Stanford Could be Lurking in the Market For a Power Conference QB

The transfer portal is open for college football, which means this is the time that Stanford can make some big moves to take another step forward in 2026.

Starting Jan. 2 and closing on Jan. 16, players can officially transfer to different programs and play out their remaining eligibility with a fresh start. Many players have already made their intentions known, but can put pen to paper and make things official. For Stanford football, these next two weeks will be pivotal as they look to build a roster worthy of championship contention.

But before Stanford can be successful, it must figure out what to do about the quarterback position. Led by Ben Gulbranson and Elijah Brown in 2025, the Cardinal got good quarterback play at times, but were otherwise plagued by inconsistencies that helped contribute to a 4-8 finish and another bowl-less season.

There is no doubt that quarterback is a big need for the Cardinal, and it appears that Missouri transfer Beau Pribula could be a name to watch.

Announcing that he was transferring at the end of the season, Pribula has drawn considerable interest from top schools, most notably ACC teams such as Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, which are programs he reportedly is planning to visit. But per CBS Sports college football insider Matt Zenitz, Stanford is also in the mix for the soon-to-be fifth year quarterback.

Starting eight games for Missouri in 2025, going 6-2 as the starter, Pribula completed 69.6% of his passes for 1,685 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions while adding 220 yards on the ground and another five touchdowns.

Prior to his time at Missouri, Pribula played at Penn State from 2022-24, redshirting his true freshman season before spending the following two years as the backup to Drew Allar.

Getting Pribula would be huge for Stanford. While he has limited experience as a starter, Pribula has spent his entire college career playing at college football's highest level, including time playing for Penn State in the Big Ten and Missouri in the SEC, and has learned under some elite minded coaches.

He would also stack up favorably to Elijah Brown by a wide margin, according to the PFF+ data available. They gave Brown a 56.1 for overall offense, and a 55.8 for his passing. Meanwhile, Pribula was graded as a 76.2 on offense and a 73.5 passer. This would be a major step up for the Cardinal.

Over the last couple of seasons, the Cardinal have been unable to fully establish who their starting quarterback is, getting inconsistent play from the guys under center. If they are able to get a quarterback like Pribula, it would be a great start to the Tavita Pritchard era and would show how invested Stanford is on finding immediate success in 2026.

The Cardinal have a lot of needs that they will have to fill in the transfer portal this offseason, but it all starts with football's most important position. If Stanford gets an upgrade at quarterback in the portal, there is a good chance that it would attract a lot of other bigger names that could help fill some of the other holes on the roster.

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