Stanford Football's 2025 Outlook Just Took a Hit

With a brand new coach in Frank Reich coming in for the 2025 season after Stanford fired Troy Taylor in March, there were still some reasons to be optimistic about the Stanford football program. Yet, with Emmett Mosley V set to test the transfer portal after a solid freshman campaign, that optimism has taken a hit.

In Reich, the Cardinal have a head coach with plenty of NFL experience, including leading the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs in 2018 and 2020. In each of those seasons, the Colts had a top-10 offense in the NFL. With an offensive-minded head coach, Mosley would have likely done well for the Cardinal.

With presumed quarterback Elijah Brown getting some snaps under his belt as a freshman, there is a chance that Reich's mentorship in '25 could set him on the path to being a solid QB for Stanford. Yet, with Mosley set to hit the portal, his established weapons will be limited.

Last season as a freshman, Mosley hauled in 48 catches for 525 yards across just nine game played. Late in the season against Louisville and San Jose State, he combined for 20 catches and 269 yards and four touchdowns. Five of his six touchdowns for the season came in the final three weeks.

Stanford is already losing WR Elic Ayomanor to the NFL Draft, with LB Gaethan Bernadel also declaring. They'll also be without LB Tristan Sinclair, who has exhausted his eligibility. Those were three fairly large pieces to the Cardinal roster last season, along with David Bailey and Mudia Reuben, who have also opted to enter the portal.

Mosley looked to be the next star for Stanford football, but with him set to test his options, that may no longer be the case. Without the flashy weapons on offense, this could be a bit of a challenge for Reich, who has never coached the college game.

The big question that will have to be answered by Reich is how well he can coach these younger athletes. When you reach the NFL, you're at a certain threshold for how good of a player you are. The floor is a lot higher on the level of talent. In the college game, that won't necessarily be the case.

Stanford has gone 3-9 for four straight seasons, so they're not exactly the recruiting giants of the world at the moment.

Having a former NFL head coach, along with Andrew Luck as the program's general manager, could help Stanford to lure some interesting pieces in the portal themselves. Right now the situation looks a little murky, but that could end up changing in the coming weeks.

If Luck is able to land a star on offense, then Reich will have someone that he can feed the ball. That could be a running back, or a wide out. On defense, it will be up to DC Bobby April to find his new leaders on that side of the ball, and to get them ready for the '25 campaign.

Losing Mosley wouldn't be the end of hope for the 2025 season, but it would certainly limit some of the optimism around the program for this year.