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One move that has flown under the radar for the Stanford Cardinal football team this offseason is the incoming transfer of Cal Bears defensive end Brennan Scarlett. It may seem like a nonfactor at face value, but the addition takes some significant strain off of Stanford’s big weakness heading into 2015.
Note: It may seem weird Scarlett flopped to Cal’s arch rival, but he wanted to play alongside his brother Cameron, who is a freshman running back for Stanford.
It’s no secret that the Cardinal face a tough offseason, as eight of their defensive starters have moved on either due to graduation or transfer. While Stanford has plenty of young talent to tap, the major turnover is certainly going to come with its fair share of hiccups.
By adding a veteran presence such as Scarlett – a graduate transfer, which means he doesn’t have to sit out a year – to the mix, the Cardinal will be in a much better position as the 2015 season rolls around.
Scarlett started this last season as the Bears’ starting defensive end. However, he suffered a torn ACL in the fifth game, and spent the rest of the season watching from the sidelines. Despite four injury-filled years in Berkeley, the four-star prospect still has plenty of potential waiting to be tapped. If he can get healthy and stay there, it’s not out of the question to think he could make a big impact for the Cardinal in 2015.
Replacing Henry Anderson, David Parry and Josh Mauro certainly won’t be easy. However, with Scarlett joining Aziz Shittu and Solomon Thomas along the defensive front, the Cardinal are in a much better position than they were before the transfer went down.
If anything, the transfer adds some fuel to the fire that is the Stanford-Cal rivalry.
