Cal Football: `I Can Be The Best Quarterback in the Pac-12'

Most preseason All-Pac-12 teams are likely to list USC’s Kedon Slovis or Arizona State’s Jayden Daniels as the top quarterback in the conference. Both are coming off dynamite freshmen seasons.

But Cal junior-to-be Chase Garbers, with all due respect, will give you a different answer.

“I think right now I am and I can be the best quarterback in the Pac-12,” Garbers told me this week. “I also think I’m one of the top quarterbacks in the nation coming into the season.”

Many of the Pac-12’s most productive quarterbacks — Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Washington State’s Anthony Gordon, Washington’s Jacob Eason, Utah’s Tyler Huntley, Arizona’s Khalil Tate, among them — have moved on.

The conference will have a different look at the position whenever the 2020 season gets under way. Only four Pac-12 teams are expected to have returning starters at quarterback this fall.

*** Here is Mike Pawlawski's detailed analysis of Chase Garbers' game.

Cal has stability at quarterback, with Garbers established after leading the Bears to an 8-5 record and Redbox Bowl victory over Illinois.

He missed four games, including all of October, due to a fractured collarbone, then a concussion.

But the Bears were 7-0 last season when Garbers played more than half the game. In season-ending wins over Stanford, UCLA and Illinois, he accounted for nine touchdowns passing and running, threw just one interception and directed an offense that averaged 29 points per game. That was an improvement of more than 10 points per game over the season’s first 10 outings.

***Click here for a story and video on Garbers' favorite quarterbacks

“A year ago I probably wouldn’t have said that statement,” Garbers said of proclaiming his goal to be the Pac-12’s best. “But after the 2019 season, knowing what I can do and knowing what we have, potentially, with this Cal team is definitely what raises my confidence.”

The Bears return every offensive starter from their 35-20 bowl victory over Illinois.

Garbers has watched from home during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place as various outlets make early predictions for the 2020 campaign. He’s taking them with a grain of salt. The Bears’ goals remain the same: Win the Pac-12 North, win the Pac-12 title, win whatever bowl game they play.

“Predictions are predictions. CBS picked us 11-1. I saw ESPN predicted us 6-6 or something like that. So kind of all over the place,” Garbers. “We know what we have to do, who we have to beat, in order to accomplish those goals.”

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

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