Stanford announces team captains

Stanford head coach, David Shaw, announced to the team on Sunday night who was elected to be a team captain for this 2022 season. The Cardinal captains are annually voted upon by team.

There will be just one returning captain in receiver Michael Wilson, as five players were elected as captains for the first time. Those players were linebacker Levani Damuni, safety Johnathan McGill, quarterback Tanner McKee, linebacker Ricky Miezan, and center Drake Nugent.

Wilson being elected makes him the eighth two-time captain in Shaw's 12 seasons as the head coach at Stanford. He joins Kevin Hogan (2014-15), Peter Kalambayi (2016-17), Brandon Simmons (2017-18), Alameen Murphy (2017-18), K.J. Costello (2018-19), Malik Antoine (2019-20), and Thomas Booker (2020-21). Wilson had his season cut short to four games last season due to an injury, but has accumulated 89 catches for 1,059 yards and seven touchdowns during his career.

Congrats to our 2022 Team Captains!

🌲 » @LevaniDamuni
🌲 » @OriginalMcGill3
🌲 » @McKeeTmckee
🌲 » @rickymiezan
🌲 » @drakenugent9
🌲 » @mikewilllyy #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/aLGrLtwLRw
— Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) August 22, 2022

Damuni is the anchor of the defense, and is looking to build off his best season on the farm. In 2021 he recorded team high 88 tackles last season.The fifth-year senior has been named to watch lists for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, Butkus Award and Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award.

McGill was another player who was affected by injuries last season, as he played in just two games, but had two interceptions, one in each game. The senior safety from Coppell, Texas, has recorded 30 tackles and four tackles for loss in his last eight games played.

McKee is poised for a huge year, as he has bene projected by multiple outlets to be a first round pick in next year's NFL Draft. He threw for 2,237 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. This offseason he has been named to a couple watch lists, in the Maxwell Award and Davey O'Brien Award.

Miezan, a fifth-year inside linebacker was a Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year nominee in 2021, after playing in 11 games with eight starts following a stretch that saw him play in just seven games over his first three seasons. Miezan had injury issues in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons that kept him off the field. Last season he finished second on the team with 68 tackles, adding 6.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups and a recovered fumble.

The anchor of the offensive line, Nugent, a is senior center who started all 12 games at in 2021. He has been named to the Rimington Trophy watch list (best center in college football_ and Outland Trophy watch list (best interior lineman in college football).