Chase Garbers

Chase Garbers (born June 6, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the California Golden Bears.

Chase Garbers

California Golden Bears – No. 7
Position	Quarterback
Class	Redshirt Junior
Career history
College	California (2017–present)
Bowl games	2018 Cheez-It Bowl 2019 Redbox Bowl
High school	Corona del Mar (Newport Beach, California)
Personal information
Born:	June 6, 1999 Newport Beach, California
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	225 lb (102 kg)

Early years

Garbers attended Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California. He was the full-time starting quarterback in his 2015 junior and 2016 senior campaigns, earning Daily Pilot Dream Team Player of the Year and first-team All-Pacific Coast League honors in both years, while he was also his conference MVP as a senior. Over his high school career, Garbers had a combined 589-of-854 (69.0%) passes for 7,970 yards with 90 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a 129.1 quarterback rating.[1]

Garbers was listed as four-star recruit, ranked No. 12 pro-style quarterback and No. 315 overall prospect in the country for the 2017 class.[2]

College career

In 2016, Garbers committed to the University of California, Berkeley.[3] He redshirted his first year at California in 2017.

2018 season

In 2018, Garbers shared Cal's starting quarterback position with Brandon McIlwain in a two-quarterback system, though Garbers started the majority of the season. In his first career start, Garbers completed 18 of 28 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns against BYU.[4]

Garbers led the Bears to their first victory against USC since 2003, winning 15-14 on the road. Garbers threw for 93 yards and one touchdown and rushed for another touchdown after falling behind 0-14 in the first half. [5]

The Bears finished the 2018 season with a 7–6 record, including a loss at the Cheez-It Bowl against the TCU Horned Frogs. Struggling to find a rhythm on offense, the Bears' offensive efficiency ranked as the second worst among all Power Five teams.[6] Garbers finished the season with 14 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and 1,506 yards passing.[1]

2019 season

In 2019, Garbers was named Cal's starting quarterback. He helped lead the Bears to a 4–0 start to the season, including a 20–19 upset win against No. 14 ranked Washington, earning the Bears a No. 15 ranking, their highest since 2009.[7] Garbers had career highs in completions, yards passing, and touchdown passes in the Ole Miss game with 23-of-35 passes for 357 yards with four touchdown throws.[8]

Garbers suffered a broken collarbone during the Arizona State game that sidelined him for the next five games, four of which were losses.[9] He returned briefly for the USC game, but sustained a concussion close to the end of the first half.[10]

Garbers returned to lead the Bears to a 24–20 win against Stanford in the Big Game, the first Big Game win for Cal since 2009.[11][12] Garbers ran for a 16-yard game-winning touchdown, earning praise from Green Bay Packers quarterback and former Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers.[13] This win clinched bowl eligibility for the Bears while making the Cardinal ineligible for the post-season for the first time in ten years.

The Bears went to the Redbox Bowl, where they won against the Illinois Fighting Illini 35–20, their first bowl win since 2015.[14] Garbers had a career best-tying 4 touchdowns and was named Offensive MVP for the game.[15] The Bears finished the 2019 season with an 8–5 record (4–5 in Pac-12 play), with Garbers going undefeated in the 7 games in which he started and finished.[16]

2020 season

Garbers entered his redshirt junior season on the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Preseason Watch List.[17] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pac-12 had a seven-game Conference-only lineup for the 2020 season.[18] However, the Bears were ultimately only able to play four games for the season due to game cancellations. Garbers started the season 0–3, losing to UCLA, Oregon State, and Stanford. The Bears achieved their sole win in their last game against Oregon on December 5, ending the season with a 1–3 record.

Statistics

Season	Team	Games			Passing[1]								Rushing[1]
		GP	GS	Record	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds	Avg/P	Avg/G	TD	Int	Att	Yds	Avg	TD
2017	California	Redshirted
2018	California	12	9	6–3	159	260	61.2	1,506	5.8	125.5	14	10	98	420	4.3	2
2019	California	9	9	7–2	131	215	60.9	1,772	8.2	196.9	14	3	90	223	2.5	3
2020	California	4	4	1–3	85	136	62.5	771	5.7	192.8	6	3	39	75	1.9	2
Totals		25	22	14–8	375	611	61.4	4,049	6.6	162.0	34	16	227	718	3.2	7

References

1. "2019 Football Roster: Chase Garbers". CalBears.com. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
2. Linton, Chance (September 30, 2019). "Cal QB Chase Garbers out indefinitely with injury". 247Sports.com. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
3. Letourneau, Connor (June 21, 2016). "3-star QB Chase Garbers commits to Cal". SF Chronicle. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
4. Simmons, Rusty (September 8, 2018). "Cal beats BYU behind stalwart defensive effort". SF Chronicle. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
5. Associated Press. "Defensive Cal snaps 14-game skid vs USC with 15-14 victory". ESPN. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
6. Wild, Andrew (December 5, 2018). "Is a coaching change the answer for Cal's offense?". DailyCal.org. The Daily Californian.
7. Curtis, Jake (September 23, 2019). "Cal: No. 15 ranking 'just noise' as it chases 5-0 start to season". SF Chronicle. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
8. "Pac-12 football: No. 23 California holds off Mississippi; No. 22 Washington routs BYU". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. September 21, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
9. Curtis, Jake (November 11, 2019). "Cal Football: Chase Garbers Cleared to Play, Might Start Vs. USC". CalMaven. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
10. Wagaman, Michael (November 17, 2019). "Cal demolished by USC; QB Chase Garbers injured again". SF Chronicle. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
11. Ohman, Emily (November 25, 2019). "The Axe is back: Cal beats Stanford for 1st time in decade". The Daily Californian. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
12. "California vs. Stanford - Game Summary - November 23, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
13. Curtis, Jake (November 26, 2019). "Cal Football: Chase Garbers -- The Man Who Ended Bears' Big Game Losing Streak". CalMaven. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
14. Rusty Simmons (December 30, 2019). "Cal beats Illinois in Redbox Bowl, first bowl win since 2015". SF Chronicle. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
15. "Chase Garbers leads California past Illinois in Redbox Bowl". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. December 30, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
16. Stevens, Matthew (December 30, 2019). "Illini Fail to Stop Cal Air Attack in 35-20 Redbowl Bowl Loss". IlliniMaven. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
17. "The Golden Arm Award Announces 2020 Class of Candidates". Golden Arm Foundation. Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, Inc. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
18. "Pac-12 announces 2020 football schedule". Pac-12 Conference. October 3, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.