Stanford football: Can Cardinal bounce back from injury-riddled 2019?
Improved ground game needed, but aerial attack will be lethal
Jim Harbaugh built an identity for Stanford football around having an elite run game and offensive line to help make things easier for the quarterback.
The Cardinal have churned out a lot of elite running backs over the years, but aside from Andrew Luck, Stanford has not had a quarterback that it can rely on in some time. Davis Mills was a five-star recruit that Stanford stole out of the state of Georgia and when K.J. Costello when out with an injury last season, he stepped in. Although Mills was just 1-5 in his six starts, he flashed his potential and showed why he was the No. 1 quarterback coming out of high school.
Mills threw for nearly 2,000 yards, with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions and completed nearly 66 percent of his passes. He has a lot of talent and David Shaw is going to need to extract every bit of it if the Cardinal are going to challenge in the Pac 12.
From Toby Gerhart to Christian McCaffrey to Bryce Love, Stanford has produced a lot of elite runners over the last decade, but that’s something that is missing from this team. Last year’s starter Cameron Scarlett is gone now and that will mean that Austin Jones will step into that role and he only managed to have 227 yards on the ground last season.
The Cardinal ranked 123rd in rushing offense and that is just not acceptable by any standards. A name for Stanford fans to watch could be E.J. Smith, son of legendary running back Emmitt Smith. He’s a freshman and could challenge for playing time this fall.
One unit that Cardinal fans should be excited for is the receiving corps. Michael Wilson is back after leading the Cardinal in receptions and yards, with 56 catches for 672 yards. The player that has the most potential of the group is redshirt sophomore Simi Fehoko, who was a big-play threat for the offense last year, with 24 catches for 566 and six touchdowns while averaging nearly 24 yards per catch. Connor Weddington is another experienced pass catcher that will should only improve with a full season of having Mills under center.
The guy that the Cardinal will have to replace is tight end Colby Parkinson who was selected in this past year’s NFL draft; replacing a tight end that is that reliable and productive is never easy.
The offensive line was a huge issue for Stanford’s struggling run game last year, but they will welcome back 2018 All-American Walker Little at left tackle and he’s a possible first-round prospect for next year’s draft. Three starters from last year’s line are also back and with Little returning; this unit should be better than it was last season, even if they are still young.