Cal will have its starting quarterback back Saturday, per a Cal representative. Chase Garbers, who has missed the previous four and a half game due to an upper body injury, will make his return to action in starting against USC.
Garbers was fully cleared to practice and play Monday, after being listed with a 'long-term injury' for the past month and a half. Prior to his injury, Garbers was the starter in the Bears first five games, going out with an injury during the second quarter of the loss to Arizona State. Justin Wilcox noted on Wednesday that there wasn't a concern about Garbers taking hits, post injury.
"We wouldn't clear him if he had limitations," Wilcox said, "he hadn't played for six weeks, but he's been throwing the ball the last couple and doing some active rehab, he looks good."
Garbers had completed 59.2% of his passes for 952 yards, 8 touchdowns and 2 interceptions prior to getting injured, with his best game coming against Ole Miss (a 4 TD, 357 yard performance.
"He's looked solid, really solid," offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin said Tuesday, "so I'm excited to keep evaluating him and where he's at. I don't worry about (any rust), going into UC Davis it was a while (between playing in games), 9 months, you're always going to have times, coming off a bye week, that's two weeks. He's been doing stuff for a while, he's had time to practice and do that."
Garbers notably started for Cal last year as they ended a 14 game losing streak against USC, in a 15-14 win. Garbers threw for a touchdown and rushed for one in that effort, and Cal is 10-5 in games that Garbers starts (11-3 when Garbers takes the majority of the QB snaps)
