Cal Football Countdown: 76 Days, Four Guys Who Need to Break Out

At Cal Rivals, we're counting down the days until Cal kicks off against UC Davis, and we've got 76 of them left.

For today, we've got a look at four guys who need to break out for Cal to break into the upper half of the conference.

QB Chase Garbers

This one's kind of obvious, being that Garbers had an up-and-down year one. He's the likely starter going into the 2019 season and the current front runner at the spot.

There are a few big things that Garbers needs to focus on going into fall camp. One of them is using his feet to extend plays, but not to take off immediately. This is something Garbers improved upon in spring ball. He scrambled on 39 occasions a year ago, most in the conference. He has solid mobility and has shown the ability to be accurate on the run, but those opportunities have been relatively few and far in between.

The second of those is run reads on zone plays, as there were zone reads that he could've taken for solid gains. Year two should be better for him in that regard, and the better he gets in this area, the more he can hold a defensive end from crashing in, opening holes for Chris Brown and Marcel Dancy.

The third big thing is throwing to the right side of the field. When throwing beyond 10 yards to outside the right hash, Garbers was 5/22 for 127 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs. Along with that, Garbers also struggled under pressure, completing 38.5% of his passes when pressured. Oddly enough, Garbers did better when blitzed, completing 65.3% of his passes vs. 59.5% when not.

Garbers did separate himself enough to be the clear top guy in Justin Wilcox's eyes by the end of camp, and we'll see how much he's improved soon enough.

WR Jordan Duncan

Duncan's a good wideout, but he hasn't had a 'breakout season' yet over his three years at Cal for a variety of reasons. In 2016, he was behind a ton of talent in the depth chart, before scoring his first career touchdown in the final game of the year. In 2017, it was consistency. In 2018, it was a hand injury that took him out for the majority of the season.

Now it's 2019, and while Duncan looked like the best receiver coming out of fall camp a year ago, he was out for most of spring ball after an injury on the first day of camp. He's a technically proficient route runner, and with a couple JuCo guys in Trevon Clark and Kekoa Crawford who are angling to start at his spot. Duncan's been one of the Bears' best downfield threats (in a small sample size, Cal QBs were 4/8 for 100 yards and 2 TDs in 2018 on passes over 20 yards to Duncan), now he's got to stay healthy and consistent in his final season.

LT Will Craig

Kind of odd to put a true sophomore on this list, but Craig is that talented. Offensive line coach Steve Greatwood has said that Craig has 'all-American potential' in the pas, and he'll have opportunity to show that, as he's in line to start at left tackle.

Craig started out well in his playing time in 2018, most notably stepping in during the final clock-chewing drive against Washington and not allowing a pressure, but had some growing pains against both Washington State and Stanford (allowing sacks in each of those contests). Craig's strength is pass blocking, as he's mobile as you're going to get from an offensive tackle, but his run blocking is an area Greatwood has mentioned as needing improvement.

Getting that stability from the left tackle spot, one of the most important in football will be important as Cal looks to cut down on the 31 sacks allowed last year.

DE Zeandae Johnson

The sole defensive player on this list, mainly because Johnson has the potential to break out. If he hadn't suffered a knee injury in 2017, with the way he played in spring of 2017, it wouldn't be surprising to see him in the NFL right now.

That said, Johnson is still at Cal and still as talented as he was then, just two years removed from that knee injury. One of Cal's few issues on defense in 2018 was getting worn down by teams like TCU and UCLA, who could run the ball consistently for 4 or 5 yard gains, putting themselves in favorable 3rd and short situations. Johnson's made strides as a pass rusher, but he has to continue to grow as a run stopper to continue the ascension of a talented Cal defense. He's got the versatility and size to play in both the base formation and the nickel, and Cal will need him to do even more than he did in 2018.