2026 Fall Camp: Week 3 Recap2026 Fall Camp: Week 3 Recap
Rece Beaugh
Football

2026 Fall Camp: Week 3 Recap

One week of training camp remains

STANFORD, Calif. — The third week of training camp for Stanford football was the most physical and intense week yet. The team took major strides towards game-day pace over the most recent five practices, building on the progress made in the initial weeks of practice.

The mentality has not changed, according to the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, Tavita Pritchard. The focus is on the next rep, the next practice. Going back to spring ball, that’s where the mindset has been at for the Cardinal.

Through three weeks of fall camp, when focusing on the defensive side of the ball, that group embodies that mindset to a T. Every practice, they are flying around, glued to the ball, and making high-level, impact plays. It was on display even more so during the third week of camp, when the number of team periods increased.

Should that be a surprise to Cardinal fans? Probably not. While the defense has struggled as a whole over the last few years, there were major strides taken last year. Stanford was top-15 in the country in opponent red zone touchdown percentage (50%), and Stanford posted its fewest rushing yards per game allowed since 2014 (119.3). The Cardinal also allowed its fewest points per game since 2018.

Another reason that isn’t a surprise? Kris Richard, Stanford’s new Willie Shaw Director of Defense and Defensive Backs Coach, is known for fast and physically dominant defenses. As football fans are well aware, he was the defensive backs coach for the “Legion of Boom” in Seattle and spent three years as the team’s defensive coordinator, including the 2015 season that saw the Seahawks rank second in the NFL in total defense.

Richard isn’t surprised, which should give Stanford fans a reason for optimism.

“The effort and attitude have been fantastic. There’s no blinking. No one’s wavering. We just continue to press on with improvement.”

A couple of the leaders on this year’s defense agree with Richard. Matt Rose enters his fifth season on The Farm, and second as one of the team’s starting inside linebackers. He bloomed during his senior year, recording the most tackles by a Cardinal in over a decade, and finishing top-25 in the country in that statistic. He landed on the Butkus Award watch list for best linebacker in the nation just a week ago.

Another is Braden Marceau-Olayinka, a senior defensive lineman who is Stanford’s nominee for the Wuerffel Trophy. Marceau-Olayinka has been a rotational piece up front for past Cardinal defenses but now figures to start after making his first three starts one season ago.

Both veteran defensive players have enjoyed playing for Richard’s defense, and feel that it’s raised the level of competition between each group on the field.

“I love our mindset and how we attack each and every day,” Rose said. “At the end of the day, we’ve executed well, but the main thing is that we’re playing hard, ruthlessly, and relentlessly, which are some of the staples that Coach Richard talks about daily.”

“We talk about ‘T.R.I.B.E.’ on defense, and that ‘E’ stands for ‘Earn.’ Everything we have, everything we want, we have to go earn it,” mentioned Marceau-Olayinka.

The concept of earning everything spreads to the offensive side of the ball, too, where many positions are up for grabs. Whereas Stanford’s defense returns 62% of its production from a season ago, the Cardinal’s offense is only slated to return four of its 11 starters, with just one of those being a skill position player (Micah Ford).

One of those guys fighting for time is Benji Blackburn, who started alongside current Chicago Bears tight end Sam Roush last season. Blackburn figures to step into a larger role in 2026, and has the size and skills capable of being the next in a long line of standout tight ends on The Farm. With limited playing time to this point in his career, Blackburn was already named a Preseason All-ACC Fourth Team player on Phil Steele’s annual preseason watch list.

Part of what has made Blackburn’s training camp successful is his willingness, along with his teammates, to see the offense from the outside looking in, as opposed to solely looking at the offense through the lens of their position. That’s part of the emphasis the coaching staff has put on the offense this camp, and also part of wanting to grow as an individual.

“In previous years, I’ve been more focused on the tight end position and not the ‘X’ or the ‘Z,’ per se,” Blackburn explained. “Now I’m looking at the offense in its entirety, so I get to learn more about my position because I know what other people are doing on the same play. It gives me a more nuanced perspective on what’s really happening on each play and makes me a better football player.”

The result? An offense that has a better understanding of personnel and concepts, and that’s led to big plays, says quarterback Davis Warren.

“When people think of Stanford, they might not think ‘explosive,’ but I think that’s something we’ve been this camp,” said Warren. “We’re looking to take shots, and we’re looking to generate big plays in the run game”

Warren, who transferred to Stanford from Michigan, is in a wide-open quarterback battle. Despite having nine starts with Michigan following the Wolverines’ 2023 national championship, he missed the entirety of the 2025 season due to injury. He’s in a new quarterback room that lacks Stanford experience: no quarterbacks on the roster have made a start for the Cardinal.

While that position naturally can be lonely at times, as Warren puts it, and even more so given the lack of experience that group has, he has nothing but confidence in whoever gets the nod to open the season.

“We know that whoever’s out there on the field is a product of all the work that we’ve put in,” he explained. “The way we’ve set the quarterback room up, it’s been everyone pushing each other to be the best versions of themselves, and that makes it really fun.”

The final week of training camp takes place the week of Aug. 17 before the team begins to transition to Hawai’i week preparation.

Tavita Pritchard - 2026 Fall Camp Week 3 Media Availability

Tavita Pritchard spoke with members of the media as the third week of training camp began.