Stanford’s fall camp is in the books, and the message coming out of the final day was simple: the Cardinal believe they’re a different team than the one that opened camp.
The 20th and final practice of training camp took place Saturday inside Stanford Stadium, and the closing session carried the same edge Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football Tavita Pritchard had been pushing all week.
“Finish” was the word, and Stanford showed it on both sides of the ball. The offense found ways to move the football.
The defense forced a turnover and came up with stops. Special teams, too, looked sharp.
Pritchard has made it clear that the growth he’s seen since the start of camp matters. From the first reps in jerseys and shorts to the final day in pads, Stanford has taken steps forward in every phase. He said in a conversation with offensive lineman Aidan Kilstrom on Friday that the team got “right to the edges” during one practice this week with its energy and competition, and that kind of work is exactly how a group grows.
That development isn’t supposed to stop now that camp is over. Pritchard said after Saturday’s practice, “We’re back in windshield mode,” he explained following Saturday’s last practice of training camp.
“I promise you the teams that will have the best seasons are the ones that will develop consistently over the course of the year and keep getting better. We are going to be one of those teams.”
A big part of that growth has come in two of the most unsettled rooms on the roster: cornerback and wide receiver. Both groups have seen plenty of turnover from a season ago, and with Week 0 approaching, playing time is still wide open. Between the two positions, Stanford brings back only one starter on each side of the ball.
At cornerback, that returning starter is Brandon Nicholson, who looks set for a big junior year. Nicholson has a nose for the football, picking off three passes in two seasons of limited action, including a two-interception outing at home against Pitt last November. He’s made 11 starts over his first two college seasons, and no cornerback on Stanford’s roster has more career starts.
Nicholson said the secondary as a whole grew more confident throughout camp, and that the trust in the system installed by Willie Shaw Director of Defense Kris Richard helped the group become more disruptive. With camp now complete, Nicholson says the approach doesn’t change.
“That’s one of the good things our coaches have done. We’ve approached every day and practiced like a game day,” Nicholson said.
“So the only real shift is that some of the film we’ll be watching is going to be Hawai’i-based. But as far as our style and mentality, that’s all going to stay the same.”
Across from him, one of the receivers he spent much of camp battling is JonAnthony Hall. The four-star recruit from Fishers, Ind., arrived with real expectations for 2025, played in the season opener on Oahu last year, and then saw his first college season cut short by injury. Now healthy, Hall said that experience has changed how he views every snap.
“The way that my own personal journey has gone, with how last year played out, I can never take stepping on this field for granted,” he mentioned. “Every time I come out here, I try to get one percent better and prove why I belong here and make up for lost time.”
Hall brings good size at 6-1, 190 pounds, but it’s the ease in his movement that stands out. Nicholson pointed to his progress during camp, and Hall said the same kind of competition that defined his own path was happening all over the receiver room.
Outside of the lone returning starter there, Caden High, the top returning numbers belong to Marcus Brown, who had 12 catches for 86 yards last season. That made camp a real fight for snaps, with plenty of players pushing each other in the way Pritchard wanted all along.
Hall said after the final practice that the group went through a journey during camp and came away making big plays. His read on the room matched the broader mood around the team: there’s a “boiling excitement” heading into Saturday’s season opener.
Stanford’s final camp message was clear. The Cardinal say they’re ready for Hawai’i.