Wilner: Keller Chryst to miss six months, Ryan Burns to transfer

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News reports that Keller Chryst will be out for at least six months - putting his status for training camp up in the air - and that fellow QB Ryan Burns will transfer.

Chryst was presumed to be the starter for the Cardinal heading into next season, but injured his knee and was forced to leave the Sun Bowl against North Carolina, which CBS Sports’ Bruce Feldman said was a torn ACL.

Wilner wrote this about Chryst’s timetable to return:

The exact nature of the injury will frame the timeline for recovery. Sources said Chryst, a junior, will miss at least six months from the time of surgery, which would peg his return to late July or the first half of August, at the earliest.

A longer rehabilitation would likely rule out Chryst’s availability for the start of the season, which itself is a moving target.

Stanford is expected to face Rice in Sydney, Australia one week earlier than the official opening for most major college teams.

If the Sydney event is finalized for Aug. 26, the Cardinal would have a week off to recover and play its second game, expected to be the conference opener, on Sept. 9.

That, sources said, could be the preliminary target date for Chryst’s return to the lineup.

Burns, who fell out of the starting job midway through the season, is now expected to transfer - his next stop is not yet known - leaving redshirt freshman KJ Costello to run Stanford’s offense during spring practice.

These are all major developments for the Cardinal because the position seemed to be one of the deepest places for talent at this time last year. And while five-star recruit Davis Mills is committed to Stanford next season, the position is essentially all in Costello’s hands right now.