Cal Football: QB Chase Garbers Rated No. 21 Nationally by Pro Football Focus

Eight of PFF's top 25 quarterbacks won't be able to play during canceled fall seasons

Chase Garbers’ late-season surge in 2019 has elevated the Cal junior to the No. 21 spot in rankings of the the nation’s college quarterbacks by Pro Football Focus.

But the redshirt sophomore and his Cal teammates won't get to play until at least the spring of 2021 after the Pac-12 postponed the fall season.

After twice battling back from injury last fall, Garbers found his rhythm over Cal's final three games. He passed for 787 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for three TDs, leading Cal to victories over Stanford, UCLA and Illinois, capping an 8-5 season by the Bears.

Here's what Pro Football Focus wrote about Garbers:

It's worth noting that eight of the 25 highest-rated quarterbacks on the list below play for teams in the Pac-12 or Big Ten, both of which have canceled the fall season due to the COVID-10 pandemic.

Here is PFF's Top-25, plus remaining Pac-12 quarterbacks:

1. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson

2. Justin Fields, Ohio State

3. Jamie Newman, Georgia

4. Sam Howell, North Carolina

5. Tanner Morgan, Minnesota

6. Sam Ehlinger, Texas

Photo by Rob Schumacher, USA Today

7. Kedon Slovis, USC

8. Brock Purdy, Iowa State

9. Dustin Crum, Kent State

10. Layne Hatcher, Arkansas State

11. D’Eriq King, Miami

12. Michael Penix Jr., Indiana

13. Grant Gunnell, Arizona

14. Peyton Ramsey, Northwestern

15. Dillon Gabriel, UCF

16. Kellen Mond, Texas A&M

17. Ian Book, Notre Dame

18. K.J. Costello, Mississippi State

19. Shane Buechele, SMU 

20. Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma

21. Chase Garbers, Cal

22. Micale Cunningham, Louisville

23. Asher O’Hara, Middle Tennessee

24. Mac Jones, Alabama

25. Skylar Thompson, Kansas State

Other Pac-12 quarterbacks: 

38. Jake Bentley, Utah

47. Tyler Shough, Oregon

55. Davis Mills, Stanford

Photo by Cheryl Evans, USA Today

63. Jayden Daniels, Arizona State

77. Jacob Sirmon, Washington

85. Tristan Gebbia, Oregon State

93. Cammon Cooper, Washington State

96. Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA

113. Tyler Lytle/Brendon Lewis/Sam Noyer, Colorado

Some details on several quarterbacks of interest on the list:

-- Checking in at No. 18 is former Stanford quarterback KJ Costello, who will play his final season at Mississippi State for ex-Washington State coach Mike Leach. 

-- Shane Buechele at No. 19 is a former Texas quarterback, who passes for 3,929 yard and 34 touchdowns last season in his debut for Sonny Dykes at SMU.

-- No. 23 is Asher O’Hara, who produced 2,616 passing yards with 20 TDs along with 1,058 yards and nine more scores at Middle Tennessee under the tutelage of former Cal offensive coordinator Tony Franklin.

Photo by Christopher Hanewinckel, USA Today

-- At No. 98 is 2017 Cal starter Ross Bowers, who last season passed for 2,130 yards at Northern Illinois but had just seven TD passes compared with eight interceptions.

-- No. 101 goes to Fresno State transfer Jake Haener, an East Bay native who came off the bench in 2018 to throw the pick-six to Evan Weaver that allowed Cal to beat Washington.

Here is the entire Pro Football Focus story.

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*** Back in the spring when we still anticipated a fall football season, here's what Chase Garbers had to say about the Golden Bears' possibilities:

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

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