Stanford's First Transfer Portal Offer Addresses One of Biggest Needs

He would represent a huge upgrade for the Cardinal

Nov 9, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Iowa State Cyclones helmets on the bench during the first quarter against the Kansas Jayhawks at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

With the transfer portal opening up on Friday, Stanford football will be searching for upgrades to their roster to give them the best shot possible at finally turning a corner in 2026. Who knows, perhaps they'll even challenge for a bowl game later this year?

One of the biggest needs that the program has is at quarterback, but right someone that can sling it is a group that can keep him standing upright. On Friday, Iowa State offensive lineman Vaea Ikakoula announced on social media that he'd been offered by Stanford.

Obviously an offer isn't a commitment, but we wanted to take a minute to dive into how big of an upgrade Ikakoula would provide to Stanford, if he were to end up on The Farm in 2026.

For starters, he has four years of eligibility remaining, which could be a very good thing for the Cardinal. With the hiring of head coach Tavita Pritchard, the Cardinal are expecting to reach new heights under his leadership on the sidelines. At the same time, the expectation isn't that the program will turn around overnight.

With Ikakoula, he'd potentially be invested for the long haul, and that would allow him and the program to grow together.

What about the numbers?

The 6-foot-3, 355 pound guard played in just four games as a true freshman, and accrued a total of 45 snaps. He was a three-star recruit in the class of 2025, and most of his snaps came in Week 1 against South Dakota, which was also the game in which he graded out the best.

He'd miss time until Week 11 of the season at TCU, earning a snap that week, and then nine and six against Kansas and Oklahoma State. Here is how those numbers looked overall, compared to how Stanford's players rated as a group. The stats used are from PFF+.

	OFF	Pass Block	Run Block
Ikakoula	64.5	68.2	63.5
Stanford O-Line	63.7	52.0	51.1

So here is the thing. The sample size for Ikakoula is fairly small, and roughly half of those snaps were across three games post-injury. That first game against South Dakota, he was largely better, grading out with a 68.6 OFF, 68.3 run block score, and a 60.3 pass block grade.

On the one hand, he's not a sure thing that will certainly improve the Cardinal roster. On the other, he certainly showed signs of being a pretty good offensive lineman in his small sample size, and could certainly be worth the risk.

While an offer isn't a commitment, this does show the type of player that Stanford is targeting in the portal, and the fact that Ikakoula was offered on the opening day likely means that he is at the top of their wish list.

With plenty of time left until the portal closes, we'll just have to wait and see what additions the Cardinal end up making.