Prior to today's game against Notre Dame, Stanford will be honoring 23 players -- seniors, fifth-year players, and sixth-year players who could be pulling on the Cardinal and White for the final time. Some of these players will move on to the NFL, some may seek out graduate transfer opportunities at other schools, but for most of them this will be the last football game they ever play.
There are always questions about which players are actually leaving, but never more so than this year. Of the 23 players being honored, only three have exhausted their NCAA eligibility, thanks to the Covid-induced reprieve granted all players for the 2020 season. (Chart below.)
David Shaw has said that this could be the most chaotic off-season in the history of college football specifically because of all these variables. Upperclassmen all across the country will have decisions to make, and football programs will feel the crunch on the back end as incoming freshmen take their usual complement of scholarships, leading to some difficult conversations with some of those upperclassmen. This will also impact the transfer portal, as there might not be as many landing places as in a typical year. All of this is to say that it's difficult to know which of these 23 players will be on next year's roster.
This has been the most disappointing season in the last two decades of Stanford football, but my disappointment has never been directed at the players. One of the benefits of writing this blog over the past ten years has been the ability to attend Pac-12 Media Day each summer and meet the players chosen to represent the program. I write this frequently, and I talk about it whenever someone asks me -- Stanford players are different.
Every player on the roster made a decision to take the road less traveled. Each of them had other options that would've been easier, that wouldn't have required taking AP classes, wouldn't have required gathering teacher recommendations, and wouldn't have required going through the application process. (Stanford remains the only FBS school that requires recruits to submit an actual application, just like the rest of the students.)
All of these players have interests beyond football, so it's important to remember that they are much more than linebackers and fullbacks and wide receivers. As fans we might get frustrated by holding penalties or dropped passes, we might fret about last minute losses, and we might wish the Axe weren't temporarily residing on the other side of the Bay, but we must always remember to honor the players.
So I offer my thanks to these 27 young men. I thank you for your hard work on Saturdays, and I applaud you for the papers you've written, the novels you've read, and the problem sets you've conquered. I commend you for your work in the weight room, your time spent studying the playbook, and the hours you spent in meetings. Thank for enduring all of it, but more importantly, thank you for representing the program and the University with class, dignity, and pride.
Thank you.
| Player | Year | Eligibility Remaining |
| Isaiah Sanders | Sixth Year | Exhausted |
| Jordan Fox | Sixth Year | Exhausted |
| Dorian Maddox | Sixth Year | Exhausted |
| Noah Williams | Fifth Year | One year |
| Thunder Keck | Fifth Year | One year |
| Ryan Johnson | Fifth Year | One year |
| Houston Heimuli | Fifth Year | One year |
| Dalyn Wade-Perry | Fifth Year | One year |
| Tucker Fisk | Fifth Year | One year |
| Gabe Reid | Fifth Year | One year |
| Thomas Booker | Senior | One year |
| Michael Wilson | Senior | One year |
| Donjae Logan | Senior | Two years |
| Andres Fox | Senior | Two years |
| Jack West | Senior | Two years |
| Ethan Bonner | Senior | More than two years |
| Dylan Plautz | Senior | More than two years |
| Kendall Williamson | Senior | One year |
| Caleb Kelly | Senior | More than two years |
| Tangaloa Kaufusi | Senior | Two years |
| Kyle Petrucci | Senior | More than two years |
| Jake Lynch | Senior | More than two years |
| Trey LaBounty | Senior | More than two years |
