Although Stanford had fared poorly during the previous seasons, Thornhill had left behind a team with a talented roster, which included 24 returning lettermen. Shaughnessy believed the players were good, but unsuited to the single-wing offense that his predecessor had employed. Perhaps most importantly, Shaughnessy inherited back Frankie Albert, whom he considered a prototypical T formation quarterback. In 1943, Shaughnessy wrote that he considered the 1940 Stanford backfield—quarterback Frankie Albert, fullback Norm Standlee, right halfback Hugh Gallarneau, and left halfback Pete Kmetovic—as the greatest in history. While he believed the Indians backfield was better than any such combination in the single-wing, double-wing, short punt, or box formations, he added the caveat that this held true only in the Stanford players' employment in the T-formation.