Josh Nunes Named Stanford's Starting Quarterback

by Scott Allen on Aug 21, 2025 11:34 AM PDT in Stanford Cardinal Football

Stanford coach David Shaw put an end to months of speculation today by naming redshirt junior Josh Nunes Andrew Luck's successor at quarterback. The announcement comes 10 days before the Cardinal opens the 2012 season against San Jose State.

Nunes and sophomore Brett Nottingham emerged as the favorites to replace Luck in the spring, but neither quarterback separated himself in the race. Nunes orchestrated the first-string offense during the Spring Game, but the competition was too close to call entering the fall.

Shaw has said he wants a QB who helps him sleep at night, while Andrew Luck Director of Offense Pep Hamilton said the competition would come down to who could "best manage bad plays." Shaw's choosing Nunes, who has one more year of experience with the offense and is regarded as a solid game manager, over Nottingham shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

As a longtime reader predicted in an e-mail to me this morning:

I believe we saw how David Shaw thinks in the last 0:57 of the Fiesta Bowl, with respect to how he is thinking in picking his QB. Which means Nunes, as the "sure" and less flashy thing, and not Nottingham as the deeper threat but more vulnerable to mistakes and turnovers.

The quotes around "sure" are apt. Nunes has appeared in four games (all in 2010) during his time on the Farm, completing 1-of-2 passes for seven yards.

Congrats to Josh; we're looking forward to watching you manage some big wins this season, flashy or otherwise.

What do you think of the decision?

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Time will tell...

I was impressed with Nottingham in his brief appearances last year, but can’t really say much about Nunes (he didn’t look great in the spring game, from what I remember). We should know pretty quickly - if the offense sputters against SJS or Duke, that would be a bad sign…

by RickeySteals on Aug 21, 2025 11:52 AM PDT reply actions

Too risk averse.

by Tree&Duck; on Aug 21, 2025 12:39 PM PDT reply actions

But why wait until we have sufficient evidence

Or read all of the remarks Shaw said about the quarterback race when we can overreact based on limited evidence and partial quotes?

by dth1 on Aug 21, 2025 8:39 PM PDT reply actions

For the record, I didn't really have a preference

for one QB over the other. The storyline throughout much of the competition was Nunes = better game manager, Nottingham = bigger arm. In the end, Nunes’ ability to consistently execute the plays that were called in practice earned him the starting nod. I’m cool with that.

Andrew Luck was a damn fine game manager and plenty exciting to watch. He “only” threw for 2,500 yards and 13 TDs as a redshirt freshman, but Stanford scored 35 points per game and went 8-4. It helped that Luck only threw 4 INTs.

Here’s more from Shaw on the decision:
http://stanford.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1399338

by Scott Allen on Aug 21, 2025 9:21 PM PDT reply actions