This is a continuing series running down Cal's roster for the 2020 season
Cal Career
What is there to say about Chase Garbers that hasn't been said already throughout the long off-season and dead period? The redshirt junior-to-be has a 13-6 record when he starts, a 13-2 record when he plays more than half a game, and had a 7-0 record in 2019 when he started and finished a game.
Garbers redshirted coming into the program in the summer of 2017, fighting for the starting job, but Ross Bowers won out. Garbers would be the third string quarterback through the year, traveling to away games but not playing.
As a redshirt freshman in 2018, Garbers got in during the Bears opener against North Carolina, threw for the first touchdown of the season, and started against BYU the following week. Garbers ended up starting nine games of the 2018 season, trading off with Brandon McIlwain and notably leading the Bears to wins over Washington and USC, ending a fourteen-game losing streak against the Trojans. He dealt with issues in his throwing year over the latter portion of the year, affecting his ability to throw a deep ball, and ended the year on a down note, getting replaced at halftime of the Cheez-It Bowl.
2019 saw Garbers win the starting job in the offseason and helping the Bears to start the year with a 4-0 record, including a breakout game at Ole Miss, going 23-35 for 357 yards, 4 TD and 1 INT, with 20 of those 23 completions going for first downs. After that Ole Miss game, in games he started and finished, Garbers never had lower than 8 yards per attempt on his passes. A broken collarbone suffered against Arizona State kept Garbers out until the USC game, and another injury took him out in the first half of that game, but Garbers returned for the final three games, leading the Bears to wins over Stanford, UCLA, and Illinois in the Redbox Bowl.
Year over year, Garbers improved in two areas, with his deep ball and in the pocket. Garbers cut down on turnovers drastically in 2019, throwing 3 interceptions as opposed to the 10 he threw in 2018, and he got more comfortable throwing in the pocket, leading to a higher yards per attempt number.
(Data taken from Pro Football Focus)
Deep ball passing, 20+ yard throws (2019): 20-41, 596 yards, 4 TDs 1 INT
Deep ball passing, 20+ yard throws (2018): 14-41, 401 yards, 6 TDs, 5 INTs
Not pressured (2019): 190 dropbacks, 118-170 (69.4% completion), 1554 yards, 9.1 yards per attempt, 13 TDs, 2 INTs, 7 passes batted down, 8 drops, 1 throwaway, 19 scrambles, 80 first downs, 90.3 PFF grade
Not pressured (2018): 232 dropbacks, 139-208 (66.8% completion), 1231 yards, 5.9 yards per attempt, 13 TDs, 7 INTs, sacked once, 7 passes batted down, 12 drops, 3 throwaways, 20 scrambles, 70 first downs, 74.5 PFF grade
Garbers finished the year 131-217 (60.4% completion) for 1770 yards, 8.2 yards per attempt, 14 TDs, and 3 INTs. For his career, he's 290-475 for 3278 yards, 6.9 yards per attempt, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
2020 Expectations
Garbers is now the longest tenured starter at the quarterback position in the Pac-12 North. He had a string of consistency to finish 2019, and head coach Justin Wilcox has faith in Garbers to pick up Bill Musgrave's new offense, as he's been a leader in group meetings during the COVID-19 shutdown.
"It seems like he's been here forever and he's only gonna be a junior," Wilcox said during an interview on KNBR 680 Thursday, "he's played a ton of football for us, went through some injury issues last year, but when he's played and been able to practice, he just keeps getting better and better, and that's what you expect. He started quite a bit as a freshman and started when he was healthy last year, he's just playing his best football when he's getting more and more reps."
Garbers is one of the biggest reasons why the Bears are a darkhorse contender for the Pac-12 title in 2020, as the switch flipping on after the Ole Miss game hasn't turned off. He'll have to show that he can do it against the better teams in the conference, against Oregon, Utah, and USC, games he either missed or went out early in.
To make the top 10 on Cal's QB passing records he'll need:
Passing Yardage: 2192 yards (to pass Aaron Rodgers' 5469 yards)
Touchdowns: 10 (to pass Davis Webb's 37)
250-yard passing games: 7 (to pass Justin Vedder and Nate Longshore, tied at 9 apiece)
300-yard passing games: 4 (to pass Steve Bartkowski, Gale Gilbert, Dave Barr and Ross Bowers, who are all tied with 4)
Garbers is already 6th all-time in Cal history in Passing efficiency (133.0), just ahead of Rich Campbell (132.7) and just behind Davis Webb (135.0)
Recruiting Flashback
Garbers committed to Cal in June of 2016 after the Bears offered in April, as former Cal offensive coordinator Jake Spavital had the Corona del Mar quarterback as his top quarterback on the board. In the wake of Sonny Dykes' firing and Justin Wilcox's hiring at Cal, Wilcox made Garbers a priority to keep on board, as him and center Mike Saffell ended up being the leaders of the class, as the Bears secured six commitments over the final recruiting weekend in the class of 2017.
Garbers ended up being the highest rated member of the 2017 class, ranking 211th nationally per Rivals.
