11/28/2023 football Edit

QB Ben Finley announces move to transfer portal after one season at Cal

Ben Finley made two starts and played in six games in his lone season at Cal after transferring from NC State in the spring. (Matt Moreno | Golden Bear Report)

Matt Moreno • GoldenBearReport

Reporter

Matt began his career at Rivals in 2011 as recruiting editor and then publisher for Arizona affiliate, GOAZCATS.com. In 2022, he moved into an expanded role covering Pac-12 recruiting for Rivals.

Cal appears to have its quarterback of the future with redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza leading the Bears to bowl eligibility and three-game winning streak over the last three weeks. Early in the season TCU transfer Sam Jackson V and NC State transfer Ben Finley were given the first crack at the starting job before Mendoza took over during the second half of the schedule.

Finley has decided his opportunity to get on the field again will come at a different school. Tuesday, the redshirt sophomore from Phoenix announced his plans to enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer with two years of eligibility left.

Finley will not have to sit out any time despite being a two-time transfer because of his graduate student distinction.

The 6-foot-3 signal caller joined the Bears after spring ball with offensive coordinator Jake Spavital looking for some depth and experience at the position to go along with Jackson and Mendoza, both of whom never started a college game prior to this season.

Finley, who started two games with the Wolfpack, emerged as the backup behind Jackson to begin the season after a battle throughout camp that was not settled until late in the summer. He took the field in the opener against North Texas after Jackson injured his shoulder helping to guide the Bears to a 58-21 victory while passing for 289 yards and a touchdown.

That performance and Jackson's uncertain health pushed the staff to start Finley against Auburn only to see the offense struggle in a 14-10 loss to the Tigers. That would be a theme for the first half of the season as Spavital continued to flip between Finley and Jackson in the upcoming games.

Finley eventually earned a start in the game against Washington, but he struggled with turnovers — he threw three interceptions in the game — and eventually was replaced again by Jackson despite throwing for 207 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

A couple weeks later, Mendoza took over the starting job and has not looked back since only coming out for injury-related reasons. Finley stepped in for Mendoza against Utah and went 5 for 14 on pass attempts for 39 yards through the air.

He also played in the win over Stanford to finish the season with 572 yards passing, 3 passing touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

The Bears currently have one quarterback committed for 2024, former Washington commit EJ Caminong though Mendoza appears to have the position locked up for the coming years as Cal makes its move to the ACC next summer.