Cal Football Countdown: 7 Days, Garbers Key to Cal's Season

The Cal Football Countdown continues, with a mere week left until the 2019 season, with a look at number 7, quarterback Chase Garbers.

The Cal defense is going to give the Bears a chance in every game they go into in 2019. But if they want to make the jump that the team expects, Chase Garbers is going to have to be the one to step up his game.

Garbers should be at the top of Cal's offensive depth chart at QB whenever it gets released, he's at the top of the Cal Rivals projected depth chart (Read that Here). He's made strides as a passer, as Cal transitions to a more downfield oriented passing offense, as Justin Wilcox has challenged him to cut out his mistakes that plagued last year.

"You see the comfort within the system, the calm, the demeanor," Wilcox said, "He’s always been a steady character, but he’s just playing and getting confident. Throwing the football with the football with authority, our challenge with him was cutting out the critical error, the forced throw, whatever it may be, and I think he’s continued to do that, cut out those type of plays, because he can be pretty dang effective running the offense, the RPOs, getting it down the field and we’ve got to help him. Run game has got to help him, receivers and tight ends have got to help him, but you can see the growth from last year until now and even start of fall camp until now."

It may also help expectations that something previously unreported came to light earlier this week, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Garbers' arm was shot by the end of last year, which could explain some of the then redshirt freshman's struggles in the passing game. Those struggles led to him averaging just over 125 yards passing per game over the final 5 games of 2018, bottoming out with a 93 yard, 3 INT performance in the Cheez-It Bowl.

The want is there to change that.

"We're trying to push the ball downfield more than last year," Garbers noted, "get guys open in certain spots, our offense has changed a little bit."

With an emphasis on pushing the ball, Garbers has looked more comfortable in throwing the deep balls that didn't connect a year ago, including two in Cal's first fall camp scrimmage that went for scores. One went to TE Collin Moore, a 29 yarder over a linebacker.

"It was a four vert play, the safety was favoring toward the two receivers to the field," Garbers remembered, "Collin ran a great route on the middle linebacker, I just had to deliver the ball, he caught it and did the rest."

Another went to Jeremiah Hawkins, a 56 yard bomb over a safety playing one on one with the speedy Hawkins.

"Safety was also cheated over to the boundry side," Garbers said, "Jeremiah had a one on one route with the safety, he did the rest."

The comfort in the offense is a reminder that Garbers was a four star prospect coming out of Corona del Mar, where he completed more than two-thirds of his passes, with a 47-5 TD-INT ratio as a senior.

The other side of the coin for Garbers is the leadership aspect, and the steps the redshirt sophomore quarterback took in the offseason, with leading PRPs and taking the vast majority of the first team reps in fall camp, have been apparent to his teammates and coaches.

"It has been night and day, not only just his playing style, but his leadership role," wideout Nikko Remigio said, "He’s really taken the offense as his own, and it’s been helpful for all the new guys that come in, and even the guys that had gotten playing experience last year, directing traffic and really taking on that leadership role. He’s done an excellent job stepping up as a QB."

"He’s always commanded things well as far as where guys need to be," Baldwin added, "getting them in the right spot. You might see more vocalness out of him, and I also just think you’ll see a more aggressive approach, and that comes with years for any quarterback. Going from freshman to sophomore year, they get a better view of when and where they can better do that."

The old adage goes that the team takes on the mentality of their leadership, and it's not too much of a stretch to say that Garbers has taken on some of Justin Wilcox's qualities. He's not a yeller, but he's confident, and his actions are going to show as much.

"He’s never going to be the real demonstrative guy that’s yelling and screaming," Wilcox said, "but he can lead in his own way and I think you see more and more of that the more comfortable he gets and the more confident he gets."

There's still a week left before everyone can truly see if Garbers will make the leap, but the optimism in Berkeley is high that he can do so.