Stanford’s starting QB vs. K-State still TBD; several key players out multiple weeks with injuries

The Stanford quarterback competition between senior Jack West and sophomore Tanner McKee will continue into the season.

Coach David Shaw said that both players will take snaps when the Cardinal opens against Kansas State Saturday at AT&T Stadium (9 a.m., FS1).

“I won’t say how they’ll rotate, but they’ll rotate in this first game, and we’ll see how things go from there,” Shaw said.

Shaw said that the delayed announcement on who will start is because both players deserve to play, and not as a way to keep information from the Wildcats.

“I don’t like to play games,” Shaw said. “I don’t need to keep anything from the opposing team. So once we know who is going to start, then we’ll say that.”

The starting role opened up after Davis Mills turned pro and was selected by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

This will actually be the second straight year that West and McKee both played in the season opener.

Mills received a false positive test for COVID-19 right before last year’s first game and was forced to sit out due to testing and tracing protocols. West started and completed 13 of 19 passes for 154 yards, while McKee rotated in and completed 3 of 7 passes for 62 yards in the 35-14 loss at Oregon.

Both quarterbacks were Class of 2018 recruits, though McKee went on a two-year mission in Brazil with the Church of Latter-Day Saints before coming to campus. As a result, West is the most experienced candidate—he also made one start in 2019 when Mills was injured—while McKee is the more highly ranked, having been named the No. 3 pro-style QB in his class behind Trevor Lawrence and JT Daniels.

Shaw said that both players earned playing time thanks to their proficiency leading the offense during training camp, particularly with the mental side of the position.

“As important as anything for us, it’s handling pre-snap and post-snap, between the ears,” Shaw said. “There’s a lot of things that we ask our quarterbacks to do, and both guys have shown the ability to do it. That’s as important to me as throwing the ball, is being able to be that field general and get us in the right plays and the right protection, and then get it to the right guy.”

SIDELINED

Whoever is under center will be missing a big target at wide receiver. Shaw said that senior captain Michael Wilson may not be available until the middle of the season due to an undisclosed injury.

Wilson started the first four games last year and made 19 catches for 261 yards before suffering a season-ending injury. The receptions and yardage were both the third-most on the team, and Wilson was expected to be the 2021 team’s top receiver with the departure of Simi Fehoko.

The secondary will also be without two key contributors, junior cornerback Salim Turner-Muhammed and junior safety Jonathan McGill, for a significant portion of the season due to injuries. Turner-Muhammed started five of Stanford’s six games last year and McGill started four. Senior cornerback Ethan Bonner and fifth-year safety Noah Williams are projected to start in their places on Saturday.

EARLY WAKE-UP CALL

Stanford practiced at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to replicate the start time of Saturday’s game. Shaw said the early kickoff was “ridiculous,” but said that players should be able get as much rest as they can during the week since school hasn’t started yet.