Stanford Cardinal Embarks on New Journey in ACC

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Day two of the Atlantic Coast Conference Media Days brought the opportunity to welcome the third new member to the conference—the Stanford Cardinal. In a disappointing 2023 season that saw the Cardinal end its time in the Pac-12 Conference at 3-9, the Stanford program had some bright spots like their thrilling double overtime win against Colorado, but they were few and far between. As the ACC welcomes Stanford, the Cardinal is excited to embark on a new journey.

New Journey

Reporters asked coach Troy Taylor if he was excited to join the ACC conference. Taylor answered, "We're thrilled to be here. Thank you. Unbelievable conference. Some great traditions, great coaches, great area of the country. We're excited about it." He added, "It's also good for us in terms of recruiting. A lot of our roster comes from this side of the country. An opportunity to come out and play here three times a year on this coast. I think it's going to continue to help us in recruiting."

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A big concern for all the ACC programs is cross-country travel. On that subject, Taylor said, "We have a pretty good plan. We're going to go out a day early. On a Saturday game, we'll go out on Thursday. Fly in the evening, hopefully, get our players acclimated the next day, then we pick up three hours flying back to the West Coast." He added, "Yeah, never done it before, back-to-back trips. There are harder things to do. Our guys do a great job of adjusting. They'll balance the two things of being a student and an athlete. We'll make sure that we do great things in terms of larger planes when we travel, going out a day early."

Asked to comment on the commencement of ACC play, Taylor said, "Just process. Like I said, doing the small things every day, staying focused on those things. Where we're playing and who we're playing, all those things are kind of secondary to our process and our preparation, what we do day in and day out. That's how we live."

Taylor said he and his players are looking forward to the opportunity to play on the Atlantic Coast in "three great venues—Syracuse, Clemson and North Carolina State."

WR Elic Ayomanor

One of the bright spots for the Cardinal in 2023, was the emergence of wide receiver Elic Ayomanor. After an ACL injury resulted in him missing the 2022 season, he returned in 2023 and became the first Stanford receiver to pass the 1,000-yard mark since 2018, as he finished seventh in the conference with 1,013 yards and 6 touchdowns. When asked about his production, Ayomanor said, "Yeah, I [was] relatively inexperienced in the first half of the season. Even the second half. [2003 was] my first year playing college football. I tore my ACL my freshman year."

When asked what benchmarks he would have this season after breaking a school record from 1999 last year, Ayomanor said, "Yeah, I'm not really the type of person to set benchmarks in terms of yards or catches or touchdowns." He continued, "I think one thing that I want to do or be able to come away with this season is going into the film room every Sunday and thinking, like, I put my all out there every play."

QB Ashton Daniels

Returning to lead the offense as Stanford begins ACC play, Daniels was asked his thoughts on being coached by Taylor who played the same position in college and in the pro ranks. Daniels said, "Yeah, I mean, it's been amazing. I probably spend the most time with him.... So being with him and just learning from him, taking as many small nuggets as I can to put in my databank helps me as a quarterback."

When asked about traveling to the storied locations in the ACC, specifically Clemson's Memorial Stadium, Daniels said, "I'm extremely excited. It's going to be awesome. They're known to have one of the greatest college football atmospheres. So that's going to be a blast going to play in that." He added, "I'm obviously going to have a lot of family, old coaches, that are going to make the trip up. That will be exciting.

But I'm just excited that we have the opportunity to go and play such a prestigious team, such a prestigious atmosphere. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and a great challenge for us this year."