Cal Football: Chase Garbers Gives His Mom Something Special to Watch This Season

Sophomore quarterback has come back from two injuries to lead the Bears

Playing football is hard.

Playing quarterback is harder.

Perhaps no job is more difficult than being a quarterback’s mom.

“I watch through my fingers,” said Angelique Garbers, mother of Cal quarterback Chase Garbers. “It’s hard to watch.”

This season was especially painful for Angelique, and her son.

Chase Garbers was injured twice — breaking his right collarbone on vs. Arizona State on Sept. 27, then sustaining a concussion 50 days later vs. USC in his first game back on Nov. 16.

“It’s pretty scary to see your kid out there when you know he's not right,” Angelique said.

Garbers overcame both injuries and has helped the Cal offense play its best football of the season heading into its Dec. 30 matchup against Illinois at the Redbox Bowl at Levi’s Stadium.

Both of Garbers’ injuries came while he was running the ball, a skill that adds significantly to the Bears’ offensive arsenal. He gets regular reminders from virtually everyone that he should slide when he sees a defender approaching.

But Garbers has no intention of letting injury diminish his aggressive approach to playing the position.

“I’m not going to be afraid of contact. I’m not going to be afraid of going to get yards,” Garbers said. “But I have learned, especially in the last two weeks, to get down.

“I think I did a good job in the UCLA game, not taking any unnecessary hits, sliding a bunch and getting yards where we can. I think that just comes with experience.”

Garbers knows this part of he game can be tough on those who care about him most.

“My mom actually hates it every time I run the ball,” he said. “She gets a little scared.”

Angelique Garbers had to like what she saw peaking through her fingers Saturday night in Cerritos. Younger son Ethan — who has committed to play at Washington next season — threw four touchdown passes to lead unbeaten Newport Harbor-Corona del Mar to a 35-27 victory over San Mateo-Serra for the CIF state Division I-A championship.

Ethan Garbers finished the season with a CIF Southern Section record 71 TD passes.

Big brother Chase’s progress this season twice was stalled by injury. The Bears are 6-0 this season when he starts and finishes games, just 1-5 otherwise.

Garbers is healthy now and played well as the Bears closed out their regular season with road victories over Stanford and UCLA. But he laments missing time.

“The first one was a freak accident,” Garbers said of the collarbone injury that sidelined him for four full games over a stretch of six weeks. “The second one, a big guy lands on me awkwardly. It happens.

“Classic concussion feelings, I guess,” he added in a casual way certain to make his mother cringe.

The interruptions prevented the Bears from developing a consistent rhythm on offense for most of the season. They rank last in the Pac-12 in scoring and total yards, and they clearly missed Garbers, who has helped Cal assemble an 11-2 record the past two seasons when he plays at least half the game.

Garbers enters the Redbox Bowl having passed for 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns this season while rushing for 242 yards and two more scores.

A year ago, Garbers started 10 games as a redshirt freshman, but often alternated with Brandon McIlwain, designated as more of a running quarterback.

McIlwain quit football to focus on baseball after last season and Garbers held off challenges last spring and in fall camp from UCLA transfer Devon Modster to secure the No. 1 spot.

He says his mindset this season has been entirely different. A year older, with greater experience, Garbers takes the field for every practice and every game knowing he’s the clear-cut starter.

“Last year, being a redshirt freshman, being a new guy in an older guys’ offense . . . we had a really good defense, so the mindset was just don’t put the defense in a bad situation.

“It was kind of implied … especially playing as a freshman, you don’t want to screw things up trying to win games.”

Garbers has greater belief in himself this season, and his coaches share that confidence. It has meant a different outlook from Day 1. “My mindset every game was just try to be the most dominant player on the field,” he said.

With injuries and new pieces seemingly every week along the O-line and at wideout, the Bears didn’t always click.

But there were flashes of what they could become:

— In Week 2 at Washington in a game delayed for 2 hours, 40 minutes by a lightning storm, Garbers drove the Bears 74 yards in the final 2 minutes to set up Greg Thomas’ 17-yard game-winning field goal with 8 seconds left.

— In Week 4 at Ole Miss, playing in SEC country, Garbers had the best statistical game of his career, passing for 357 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-20 victory.

— At Stanford last month, having recovering from his concussion, Garbers orchestrated fourth-quarter touchdown drives of 84 and 75 yards and the Bears ended a nine-year Big Game losing streak with a 24-20 triumph. He passed for 285 yards and a touchdown and ran for 72 yards, scoring the game-winning TD on a 16-yard scramble with 1:19 left.

— In the regular-season finale at the Rose Bowl, Garbers passed for 230 yards and a touchdown and ran for a TD as the Bears toppled UCLA 28-18 for their seventh win of the season.

A year from now, with All-America linebacker Evan Weaver and other key defensive players gone, the offense will be expected to shoulder a heavier load. Ten starters are scheduled to return, including the entire offensive line, running back Christopher Brown Jr., and most of the receiving corps.

“We’ll have an experienced offense next year,” Garbers said. “I think it’ll be fun.”

For now, the focus is Illinois and the Redbox Bowl.

While Angelique Garbers sneaks looks through her fingers, hoping her son stays upright, Chase has just one goal in mind for Dec. 30.

“We want to win.”