Stanford Football Still Figuring Out QB Situation, Defense Looks Strong

The Stanford Cardinal entered their second week of training camp focused and locked in, going full force on preparing for a Week Zero matchup against Hawaii. Coming off of their fourth straight 3-9 season, the Cardinal are hungry to prove that just because they are in a rebuild, does not mean that they are not ready to compete in a loaded ACC.

Interim head coach Frank Reich spoke with the media following the team's practice session on July 28 and touched on many different subjects regarding the current state of affairs.

Reich, in his first season as a college head coach, has brought new life to the program and has given reason to be optimistic for this fall. Here are five takeaways from Reich's post practice presser that gave some insight on where things stand with Stanford football.

Practice intensity has been strong

The Cardinal started training camp a week earlier than usual due having a Week zero matchup, and while they had a little bit of a shorter offseason than they are used to, it has not stopped the team from coming to the field ready to go. In fact, through the team's first five practices, Reich is very happy with not only the intensity and the physicality early on, but with how hard everyone has been working since camp started.

"I just think the consistency of the intensity of practice has been good," Reich said. "It's been very competitive. I think it's been very physical. I think our guys are showing a lot of maturity and how we can have a physical practice but not go over the edge and put ourselves in danger. I'm really, really proud of the guys and how they're working."

The Cardinal face a very tough schedule this season that will surely put them through the ultimate tests, but if the Cardinal continue on their current trajectory, they should be ready for whatever comes at them this fall.

Quarterbacks continue to rotate

Over the last few seasons, quarterback play has been a major problem for the Cardinal, with inconsistencies and injury issues taking a toll on the program's aspirations for success. Entering this season, the Cardinal invested heavily on improving their quarterback room, landing guys like Ben Gulbranson and Dylan Rizk from the portal.

While redshirt freshman Elijah Brown started some games last year and entered camp as the presumed starter, Reich is not rushing to name a starter and has made sure to give each one of the quarterbacks a fair share of reps so that he can fully assess what he has.

"We continue to kind of rotate that around," Reich said. "I think everybody's taking advantage of their reps. It's been a good competition. Coach Merkle is doing a really good job with those guys. I really feel good about the group as a whole. I'm excited about this quarterback room, all five of those guys I think are winners and [we're] thankful to have all of them."

Good quarterback play will be priority number one for the rebuilding Cardinal, and while they certainly have other areas to address, making sure that they find the right guy to be their starting quarterback is extremely important if they want any shot at greatness this season.

Roles are starting to be established--but are far from solidified

Through two weeks of camp, things become clearer as to which roles players will have and how much of an impact that will have for the team. While Reich and his staff are already starting to figure that out, there is still a lot that needs to be done before roles are solidified for the season.

"I do think that's what we're looking to do as coaches," Reich said. "We're looking to say, 'who's going to play what role.' Everybody on this team has a role to play. And we value all those roles. So, be a star in your role, right? That's kind of the message, be a star in your role, and I do think that as we go through, everybody's competing for the starting job.

"But there's more than that and I think we all understand that. So really, what we're trying to do as coaches is get the most out of everybody, everyday, and know the role that they play. If we can do that, it's going to emerge. And it's slowly starting to do that but we'll use all the practice coming to us to figure that out."

This year's team looks vastly different from last year's and while some players from 2024 return, a lot of new faces are competing for playing time and a starring role on this season's team.

This year's team has been gelling really well

Bringing in a record number of transfers this season, it is not always known what to expect when a bunch of new guys come into a locker room. But luckily for Reich and his staff, the newcomers have not only embraced the culture and what it means to be a Stanford player, but they have managed to learn the ropes of everything rather quickly and have meshed very well with each other so far.

"The guys who have come in, the 17 transfers, they've really picked up the system quick," Reich said. "Assimilated into the culture really quick. That's a credit to the guys who have come in who are new, but it's also a credit to the culture of the locker room of the guys that are here. I think the chemistry of the team is really strong right now."

Football is the ultimate team sport, with everybody needing to do their job in order to see success. And having good chemistry is the first step towards establishing an identity and playing a good brand of football.

Expectations for the defense are high

Stanford struggled in more ways than one last season, particularly on defense when it came to defending the run and the pass. But one area that the Cardinal were surprisingly good at was forcing turnovers. And from what the defensive unit as shown between spring practice and the early part of camp, Reich is confident that this year's defense can cause problems for opponents.

"I definitely see this defense being aggressive and having a knack for turnovers," Reich said. "I think we've seen it. We saw it in the spring, we're seeing it now again in training camp. I think that's a credit to the coaches and the players.

"There's a mentality, there's an attitude that we're going to get the ball. And what I'm impressed by as an offensive coach is that when our DBs have got their hands on balls, they haven't dropped too many. A lot of times you get through a practice, maybe we had one interception, but we had three that we dropped.

"It feels to me like when our DBs get their hands on a ball, they're coming down with it for the most part. Not 100%, but it's pretty good so that's a good sign."

The ACC is known for being a conference with high-powered offenses, with pretty much every team having an elite quarterback and elite playmakers. In order to combat that and compete against those programs, Stanford will need its defense to step up big time this season.