Freshman QB Kai Millner on Cal Offense: 'It's Definitely a Little Complex'

It's more complicated than the blind, over-the-head pass that brought him social media fame in high school

Kai Millner has some catching up to do.

Cal's freshman quarterback from Arizona is trying to learn offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave’s NFL-style offense while competing for playing time in his first season of Division I football.

“It’s definitely a little complex,” Millner said of Musgrave’s offense.

The playbook is much larger than the one he had at Higley High School, where he was a teammate of former Cal quarterback Spencer Brasch and ran a spread offense out of a shotgun formation. He is under center more in Musgrave’s offense, which features a lot more motion and a variety of subtleties.

“It’s definitely a lot different,” he said.

Does he have it down?

“Every day I’m learning,” Millner said Thursday after the Bears' 12th preseason practice.

Millner seems to be third in the pecking order of Cal quarterbacks at the moment, behind starter Chase Garbers and sophomore Zach Johnson, and that is with graduate transfer Ryan Glover sidelined so far during preseason practice. It appears unlikely that Millner will be the backup quarterback for the Bears’ Sept. 4 season opener against Nevada. But Millner could improve his status before the 2021 season is over, so it’s too soon to say whether he will redshirt the season.

Expectation were high for Millner coming in to Cal, and he had achieved a measure of social media fame with a trick play performed in his final high school game.

It was a blind, over-the-head pass that resulted in a completion on a two-point conversion after Higley’s first touchdown of the game.

Here is the play:

And here is Millner’s explanation of how the play came about.

“I’m not sure that would work at this level of football,” Millner said.

He has had some impressive moments in practice and doesn’t seemed overwhelmed. Millner’s development as a signal-caller was aided by having a father who was a scout and later co-founded the Elev8 Sports Academy, a training ground for quarterbacks that Oklahoma star Spencer Rattler has attended.

Millner has a pretty good idea of what he does well and what he needs to improve.

“I feel like I’m a natural passer,” he said. “I can work the pocket a little, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a dual threat, but I feel I can move in the pocket and escape when I need to.”

He can get better at knowing when to deliver the ball in a given pass route.

“That’s definitely more key when moving up to the DI collegiate level,” Millner said. “In high school you can get away with certain things you can’t get away with here with better athletes, so being able to speed that up and making sure I’m working on anticipation.”

Millner on his strengths and weaknesses:

It is all part of a puzzle that Millner is trying to put together as quickly as he can. But Millner enjoys puzzles. He’s a Rubik’s Cube junkie of sorts, and says he has solved it in less than a minute.

It will take more than a minute to master Musgrave’s offense.

Millner on puzzles:

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

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by searching: @si.calsportsreport or going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport