Mater Dei QB Elijah Brown could potentially be Stanford's most important QB recruit since Andrew Luck

After years of dominance that saw Stanford win the Pac-12 three times in the span of four seasons the Cardinal have since fallen to the depths of the sport.

Whether it be due to David Shaw's reluctance to change literally anything or the advancements of the transfer portal and NIL, the Cardinal are playing catch up these days. While the new staff has made strides in the transfer portal bringing in four transfers already, and Lifetime Cardinal is making a push in the NIL lane, Troy Taylor and company have quite the uphill battle to climb in order to return the Cardinal to the pinnacle Shaw once had them at.

Recruiting in this modern era comes down to playing time, NIL, and obviously the on-field product. With an improved NIL, and a roster full of inexperienced players Stanford can offer two of the three necessities, but until their on-field product is better recruiting will prove to be tough. Not to mention they have the most strict academic requirements of any program in the Power 5 if not college football in general. 

However, there is one type of recruit that can negate every requirement, and that is a highly touted quarterback that has a reputation amongst fellow recruits. We saw it when Arch Manning committed to Texas, Shedeur Sanders going to Jackson State, and even with Caleb Williams transferring to USC. It is a Field of Dreams type of appeal, but rather than building a baseball field in a corn field it is the landing of an elite quarterback recruit.

Something that according to reports on Monday, Stanford is in a prime position to do so when it comes to four-star quarterback Elijah Brown. The Cardinal received great news when two recruiting insiders from On3 both put in predictions that resulted in Stanford landing who 247Sports has ranked as the No. 33 player in the country.

Brown is more than just a four-star quarterback though, as he hails from football powerhouse Mater Dei and is in the midst of one of the most successful high school careers ever, holding a 29-1 record as the starter. Aside from his on the field success he obviously has relationships with other highly touted players, as in the class of 2024 alone seven of the top-31 players are his teammates at Mater Dei, with five of the top-10 players being his teammate in the class of 2025 as well. Regionally, including Brown and Alabama quarterback commit Julian Sayin, 13 of the top-15 recruits in the state reside in Southern California.

If Stanford is able to secure Brown, it gives them an infinitely better chance at attracting his teammates and other recruits in his area. In an era of recruiting that heavily relies on the program's commits themselves doing some recruiting of their own, having someone as respected and popular as Brown could help speed up Stanford's rebuild dramatically. We are witnessing an era of players being very vocal and open to teaming up or being package deals, and it is hard to imagine that at least a handful of players wouldn't do so with Brown.

I personally think he could be the most important quarterback recruit for Stanford since Andrew Luck who was a highly ranked four-star himself, and was as pivotal as it gets in helping Stanford reach peaks they had never reached before. Obviously only time will tell if the Cardinal can land Brown, or how good he will be, but it would certainly provide an element of appeal that the Cardinal could be short on at the moment, as Taylor and company look to rebuild Stanford's reputation. Luck put Stanford on the map, and it will take another special talent like Brown to do so again. Obviously the Cardinal could have the next really good quarterback on the roster in Ari Patu, Ashton Daniels, or even four-star Myles Jackson but it is a recruit the caliber of Brown that will help them ascend to the status they once had. 

 Landing Brown would be the much needed recruiting win for Taylor and his staff, but in order to so they will have to fend off the likes of USC, UCLA, and Arizona State among others. 

According to 247Sports, Brown has official visits scheduled with UCLA for May 5 and Stanford on June 2. He also plans to see USC at the end of June, and is still figuring out a date with the Sun Devils. 

Going back to the three crucial things a recruit looks for, each one of those programs have a highly touted freshman quarterback who will either be in their second year as the starter, or looking to be the guy by the time Brown gets to campus, whereas Stanford has the cleanest path to the field. 

The Cardinal need to throw the kitchen sink at Brown, and if they succeed they will begin gaining even more traction on the recruiting trail. There is no quick fix for a program that has struggled as much as Stanford has recently, but the way to speed up the process is to land a transcendent recruit like Brown.