10-04-2026, 02:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-04-2026, 03:07 PM by Orange Mark.)
I am dumbfounded by how vulnerable Stanford is to injury. Again.
The O-line has been a patchwork quilt since Week 1. Kilstrom is probably out for the year; Mejia hasn’t seen the field all season.
Against Wake Forest, Stanford was also without three injured defensive starters: LBs Jahsiah Galvan and Matt Rose; CB Brandon Nicholson.
It’s one thing to be completely outmanned, as Stanford has been—and probably will be for the foreseeable future.
It’s another issue entirely when player availability, durability and physical development continue to look like liabilities.
This problem really began to emerge after Shannon Turley was fired in 2019, and it hasn’t abated. The 2019, 2022, and 2024 seasons were marred by inuries that plagued entire position groups. Last year, four veteran DB's missed 24 games combined.
I would have expected Tavita to arrive with a distinct plan to course-correct.
What is the S&C program looking like now?
Under Turley, Stanford reported an 87 percent decrease in the number of games missed because of injury, from 2006–2013.
Five games into Tavita’s tenure, I’m seeing too many of the same old problems that have arisen since Turley left.
The injuries. The physical inferiority. The lack of depth incapable of absorbing either. When will that end?
The O-line has been a patchwork quilt since Week 1. Kilstrom is probably out for the year; Mejia hasn’t seen the field all season.
Against Wake Forest, Stanford was also without three injured defensive starters: LBs Jahsiah Galvan and Matt Rose; CB Brandon Nicholson.
It’s one thing to be completely outmanned, as Stanford has been—and probably will be for the foreseeable future.
It’s another issue entirely when player availability, durability and physical development continue to look like liabilities.
This problem really began to emerge after Shannon Turley was fired in 2019, and it hasn’t abated. The 2019, 2022, and 2024 seasons were marred by inuries that plagued entire position groups. Last year, four veteran DB's missed 24 games combined.
I would have expected Tavita to arrive with a distinct plan to course-correct.
What is the S&C program looking like now?
Under Turley, Stanford reported an 87 percent decrease in the number of games missed because of injury, from 2006–2013.
Five games into Tavita’s tenure, I’m seeing too many of the same old problems that have arisen since Turley left.
The injuries. The physical inferiority. The lack of depth incapable of absorbing either. When will that end?

