Cal Football Countdown: 32 Days, Fall Camp Preview, QBs
You can feel it, can't you? The calendar is about to turn to August, and when it does, football is back. Not National Signing Day back, not Spring Camp back, but actually, actually back, with actual games just up ahead.
And in the spirit of camp starting up, we're going to "two-a-days" this week -- two positional previews each day heading into the first practice on Friday.
We begin, as always, with the quarterbacks; not only because this is the most important position in sports, but because the ceiling for this year's Cal team is -- maybe even more than previous years -- going to be defined by what production they get from the eventual starter here. Play about as well as last year, and you have a fringe bowl team; maybe 6-6, maybe 7-5, maybe 5-7, depending on how the breaks go after that. Play conference average or better, and then there might be some real noise.
Granted, that's the case for a lot of teams, in a lot of previews across the college football landscape. I am one of only a million bloggers, typing into one of a million typewriters, producing the same take in that regard.
What makes this situation a little different is the other side of the ball, the presence of a once-in-a-generation, could-be-the-best-in-school-history quality defense, and a sense of urgency to maximize success while that defense is still all here. To know you only need 20 points to win most games is a luxury most QBs would kill for, but to have had that luxury for two years and only make two low tier bowls would still leave all in a bit of regret over what could have been. (The almost eerie inverse of the Jared Goff situation, by the way. They made exactly one bowl under the future #1 pick, which I think is fair to say, short of what we would have hoped for, given the talent.)
That is the task that lies ahead for one of the gentlemen below -- they'll receive all the standard expectations of leadership and winning, as all quarterbacks do, but also, a pressing need to at least complement the defense's level of play.
To their credit, they certainly know all this, and have spent an offseason preparing for it. All that's left is living up to it.
Cal Rivals' projected depth chart (pre camp, subject to change based on upcoming practices):
1. Chase Garbers -- He looked like the guy ahead in the spring game, and we have had no reason to drop him since. For Garbers, what to watch for this fall is him being a more decisive run threat, and being able to generate explosive plays down the field with his arm as well -- enough to keep opposing defenses off-balance, at least. If he can produce to a 2017 Ross Bowers level of play -- steady, but unspectacular; mistake-averse, the kind that we did not know we took for granted until the turnover-fest that was last fall -- then you can nudge the team's win projection more firmly over the six win bar. At minimum, we'd like to leave camp knowing that much is in play, with some flashes of something more too.
Justin Wilcox on Garbers:
"I think Chase after spring -- if we were playing tomorrow, Chase would be our starter, and he did a good job in spring. He was more comfortable with the offense, threw the ball with command. He has to play better. But again, he's also a second-year quarterback. So I expect him to play better."
2. Devon Modster -- Trace will share a few more thoughts on Modster here, since my only exposure to him was a spring game in which he barely threw the ball at all, and looked like he was still learning the playbook:
Trace: Modster is unafraid to go deep, that's the first thing I saw with him during spring ball. I saw rust with him during the spring, something that can be knocked off with a ton of practice, which he's had through the summer of throwing with wideouts. Garbers is probably the better runner of the two at this point. He's got some work to do to catch up to Chase, but Wilcox noted that he's had a small sample size to evaluate on so far. The next month will be telling.
3. Spencer Brasch -- Without the benefit of being an early enrollee and barring some sort of fiasco to the two before him, true freshman Brasch will most likely be redshirting to run the scout team this year.
Trace: Brasch has put on 10 lbs during offseason conditioning, and the comment I've heard on him is that he has 'some juice' to his game. Beau Baldwin noted that he liked Brasch's attitude, especially when the former Higley QB lead his team back from a 21 point deficit in the playoffs. Like Nam said, I don't expect Brasch to play this year barring injury, but he's got an intriguing skillset.