Victor Stoffel

Cal added a highly experienced Offensive Tackle from Temple in 6'8, 300 Victor Stoffel today.Stoffel is a two year starter with Temple, and just finished his fifth year in the program. He's Swedish and played one year of HS football (his freshman year) in Nebraska before returning to Sweden.On3 has him in the top 200 of all portal transfers and currently the 4th best available OL. He had offers from Texas A&M and UCF among others before choosing Cal.As he enters his sixth year, Stoffel is clearly improving. He was in the program for three years before getting into games and then became a starter in his fourth year. In 2023, he gave up only two sacks and was PFFs top rated Temple OL and a spot on their first team All-AAC, earned an AAC Honorable Mention mark as well as College Football Networks's AAC lineman of the season (to that point). He's huge with long arms and while 300lbs isn't heavy for someone of that size, he's very solidly built and he plays with good leverage, particularly in the run game. He's a very good run blocker at the point of attack and a solid pass protector who knows how to use his long arms and wide frame to make it hard to get around. Temple's offense utilized a pass heavy spread system, and didn't run the ball often or well though Stoffel stands out on film as very effective in run blocking and on RPO plays. Pass protection wise, Temple does not hold the ball long and were 2nd in the conference in sacks allowed. Stoffel struggled at times with the better speed edge rushers the Owls faced, sometimes getting beat on the outside and occasionally inside with the more laterally quick pass rushers. He only gave up two sacks, which is a testament that he was rarely ever beat early and kept engaged with his defender for a long time, allowing his QB to step up or slide laterally. The film shows him doing a really good job kicking out and moving his feet as well as identifying and handling blitzers. He's also advanced in being able to lock out on rushers with his long arms. He's still a work in progress and not an NFL level college prospect at this point with regard to his pass protetion skills. He looks to have more upside given his good feet and with more strength and an opportunity to refine his technique, could be really good. Stoffel's a likely starter at one of the tackle positions for Cal. Given his frame and athleticism and his trajectory of development, he's got a relatively high ceiling. As a run blocker, he will pick up right where Miller left off and will likely be a plus in that regard. As a pass protector, he's at least as good as Miller with more upside given his frame and feet. I believe his addition will lead to Reimer playing inside or as the primary OT backup and Session playing opposite Stoffel