2023 Stanford Football Predictions and Season Preview

Stanford football finished the 2022 season with a 3-9 record, firing their head coach at the end of the year. Their wins came against Colgate, Notre Dame and Arizona State. They did play five games within ten points, going 2-3 in those spots. It should be noted that their wins against Notre Dame and Arizona State occurred by a combined three points.

DraftKings Sportsbook puts the Stanford win total at 3.0 with the under juiced to -160. Stanford is also dead last to win the Pac-12 with +25000 odds. With that said, let’s dive into our 2023 Stanford football season preview.

2023 Stanford Football Predictions & Season Preview

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Coaching Staff

After firing David Shaw, Stanford brought in Troy Taylor as their new head coach. He previously coached Sacramento State from 2019 to 2022 and coordinated Utah’s offense before that. There is no offensive coordinator on staff, meaning Taylor will call the plays. At defensive coordinator, he hired Bobby April III, who previously coached linebackers at Wisconsin from 2018 to 2022. This staff has shown previous success, but the Stanford admission process puts them at a severe disadvantage in the current college football landscape. Perhaps whatever the revamped Pac-12 will provide more fruitful opportunity in the future.

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Offense

Quarterback

At quarterback, Stanford lost longtime starter Tanner McKee to the NFL Draft. This leaves almost no proven production on the roster. Ari Patu and Ashton Daniels sit atop the roster as the top two options. Patu originally came to Stanford as a borderline top 400 recruit in 2021. Patu has 25 career pass attempts, which he turned into 14 completions, 113 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Patu does appear to have decent mobility with 39 rushing yards on six attempts. Daniels joined the Stanford program as a 3-star recruit last year. He threw the ball six times last year, but he rushed 25 times for 156 yards and three touchdowns. Even with these two providing the most experience, Stanford could turn to a newcomer. They added Syracuse transfer Justin Lamson and a 4-star freshman in Myles Jackson. Neither has any experience, but this will be a four-quarterback battle heading into the fall. It is hard to see any of these players living up to McKee, but this will also be a completely new offense. For now, consider the Syracuse quarterback situation a complete unknown.

Running Back

At running back, Stanford returns their top two options in Casey Filkins and E.J. Smith. Smith started over Filkins last year, but both backs suffered injuries during the season. Last year, Filkins led the team with 478 rushing yards on 122 attempts. He also caught 17 passes for 205 yards. Filkins is 5-foot-11, 206 pounds, registering 2.68 yards after contact and a forced missed tackle on 10% of his attempts last year. Smith is 6-foot-0, 210 pounds, and only played in two games last year. He still rushed 30 times for 207 yards, while catching eight passes. He finished second on the team in rushing, despite playing in two games. Over his career, he averaged 3.0 yards after contact and a forced missed tackle on 32% of his attempts. Behind them, Stanford added Princeton transfer Ryan Butler, who rushed 124 times for 509 yards last year. Butler also caught 14 passes and should provide depth here. While this position lacks high end talent, this is not the weakest position on Stanford’s roster.

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Wide Receiver

In the pass game, Stanford lost their top three receivers in Elijah Higgins, Brycen Tremayne and Michael Wilson from last year. They do return their fifth leading receiver John Humphreys, who caught 39 passes for 348 yards. He is 6-foot-5, 198 pounds, and played out wide 85.3% of the time. He registered a mediocre 1.18 yards per route, ranking 48th in the conference. Basically no other receivers have any experience here. Mudia Reuben caught five passes for 53 yards. He is 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, and could play out wide or in the slot. Bryce Farrell returns after catching 14 passes for 131 yards in 2021. He is 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, and profiles more as a slot. C.J. Hawkins caught two passes for 29 yards. He is 6-foot-5, 238 pounds, and functions as a borderline receiving tight end. Silas Starr returns after catching nine passes over the last two years. He is 6-foot-2, 221 pounds, and also profiles as boundary receiver. The other names on the two deep include Tiger Bachmeier, Jayson Raines and Jason Thompson. None have experience, leaving this receiver room entirely unproven.

Tight End

At tight end, Stanford returns their best offensive player in Benjamin Yurosek. Yurosek finished third on the team in receiving last year with 49 receptions for 445 yards and one touchdown. Yurosek blocked on just 42% of his snaps. Yurosek is not a strong blocker, so using him as a receiver makes more sense for this offense. Behind him, Stanford also returns their second tight end Sam Roush, who played 204 snaps last year. Roush blocked on 64% of his 204 snaps. Roush had superior blocking numbers and could fill this role in 2023. This remains one of Stanford’s stronger positions heading into 2023.

Offensive Line

On the offensive line, Stanford lost center Drake Nugent, guard Jake Hornibrook, tackle Walter Rouse and tackle Myles Hinton. They do return Levi Rogers, who played 710 snaps at right guard in his first year starting. They also return Jack Leyrer, who played 261 snaps and started four games between the two tackle positions. The rest of Stanford’s offensive line is a mess. Lucas Heyer projects to fill in at guard after one snap last year. He was just a freshman last year, so perhaps there is growth. Logan Berzins projects to play center after 92 snaps last year. He has been with the program since 2020 at least. Stanford also added a pair of transfers, who could figure into the mix. Alec Bank comes over from Harvard after starting the past two seasons. He weighs just 285 pounds, which could be an issue in the power five. Stanford may opt to move him inside as well after playing left tackle at Harvard. Trevor Mayberry comes in from Penn, where he started the last two years as well. Similar to Bank, he profiles as more of a guard. With little returning production and lower level transfers rounding out this roster, Stanford projects to struggle on the offensive line in 2023.

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Defense

Stanford ranked 128th on defense in 2022. This included the 130th-ranked run defense, 67th-ranked pass rush and 99th-ranked secondary. This defense a ton of production, including seven defensive backs, three linebackers and two edge defenders. Without many portal additions, this team will lean on depth in 2023.

Defensive Line

Despite losing Stephon Herron and Aeneas DiCosmo, Stanford has some experience on the edge. David Bailey and Lance Keneley return 430 and 240 snaps apiece. Bailey led the team with 7.5 tackles for loss, while logging 1.5 sacks and 43 total tackles. Keneley notched 25 tackles, four tackles for loss and one sack, giving this team decent returning production. Aaron Armitage also gave them 149 snaps off the edge last year, which will almost certainly increase.

The only position on defense unaffected by transfers, Stanford returns their top three interior defensive linemen. The problem remains overall talent with this group. Tobin Phillips played 572 snaps but struggled against the run with just 33 tackles. The same can be said for Jaxon Moi, who played 453 snaps and made 22 tackles. Their third defensive tackle, Anthony Franklin played 412 snaps as well with similar struggles. While experienced, this unit lacks any sort of talent to stand up the rushing attacks in this conference.

Linebacker

At linebacker, Stanford lost three of their top playmakers in Levani Damuni, Jacob Mangum-Farrar and Ricky Miezan. Their only returning player with any sort of experience is Tristan Sinclair. Last year, Sinclair played 328 snaps and also struggled mightily in the run game. He finished with 37 tackles and one interception. The other projected starter is Florida International transfer Gaethan Bernadel. Bernadel started and played 772 snaps for the Panthers last year. He logged 103 tackles and will be asked to duplicate that production within this defense. They also added Wisconsin transfer Spencer Lytle, who has 59 snaps over three seasons with the Badgers. This unit remains a weakness.

Defensive Back

At corner, only Omari Porter returns any sort of experience. Making matters worse, he only played 106 snaps last year. The other two projected starters are Collin Wright and Zahran Manley. Wright played 22 snaps last year as a true freshman last year. Manley did not see the field in 2022, but he logged 204 snaps back in 2021 with decent numbers. Stanford did recruit a 4-star corner in Jshawn Frausto-Ramos, who will likely be pressed into action early in his career.

At safety, Stanford returns 297 snaps from Alaka’i Gilman. Gilman did log 38 tackles and one interception, which is not terrible production on his snaps. The other two contributors project to be Mitch Leigber and Scotty Edwards. Leigber played some running back for Stanford last year but has almost no experience to his name. Edwards logged 30 snaps in one game against Utah after previously entering the Stanford program in 2020. The entire secondary is a complete mess and could push for the worst unit in all of college football.

2023 Stanford Football Predictions & Schedule

2023 Stanford Football Schedule

The Cardinals play a non-conference schedule consisting of Hawaii, Sacramento State and Notre Dame. Within Pac-12 play, they draw Oregon, UCLA, Washington, USC and Oregon State from the top five projected teams. That is not saying too much, with Stanford projected to come in as an underdog in every single conference game.

2023 Stanford Football Futures Bet & Prediction

The Cardinals over/under 3.0 wins is juiced to -160 towards the under. The Cardinals should pick up two wins in non-conference, but any wins within the Pac-12 would be a major surprise. For that reason, eating the juice and playing Stanford under 3.0 wins makes the most sense here.

Best Stanford Football Futures Bet: Under 3.0 Wins (-160 at DraftKings)

You can read the rest of Matt Gajewski’s 2023 college football season previews and predictions below!

2023 Stanford Football Predictions and Season Preview

2023 Stanford Football Predictions & Season Preview

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Coaching Staff

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Offense

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Defense

2023 Stanford Football Predictions & Schedule

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2023 Stanford Football Predictions & Season Preview

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Coaching Staff

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Offense

2023 Stanford Football Season Preview: Defense

2023 Stanford Football Predictions & Schedule

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