Counting Down Cal's Top-50 Transfer Athletes: No. 11 Chad Hansen

The transfer portal era in college athletics seems like it’s been with us forever. Likewise, most fans can recall less turbulent times when transfers happened, they simply didn’t look like a stampede to the 1849 California Gold Rush.

We thought it was time to rank the best transfers Cal teams have attracted, most of them in recent seasons but also including a few OGs from yesteryear.

We limited our ranking to transfers from four-year colleges.

Here is the next athlete in our countdown:

11. Chad Hansen

Sport: Football

Arrival year at Cal: 2014

Previous school: Idaho State (45 receptions, 501 yards, 3 touchdowns as a true freshman in 2013)

Contributions at Cal:

— After sitting out as a walk-on transfer in 2014, Hansen had 19 catches for 249 yards and a touchdown in quarterback Jared Goff’s final season at Cal.

— The 6-foot-2, 205-pound wide receiver blossomed as a redshirt junior, catching 92 passes for 1,249 yards and 11 touchdowns. He caught touchdowns in seven different games.

— Hansen ranked third in the country in per-game receptions (9.2), fourth in receiving yards (124.9) and 12th in total receptions (92), despite missing two games due to injury.

— He had six games of at least 10 catches, including 14 in back-to-back games against Hawaii and San Diego State to open the season. Hansen posted seven games with 100-plus receiving yards.

— In his final game with the Bears, Hansen caught a 70-yard touchdown pass from Davis Webb on Cal’s first play from scrimmage of the 119th Big Game. He went on to earn Cal’s player of the game award after catching seven passes for 114 yards with two TDs, but the Bears lost 45-31 to Stanford.

— Davis was named second-team All-Pac-12 by the coaches, first team by Associated Press and ESPN. He was chosen by the New York Jets in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL draft.

Standout performance: The high point of Cal’s 2016 season was a 50-43 home victory over Texas in which Hansen caught 10 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns. His second TD, a 23-yarder, broke a 43-43 tie with 3:41 left.

Impact on his team: Hansen was virtually unstoppable, but the Bears went just 5-7 and missed playing in a bowl game, prompting the exit of coach Sonny Dykes after four seasons.

Previously on our list:

No. 12: Bob Milano

No. 13: Teddye Buchanan

No. 14: Geno Carlisle

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