Jake Spavital's task right now is not becoming any easier. The Cal offensive coordinator is seeking a quarterback to run his offense this season, and close to three weeks out from the season opener against North Texas he has yet to find that player.
Spavital confirmed Friday that is a three-man race between TCU transfer Sam Jackson V, who with the team for spring ball, second-year quarterback Fernando Mendoza and NC State transfer Ben Finley, who didn't arrive in Berkeley until this summer.
The coaching staff has rotated quarterbacks with different groupings throughout the last several practices, and that continued Friday as the Bears went through their eighth day of training camp.
Mendoza was able to guide the first-team offense during the initial team period Friday, but Finley and Jackson also had opportunities to work behind the starting offense line.
While there is a close competition and the staff is still in search of one player creating separation between himself and the other two in the battle, it is not being viewed as a negative by Spavital and head coach Justin Wilcox.
"It is very competitive right now, and it's not because any one of them is performing worse," Wilcox said Thursday. "It's because the others have made it competitive. That's what I would say. All three of those guys have improved, and it is extremely competitive right now."
Spavital echoed that feeling after Friday's work as the Bears look ahead to the weekend that will conclude with the team's first camp scrimmage.
"This QB competition is very close right now," Spavital said Friday. "Really my challenge with those guys right now is try to separate themselves. I need some just clear evidence that there's a frontrunner for this position, and I think on Sunday when you get referees and as realistic as we can possibly make it, I think we're gonna get pretty quality evaluations.
"So, I'm excited for that opportunity from an offensive standpoint. We're going live a little bit, too, so we'll see how these new running backs and new receivers are in space. We've had discussions about making some of the quarterbacks live, because of their dynamic ability but I don't know if I can handle that one yet."
Consistency on both sides of the ball has been the top theme in camp through eight days, but there is more than just that element Spavital wants to see from his eventual starting quarterback.
"It's also the scenarios of the game," Spavital said about how one quarterback can separate himself from the others in the competition. "Like, when your'e in four-down territory, what decisions are you making? Are you taking easy, efficient plays to get to a manageable fourth-down call? Really, just the total operation and making sure that you're not making the same mistakes."
