With Stanford fall camp starting this week, I will be doing a preview of what to look for from all three phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. In this piece, I’ll be looking at the offense.
#1. How does the running back position take shape? Perhaps the most open position battle on offense is at running back. Freshmen Chris Davis Jr., Cole Tabb, and Micah Ford are three guys who have tremendous potential to crack the rotation along with junior Ryan Butler, sophomore Sedrick Irvin, Jr., and sophomore Champ Hampton. Lots of different possibilities and options for Stanford to roll with out of the backfield. It’ll be interesting to see how that all takes shape. If there’s one guy I’m most excited to see, it would probably be Chris Davis, Jr. I just have a feeling he's gonna be really good.
#2. How does the offensive line progress? The offensive line is arguably the most critical unit on the entire team. How they come together this fall will be critical to the Cardinal’s success. Having fifth year center Levi Rogers and fifth year offensive tackle Connor McLaughlin back is huge. Those two guys are going to have to be the anchors of the unit and do all they can to lift up everyone else around them. Redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Fisher Anderson should be competing for a starting spot and then sophomores Luke Baklenko and Simione Pale should also be looking to build on their strong freshman seasons as well.
#3. How do quarterbacks Myles Jackson and Elijah Brown progress behind Ashton Daniels? While junior Ashton Daniels does appear to have a strong grip on the starting quarterback position, it’ll still be interesting to see how redshirt freshman Myles Jackson and true freshman Elijah Brown progress over the course of fall camp. Both guys have tremendous potential, making this an important fall camp for them.
#4. Is Sam Roush ready to lead the tight end room? With Benjamin Yurosek grad transferring to Georgia, junior Sam Roush is now the top tight end on the team. It’ll be interesting to see how Roush performs this fall and whether or not he’s ready to take on that role as being the leader of the room. Personally, I think he’s more than ready to take on such a role. It’s just going to be fun to see him do it for the first time after being the number two guy in the room behind Yurosek.
#5. How much more confident are Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson in their roles? Going back to the quarterback spot, something to look for will be how much more settled in juniors Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson are in their respective roles. Daniels as the presumptive starter and Lamson as a running option. Both guys seemed to settle into their roles as the season went on last year and now with last year behind them, they should look a lot more comfortable.
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