Stanford's Quarterback Quandary; Coaching Salary Insanity; 49ers' Moves

Once upon a time, Stanford was known as "Quarterback U."

It was the place where great quarterbacks came to play and develop, run a pro-style, high-powered offense, earn a bunch of honors and perhaps lead the nation in passing.

My, how times have changed.

Last week the folks at ESPN ranked the 2026 starting quarterbacks for all 68 Power 4 college football teams as they head into spring practice.

There are a ton of good quarterbacks returning this fall. The top tier includes Trinidad Chambliss at Ole Miss, CJ Carr at Notre Dame, Dante Moore at Oregon, Arch Manning at Texas, Julian Sayin at Ohio State, Gunner Stockton at Georgia, and transfers Darian Mensah at Miami (from Duke), Brendan Sorsby at Texas Tech (Cincinnati), Josh Hoover at Indiana (TCU), and Sam Leavitt at LSU (Arizona State). 

Cal's Jaron-Kaewe Sagapolutele was ranked No. 22 in this projection. He should've been higher, in my estimation.

Which brings us back to Stanford. You know, the school that produced all-time greats Jim Plunkett (above left), John Elway (above right), Andrew Luck (above middle), Frankie Albert and John Brodie. Not to mention Bobby Garrett, Guy Benjamin, Mike Boryla, Turk Schonert, Steve Dils, Steve Stenstrom, Gary Kerkorian, Todd Husak, Kevin Hogan, Don Bunce, and Davis Mills.

The school that now has Luck as its football GM and another former Cardinal QB, Tavita Pritchard--the guy who led Stanford to the greatest upset in college football history--as its head coach.

Well, according to ESPN, where does the Cardinal rank among the 68 Power 4 conference teams in quarterback quality?

No. 68. Dead last.

The Cardinal's projected starter is former Michigan walk-on Davis Warren, who transferred to Stanford in January. ESPN thinks Warren will beat out returnee Charlie Mirer, another walk-on, as well as transfer Dylan Rizk from UCF and incoming freshman Mike Mitchell.

Given Warren's unimpressive play in nine starts at Michigan in 2024, Rizk's brief playing time at UCF, and Mirer's total lack of experience, it's hard to argue with that rating. Unless Mitchell comes in blazing, the picture is pretty bleak.

How did Stanford get to this shockingly sad state of affairs, where a school with perhaps the richest quarterback tradition in college football has the worst quarterback room in the country?

For starters, bad recruiting.  Stanford has mis-fired on a number of prospects and lost out on the highest rated QBs. 

The best high school quarterbacks in the country used to flock to Stanford. Now they look at places like Ohio State, Alabama, Miami, Michigan, Texas and Indiana, where they can get more exposure and a better chance to reach the College Football Playoff. 

It's tough to attract top prospects to a down program that has had seven straight seasons with only three or four wins.

Then there's the coaching. Chuck Taylor, John Ralston (with Mike White), Bill Walsh (with Rod Dowhower), and Jim Harbaugh (with Greg Roman and David Shaw) were big draws. They had a track record of developing great quarterbacks. 

In recent years, Stanford quarterbacks haven't progressed. You could argue that some have regressed.

But perhaps the biggest problem has been the transfer portal. 

Several Stanford quarterbacks have left for greener pastures, as in more NIL money, better coaching, more TV exposure, and a more realistic shot at the CFP and ultimately, the NFL. At the same time, because of admissions standards and application deadlines, it's difficult for the Cardinal to attract many transfers.

Consider the quarterbacks who've left Stanford in the last year alone.

Bear Bachmeier, a top 2025 recruit, transferred to BYU after spring practice. Last fall, as a true freshman, he passed for over 3,000 yards and 15 touchdowns, completed 65% of his passes, rushed for 624 yards and another 11 TDs, leading BYU to an 11-2 record.

Ashton Daniels, Stanford's talented but inconsistent starter in 2023 and '24, transferred to Auburn for a reported $1 million payday, while projected to serve as a backup. He started the last four games, played very well in close losses to Alabama and Vanderbilt, passed for 797 yards and 3 touchdowns, rushed for 280 and another two scores. He's changing uniforms again this fall and will start for Florida State.

Justin Lamson, who transferred in from Syracuse, was Stanford's "running quarterback" in '23 and '24, completing less than 50% of his passes (62 of 135), but rushing for 13 touchdowns. 

He left Stanford for Division II powerhouse Montana State last year and suddenly went from Clark Kent to Superman.

Lamson led his team to the FCS National Championship. completing 72% of his passes for 3,172 yards and 26 touchdowns, with only three interceptions. He rushed for 734 yards and 16 more TDs. In the national championship game, Lamson threw the game-winning touchdown on 4th-and-10 in overtime to beat Illinois State, 35-34.

Elijah Brown was hailed as the Second Coming when he was recruited out of Mater Dei H.S. three years ago, having led his team to two state championships and a 44-2 record in four years as a starter.

But he never matured or developed at Stanford,  playing behind Daniels, Lamson, and the unremarkable Ben Gilbranson, before finally starting the second half of the '25 season. He threw for only four touchdowns, consistently missed open receivers and held the ball too long, taking more sacks than a bagger at Safeway. He reportedly was told he no longer fit into Stanford's plans and transferred to Washington, where he will back up Demond Williams.

There's no doubt the Cardinal would love to have Bachmeier, Daniels or Lamson right now.

Instead, "Quarterback U" is  staring into the abyss.

Coaching Salary Insanity: It's getting very expensive to compete at the highest levels in college football.

Most of the top tier teams--Ohio State, Texas, Texas Tech, Oregon, Ole Miss, Indiana, Alabama, LSU and Georgia--are spending between $40 and $50 million on talent acquisition this year.

And some are also spending incredible amounts on their coaching staff.

Ohio State, for example, will spend almost $28 million for its football coaches, including $12.6 million for head coach Ryan Day and $15.3M in base salaries for its 12 primary assistants, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Seven of Day's assistants are earning seven-figure salaries, highlighted by defensive coordinator Matt Patricia's $3.75M, followed by Co-DC Tim Walton at $1.8M, defensive line coach Larry Johnson at $1.5M, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith at $1.5 and the trio of Kennan Bailey, Tyler Bowen and Matt Guerrieri at $1M each.

It's hard for me to understand why Patricia deserves $3.75 million, when he has a co-defensive coordinator, or how Day can justify spending $5.55 on two DCs.

I always come back to the fact that we hired Bill Walsh at Stanford in 1977 for $40,000. 

49ers' Moves: Brilliant move by the 49ers in signing Mike Evans, one of the greatest receivers in the NFL. The future Hall of Famer, who recorded 1,000 yard seasons 11 straight years before missing much of '25 with an injury, will give QB Brock Purdy and head coach Kyle Shanahan a No. 1 wideout with the size (6-5, 231), physicality and ability to make a difference in the Red Zone and on 50/50 balls. Evans is the perfect complement to running back Christian McCaffrey and tight end George Kittle, who apparently was quite the salesman in persuading Evans to sign with the 49ers.

“I felt like (the Niners) were one piece away,” said Evans, a Super Bowl champion, “and I think that I’m that piece.”

He might just be right.

The 49ers made another good move in reclaiming linebacker Dre Greenlaw. General manager John Lynch fell asleep at the wheel last year in allowing Greenlaw to sign a three-year, $35 million deal with the Broncos, but not this time. They quickly grabbed Greenlaw after Denver released him last Tuesday.

49ers fans may recall that in the 2024 Super Bowl, with Greenlaw leading the way, SF had completely shut down the Chiefs offense before he suffered a torn Achilles and the game turned.

Great to have him back.