Stanford Football Enters the Race for Former 4-Star Penn State Commit

Stanford football is building for the future. Coming into this season, the Cardinal faced a lot more questions than answers, with former head coach Troy Taylor fired and replaced by interim Frank Reich right before the start of spring practices. Finishing 3-9 the previous four seasons, urgency to improve hit an all-time high on The Farm.

And so far in 2025, the Cardinal have looked like a team that is making immense progress on the field, currently possessing a 3-4 record and keeping their bowl hopes very much alive. Even through all the uncertainty, the Cardinal have still found a way to keep moving forward and are determined to build themselves back up into a nationally relevant team.

Stanford Looks to Land Four-Star QB

Off the field, Stanford keeps looking for ways to build a successful team for the future. In the past week, it was reported that former Penn State commit and four-star quarterback, Troy Huhn, was decommitting from the Nittany Lions. Once Huhn revealed his decision, Stanford wasted no time and quickly extended an offer to the star from Mission Hills High School.

Huhn only got an offer from Stanford and has not given any indication as to whether or not he would commit to the school, making this move a potentially moot one for the Cardinal. But in his post on X (formerly Twitter), Huhn mentioned that he spoke with general manager Andrew Luck and received an offer after speaking with him.

The interesting part about that? Huhn's interaction with Stanford happened not with the coaching staff, but with the general manager. Luck is the one in charge of the program, with Frank Reich serving as the interim head coach.

What Huhn Would Mean to The Farm

Huhn potentially coming to Stanford would give the program a top tier quarterback that it has been longing for, but it would also signal a monumental shift in the world of college sports. For years, coaching staffs would recruit a player and whenever a player committed to a program, they would be committing to that coaching staff.

But in today's era, players could start committing more to the program as a whole with the general managers being the main attraction.

In Stanford's case, regardless of who the next head coach is, Huhn committing to the program means that he gets to work with Luck and develop extensively under Luck's guidance. While holding the official title of general manager, Luck is known to attend a lot of Stanford practices and even helps out during the sessions.

For quarterbacks, the opportunity to develop under the guidance of a four-time Pro Bowler and former first overall pick in the NFL Draft like Luck has to be very enticing. He's been where any quarterback is hoping to go.

Still, getting Huhn might be very hard for Stanford to land. A rigorous academic school, Stanford's admission criteria is a little bit tougher for student-athletes, especially those top ones looking for a place to develop ahead of a potential NFL career.

Huhn, who would be playing for the Nittany Lions next season had it not been for the firing of James Franklin, may want to go to a program of a similar caliber.

In addition to his offer from Stanford, Huhn also has received interest from schools such as Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, Cal, Florida State, Louisville and Michigan, among many others.

Considering he just decommitted, a decision from Huhn is probably still a while away, but now that Stanford is in the mix, all they can do is hope that it will land the next superstar quarterback that helps put Cardinal football back on the map.

A potential game-changing type player with an elite skillset, signing Huhn would be a home run for Luck and Co. But for now, it will be a massive waiting game to see where the 6-foot-4 signal caller will end up.