Stanford quarterback Ben Gulbranson is expected to return from an injured knee and start Saturday at Miami, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
Gulbranson, who is expected to be listed as probable, suffered the injury in the second quarter of Stanford's upset of Florida State last week and sat out the rest of the game.
The Cardinal are 3-4 in Frank Reich's interim season and have wins over FSU, Boston College and San Jose State. Gulbranson has thrown for 1,535 yards and seven touchdowns, completing 58.4% of his passes.
Gulbranson's play has improved significantly after struggling in the first two games against Hawaii and BYU, when he threw a combined three interceptions with no touchdowns and completed just under 52% of his passes.
Since then, he has seven touchdowns against only two inceptions in a five-game stretch. His 444 passing yards against San Jose State were the third most by a quarterback in Stanford history; only Davis Mills and Todd Husak threw for more yards in a game.
Gulbranson is a sixth-year senior who started his career at Oregon State in 2020. He went 7-1 as a starter in 2022 and led the Beavers to a blowout of Florida in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Redshirt freshman Elijah Brown replaced Gulbranson after the injury. He was 6-for-12 for 71 yards in his first snaps of the season as he led Stanford to victory.