strength.
“We’re going to have more competition in the offensive line room than we’ve had in a while, and that’s something that’s exciting for us,” offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard said. “Iron sharpens iron. We’re going to have fun competition there.”
New secondary
Like an offensive line, the secondary needs communication and cohesiveness to succeed. That could be a problem during this shortened ramp-up to the season.
Stanford will rely on senior free safety Malik Antoine to help get everyone lined
up. Junior strong safety Kendall Williamson had a strong spring before practices ended prematurely because of the county lockdown to thwart the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Jonathan McGill, the Cardinal’s Outstanding Freshman Award winner last year, returns after primarily playing in a nickel defense. But another cornerback, Paulson Adebo (38 passes defended in his first two seasons) opted out like Little. The vacancy leaves an opening opposite sophomore Kyu Blu Kelly, who had a strong first year.
Sophomores Nic Toomer and Zahran Manley are favorites to replace Adebo, while redshirt sophomore Ethan Bonner is now healthy, and fifth-year senior Treyjohn Butler also could be a factor.
Inexperienced front seven
Stanford’s biggest defensive concerns are its line. The group took a hit when defensive end Jovan Swann ( Indiana) and defensive tackle Michael Williams (Southern Methodist) transferred after graduating from Stanford. Williams, a 6-foot-2, 290-pound lineman from Texas, announced in August that he would not play this season because of COVID-19 concerns.
Senior Dalyn Wade-Perry is the frontrunner at tackle, but the defensive end opposite of all-Pac-12 honorable mention Thomas Booker is unsettled.
“We’ve had a couple of older guys that haven’t played a lot of football and a couple of younger guys who are talented but haven’t played college football yet,” Shaw said. “So now we’ve got an opportunity to see what those guys are made of. We love who we’ve recruited, and now we’ve got to see if we can get them to play at a high level.”
Stanford also has holes at linebacker, where Casey Toohill graduated and Andrew Pryts, the team’s leading tackler last season, told this news organization Thursday that he decided to retire from football after graduating.
Junior inside linebackers Ricky Miezan and Jacob Mangum-Farrar are both healthy after combining to play in four games last year. They should compete with all-Pac-12 honorable mention Curtis Robinson.
Stanford has more experience at outside linebacker with senior Gabe Reid and redshirt senior Jordan Fox.
Will the freshmen be ready?
One upside from the delayed start is that coaches have spent more time with the freshmen, even though the meetings were mostly by video.
“These last few weeks we’ve been able to get on the field a couple of times a week with them, and go through drills and go through football movements,” Shaw said. “Our freshmen are going to be slightly ahead — at the very least between the ears — of previous freshmen classes.”
That could mean more playing opportunities for a class that was ranked in the top 25 nationally by recruiting analysts.
The freshmen are led by consensus fivestar tackle Myles Hinton, whose father Chris Hinton was a seven-time Pro Bowl player for the Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons. Other potential standouts include running back E. J. Smith, the son of three-time Super Bowl champion Emmitt Smith, and receiver John Humphreys, California’s all-time leader in career touchdowns (78).
On defense, Adebo’s departure could lead to playing time for Omari Porter and Brandon Jones.