FIU transfer LB Gaethan Bernadel commits to Stanford
On Christmas Day, Stanford football picked up a commitment from FIU transfer linebacker Gaethan Bernadel. Bernadel was a sophomore this past season at FIU (Florida International University) and picked up an offer from Stanford over the weekend, so his commitment happened pretty fast.
During his two seasons at FIU, Bernadel totaled 147 tackles (80 solo), 11.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and 1 pass deflection. This past season, he had 103 tackles (58 solo), 8 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. The amount of improvement he made from his freshman year to sophomore year is really impressive. He made a huge leap across the board in total tackles, solo tackles, and tackles for loss. He truly was a tackling machine this past season.
As for what Bernadel will bring to The Farm, his numbers speak for themselves. Stanford can expect to be getting a guy who will make a lot of tackles both in the backfield and just in general. Stanford’s defense was porous for much of last year, so to be adding a guy like Bernadel is huge.
Going from Conference USA to the Pac-12 will be an adjustment for Bernadel, but the fact that he improved so much from his freshman year to sophomore year indicates he’s more than capable of growth. His numbers also do speak to him being a very physical player and that’s something that he should have no issue adjusting to. When you get that many tackles, you know how to hit and play with physicality. I don’t care what conference you are in. Bernadel should make his presence felt right away on the physicality grounds alone.
At the end of the season, former Stanford head coach David Shaw said changes were coming in how they were going to attack the transfer portal as well how they would approach NIL. The fact that they already have an undergraduate transfer commit just shows that changes really are coming. And not just coming, they’re already being actively implemented.
This obviously means that Stanford has made a shift in how they process transfer applications while also having more flexibility in things such as course reciprocity which means having courses from other academic institutions count in place of classes that are offered at Stanford. Stanford has a pretty unique course catalog, so having more flexibility in this department is obviously something that they needed to implement and evidently have already implemented.
Earlier in the fall, before Shaw’s announcement to the media about these changes, a source confirmed to CardinalSportsReport.com that such changes were coming both with respect to NIL and transfer portal. The source underscored that these would be changes that would really benefit the program and help them compete in this new era of the transfer portal and NIL. These really are groundbreaking changes for Stanford, who had previously been unsure how to compete in this new era.
It needs to be understood that Bernadel is not the first undergraduate transfer commit in Stanford program history. We have some knowledgeable posters on CardinalSportsReport.com who reminded us that Stanford has had undergraduate transfers in the past. The most recent ones being center Chase Beeler and the late tight end Konrad Reuland. Beeler transferred to Stanford from Oklahoma after his freshman season in 2006, playing for Stanford from 2007-10 (sitting out 2007 due to NCAA transfer rules). Reuland transferred from Notre Dame to Stanford in 2008 after two seasons at Notre Dame (sitting out 2008 due to NCAA transfer rules; playing 2009-10). Both went undrafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, but went on to play in the NFL, mostly at the practice squad/training camp roster level.
With that all being said, Bernadel’s commitment is still important because it is the first undergraduate transfer commit for Stanford in this new era of the transfer portal where guys can play immediately after transferring. And the fact that it has been over a decade since Stanford last took in an undergraduate transfer in and of itself underscores the importance and significance of this addition. It’ll be really interesting to see what kind of impact Bernadel makes and who else Stanford adds from the portal this cycle.
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