Ex-Cal QB Jaden Casey Transferring to Portland State

He spent one season with the Golden Bears and is now moving on to an FCS school

Former Cal quarterback Jaden Casey, who entered the transfer portal in March, announced via social media this week that he is transferring to Portland State.

Portland State is an FCS program that typically plays one or two FBS teams each year.  The Vikings did not play football in 2020 because of the pandemic, but will return to an 11-game schedule in 2021 with the hope of landing a postseason berth. Portland State will play FBS schools Hawaii and Washington State to begin the 2021 season before beginning play in the Big Sky Conference.

The Vikings went 5-7 in 2019, including 3-5 in the Big Sky. They lost to Arkansas 20-13 in their 2019 opener.

A number of quarterbacks have come out of FCS schools to play in the NFL. Recently Carson Wentz (North Dakota State) was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft, and Trey Lance (also North Dakota State) was the No. 3 overall pick in this year's NFL draft.

Casey was Cal's highest-rated recruit in the class of 2020, according to 247 Sports. Rivals.com gave Casey a 5.7 rating, which tied three other Bears recruits for the second-highest rating in Cal's 2020 class, behind only running back Chris Street.

Casey was a 2020 commit at Cal and stayed on the team into the start of the team's spring practices sessions earlier this year. He announced his entry into the transfer portal in March.

Casey was expected to compete for Cal’s backup quarterback spot behind Chase Garbers this spring after 2019 and 2020 backup Devon Modster entered the transfer portal.

But Zach Johnson, who also entered Cal as a freshman in 2020, seemed to grab the No. 2 quarterback spot in spring.

However, Cal added grad transfer quarterback Ryan Glover in the offseason, and highly rated quarterback Kai Millner will join the competition as an incoming freshman quarterback during preseason practice.

Quarterback Spencer Brasch, who started one game for Cal in 2019, also entered the transfer portal this offseason, and announced he will transfer to Cal Poly, also an FCS school.

No word yet on where Modster will transfer. He started three games for Cal in 2019.

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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