Three Breakouts for Stanford Football in 2025

With the calendar now onto mid-July, college programs across the nation are beginning to prepare for the start of training camp, where the focus will be on putting together a successful fall campaign.

For some programs, particularly the ones who made the College Football Playoff, this season will be about proving that they have what it takes to win it all. But for other programs, like the Stanford Cardinal, 2025 will be about improvement and growth.

With a largely new roster and a new head coach, times are much different on The Farm this season--with major uncertainty plaguing the program as it begins a new season.

But despite all the questions, there is a lot of confidence within the program that the Cardinal are ready to make some noise. However, in order for them to do that, they will need guys to show out. Here are three players who could be in line for a breakout campaign this fall.

Sam Roush's experience could be key for Cardinal

Last season, tight end Sam Roush finished with career highs in catches (40), yards (334) and touchdown catches (2) and showed just how valuable he was in Stanford's offense. But in 2025, Roush may be asked to do a lot more.

The receiver room saw a massive exodus, with guys such as Emmett Mosley V, Ismael Cisse and Tiger Bachmeier transferring, leaving only one catch from 2024 returning for this season. And while the Cardinal invested a lot in bringing in new receivers from the transfer portal, the players that were brought in do not have a lot of experience having big roles in the Power Five, which could force Roush to be much more involved in the passing game.

One of the highest rated Stanford players in College Football 26, Roush has much higher expectations heading into the fall and could look to be a major focal point on offense. If Elijah Brown ends up winning the starting QB spot, Roush would also be one of the few pass catchers on the roster that Brown is familiar with, which could lead to a helpful bond for the young QB.

Tevarua Tafiti can help fill void of David Bailey's departure

Edge Tevarua Tafiti has slowly evolved into a big part of the defense for Stanford, starting a handful of games last season. But, with sack leader David Bailey transferring to Texas Tech, it opens up a full-time starting spot for Tafiti.

Bailey led the team in sacks for two straight seasons, finishing with seven last year and five in 2023. But, after Bailey, the next-highest sack total for the Cardinal was 3.5 in 2024, showing that aside from Bailey, getting to the quarterback was a major issue for the Cardinal.

But now that Tafiti is likely to take on a full-time starting role, this season will be his chance to really showcase his skills and make up for the lost production of Bailey.

Elijah Brown

Aside from playing the most important position in football, the Cardinal need quarterback Elijah Brown more than ever. Quarterback play has been an issue for the program for the last couple of seasons, getting inconsistent performances from the starters in both 2023 and 2024.

Brown, a former four-star recruit, got the chance to start some games last year but an injury limited him to only three starts and hampered his development. Now back and fully healthy, Brown will partake in a quarterback competition during training camp that should push him to grow and develop even more.

The frontrunner for the role, despite the Cardinal landing a couple quarterbacks in the portal--most notably Dylan Rizk from UCF--a big season from Brown could be the ticket towards a much improved season for Stanford football.