Cal Football: How Big an Edge Does Experience at QB Provide the Bears?

Looking for an edge Cal enjoys over its two chief rivals in the Pac-12 North?

Here’s a potentially big one: An experienced, established starting quarterback.

Redshirt junior Chase Garbers enters the season with 19 career starts under his belt. He is 13-2 in games he had started and finished and a year ago was 7-0 when he started and played more than half the game.

How do Washington and Oregon compare?

The Huskies — who were picked third in the Pac-12 North, one spot below Cal — visit Memorial Stadium for the season opener on Nov. 7. They lost senior quarterback Jacob Eason and will audition four possible replacements beginning Friday when Pac-12 teams open their delayed training camps.

“If we don’t feel our starter is ready to go that first game, we may have multiple guys play,” first-year Washington coach Jimmy Lake said this week.

The Ducks — favored to win the North and the Pac-12 title — no longer feature Justin Herbert, now starting for the Los Angeles Chargers. Oregon expects highly rated sophomore Tyler Shough to secure the job, but he saw action in just four mop-up assignments as the understudy last season.

“It certainly is different,” Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said. “We’ve been accustomed to seeing No. 10 (Herbert) take every snap.”

Cal, in fact, is one of just two Pac-12 North teams who will field a returning starter at the quarterback position. Stanford, picked fourth in the North in the annual media poll, brings back redshirt junior Davis Mills, who started six games as KJ Costello struggled to stay healthy.

Coach Justin Wilcox knows he has a good thing with a veteran quarterback, even as Garbers has had to adjust to first-year offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and a new system.

“Chase has done an awesome job this offseason, continuing to be really engaged with Bill and the new offense,” Wilcox said. “Chase has played a lot of football for us. It seems like he’s been here a long time, and that’s a good thing for us.

“He’s going to continue to grow as a football player, a person. He’s older and he’s seen a lot more. Just anticipate him building on what he’s done so far.”

Stanford coach David Shaw said in a normal year having an established quarterback could provide an advantage to Cal and Stanford in games against Washington and Oregon on the opening weekend.

“But this year I have no idea what advantages are and disadvantages are,” Shaw said. “I think we’re all trying to put things together as best as possible. Both of those programs are pretty-well established. Both defenses are stacked. They have people around their quarterback who can make plays for them.

“So maybe it’s a little bit less of an issue for Washington or Oregon than another team that has other questions to answer.”

Here’s a look at the quarterback situation at every team in the Pac-12 North:

— CAL: Garbers passed for 1,772 yards with 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions in the nine games he played, missing four because of a broken collarbone then a concussion. He and the offense got revved up at just the right time, and Garbers passed for 787 yards with six TDs and just one pick as the Bears beat Stanford UCLA and Illinois to close their 8-5 season. Devon Modster will enter camp as the backup.

— WASHINGTON (visits Cal on Nov. 7): It certainly won’t hurt the Bears that UW has just four weeks to sort out the quarterback spot. Sophomore Jacob Sirmon, the nephew of Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon, threw only three passes a year ago as Eason’s backup. Redshirt freshman Dylan Moore has yet to play and the Huskies also welcome accomplished freshman Ethan Garbers, younger brother to Chase. The wild card may be June arrival Kevin Thomson, a grad transfer from Sacramento State who was Player of the Year in the FCS Big Sky Conference. “There is the unknown there,” Wilcox acknowledged, “but we know they’re going to be very talented and well-coached.”

— OREGON STATE (Cal visits OSU on Nov 21): Gone is Jake Luton, who passed for 2714 yards with 28 touchdowns and just three interceptions. His understudy, junior Tristan Gebbia, started the season finale vs. Oregon and passed for 243 yards without an interception. Coach Jonathan Smith said he will begin camp getting No. 1 reps, but stressed that a pair of newcomers, JC transfer Chance Nolan and freshman Ben Gulbranson, will also get looks. “So we’ve got some answers there,” Smith said.

— STANFORD (visits Cal on Friday, Nov. 27): Mills put up good numbers last season, completing nearly 66 percent of his pass attempts for 1,960 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. He was just 2-4 as a starter, with losses to USC, Washington State, Cal and Notre Dame, and victories over Oregon State and Washington. But he was good enough that Costello transferred to Mississippi State to play his graduate senior campaign.

— OREGON (visits Cal on Dec. 5): Replacing Herbert — who passed for more than 10,000 yards with 95 TDs during of college career — will be virtually impossible. Shough (pronounced Shuck) was 12 for 15 for 144 yards with three TDs and no picks in his limited action a year ago. But he was a four-star prospect recruited by the likes of Alabama, Georgia and Michigan, along with Cal, and he benefits from the presence of running back CJ Verdell, who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons. Backup Anthony Brown, a grad transfer from Boston College, is coming off major knee surgery.

— WASHINGTON STATE (Cal visits WSU on Dec. 12): New coach Nick Rolovich inherits a roster that lost its top three quarterbacks, including Anthony Gordon, who passed for 5,579 yards with 48 TDs last season under Mike Leach. The candidates include sophomore Cammon Cooper, redshirt freshman Gunner Cruz, and freshman Jayden de Laura, who won two high school state titles in Hawaii (where Rolovich coached last season). None has ever thrown a pass in a college game. Rolovich indicated that unless one player stands the rest, his QB could be a game-to-game arrangement. Presumably, by Dec. 12, that will be sorted out.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page