Breaking down Stanford's quarterback situation ahead of 2023

Stanford's quarterback room is one of the biggest questions in college football

While those who follow the Pac-12 as a whole are quite familiar with how deep and talented the conference is at quarterback, Stanford is one of four programs that have an unsettled quarterback battle.

However, unlike the other three programs the Cardinal do not have a single quarterback on the roster that has more than 25 career passes attempted. Headlined by junior Ari Patu, Stanford's quarterback room may be the most inexperienced quarterback room in the country. Even with the addition of Syracuse transfer Justin Lamson, the Cardinal don't have veteran a signal caller who has played significant snaps.

Let's take a look at each of the four quarterbacks, and what their case for the starting role is.

Myles Jackson (Freshman)

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Myles Jackson comes in as a four-star who reclassified from the 2024 class, meaning by the time the season rolls around he should be playing his senior season of high school. What he lacks in age, he makes up for in arm strength. He has the ability to extend plays and while he can run a little, he shows the ability to keep his eyes down field. In terms of where he stands in the race for the quarterback spot, he recently just got onto campus with his fellow freshmen meaning he's a whole spring session behind Patu and Ashton Daniels. If he can learn the system, and show he can take care of the ball that should help his case immensely. While he only threw 17 picks to his 79 passing touchdowns, he only completed 59% of his passes at the high school level. He's young and will have plenty of time to grow in Taylor's system.

Ashton Daniels (Sophomore)

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Daniels was thrust into a very unexpected role this past season, as he ended up being a major part of the run game due to the depleted running back room. He attempted just six passes on the year, completing five for 39 yards but he did get 25 rushing attempts. While we don't know if Taylor plans to use multiple quarterbacks like he did at Sacramento State, if he does choose to have a running quarterback Daniels has shown he is more than capable of doing so. If his passing can develop a tad more and he can show Taylor that he is an efficient passer, he does have a case to be the starter. He led Buford to three state titles in his high school career, and while seeing the field in the capacity he did in 2022 wasn't ideal it did get him some quality reps. 

Justin Lamson (Redshirt Sophomore)

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A surprising addition to the quarterback room, Syracuse transfer Justin Lamson didn't register a stat for the Orange. However, he did solidify himself as Syracuse's backup quarterback in last year's spring before suffering a season ending injury. The Sacramento product was an accomplished quarterback coming out of high school, as he threw for 3,576 yards and 29 touchdowns to lead his team to a Sac-Joaquin section championship as a junior. Not to mention, his athleticism is underrated considering he was an all-state safety before taking over at quarterback. While he doesn't have any college stats under his belt and is working behind Patu and Daniels, his athleticism could really help him. 

Ari Patu (Junior)

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Widely viewed as the favorite, Patu is the most experienced quarterback on the roster. While last year's depth chart means nothing, he was the backup to Tanner McKee and he did fill in the year prior when McKee went down. This is his clearest path to starting while at Stanford, and sitting behind McKee likely helped him learn to be a leader. Coming out of high school he was renowned for his athleticism and big arm, but many felt he needed to develop first before he played. With a few seasons of watching, he can establish himself as the starter in fall camp. He has the bigger advantage of any of the quarterbacks being that he has played a tad more, and he also was around for spring ball. Now obviously it's fair to assume that neither he nor Daniels were tearing it up in spring, otherwise Taylor wouldn't have brought in Lamson. Fall camp will be vital for Patu, as if he doesn't win the job now it may be his last chance to do so.