Cal Football: Bears in No Rush to Settle on Who Will Be Their No. 2 Quarterback
Cal offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave suggested the coaching staff is in no particular hurry to name a backup quarterback to starter Chase Garbers.
“I would guess we’d probably make that determination between spring and fall, and if we need to go into fall, then we would,” Musgrave said. “It’s great now because everybody’s getting an equal amount of reps because we want everybody to improve through spring.
“That’s the bottom line of spring football.”
The Bears have completed nine of 15 spring practices and will wrap up their workouts on Saturday, March 20 with a 2 p.m. spring game that will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
"We're excited to be able to show everyone a glimpse of what we've been doing," coach Justin Wilcox said in a statement. "The team has been focused on getting better as we prepare for the 2021 season. We miss our fans, and we hope we will be able to see you at California Memorial Stadium this fall.”
Identifying their a No. 2 quarterback is just part of what the Bears have been working on this spring.
The candidates are redshirt junior Robby Rowell, redshirt sophomore Spencer Brasch and sophomore Zach Johnson. Incoming freshman Kai Millner will join the mix this summer.
Musgrave said it’s been all work so far and the staff will let the process play out.
“I’m sure we’ll have some depth-chart discussions at some point,” he said. “Right now it’s just been amazing. It’s all football: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. It’s football and on to the next.”
The Bears held their first fully padded scrimmage of spring last Saturday and Musgrave said he saw things he liked from all four quarterbacks — Garbers and the three backups.
Johnson, a 6-foot-1, 195-pounder from Valencia, compiled the most impressive numbers, completing 12 of 14 passes for 151 yards with touchdowns to five different targets.
Johnson hails from Hart High School, which also produced Cal legend Joe Kapp and Kyle Boller.
“He’s really embraced the offense,” Musgrave said. “He does a super job in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage when we do our no-huddle operation. He gets through progressions at times — none of us get through ‘em all all the time. But he’s making strides in terms of his progressions and having a grasp on where everybody’s going to be if his first target happens to be covered.”
“All of our quarterbacks are amazing,” freshman wide receiver Tommy Christakos said. “I think we’ve got some killer guys that are going to help us, lead us to some big wins this season.”
Christakos talks in the video below about his impressions of Johnson:
Musgrave also complimented the play of Rowell, the one-time walk-on, and Brasch, who got a start at Utah as a true freshman in 2019 when Garbers was injured and unavailable.
“Robby is an old-school football player,” Musgrave said of Rowell. “When he pulls it down and runs, he looks for small numbers to run over. He’s not going out of bounds. He’s not sliding. Making good throws, too. Robby brings a lot to the table.”
Musgrave said Cal’s defense is creating a live-action classroom for the Bears’ young QBs. “The variety of looks, the coverages, the pressures, the fronts . . . couldn’t be any better in terms of training for the 2021 season.
“It’s a really great group. You can sense my enthusiasm.”
Here’s what Musgrave had to say about Millner, a high school senior in Gilbert, Arizona, who has yet to arrive on campus:
.
Cover photo of Zach Johnson by Norman Mo, Cal Football
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
