Washington QB in mold of Goff
Twenty-seven starts into his college career, Jared Goff has settled in as the centerpiece of a Cal football resurgence. The junior quarterback is breaking records, climbing NFL draft boards and winning games.
It’s a blueprint Washington aims to emulate with freshman Jake Browning, and to a certain degree, Saturday’s game in Seattle offers a snapshot of their progress.
The Huskies’ quarterback has a rugged defense, a relatively healthy supporting cast and an offensive system in its second season — luxuries Goff wasn’t afforded in his 1-11 debut season — but their similarities are clear.
Both are true pocket passers, players who excel at hanging back and finding open targets. They both enrolled in classes early. A rare blend of arm strength, maturity and accuracy earned them both starting nods as freshmen.
“Jake reminds me a lot of Jared coming out of high school,” Cal head coach Sonny Dykes said. “He’s got good fundamentals, he’s been well coached, he’s a smart kid and he’s a very calm and confident kid.”
Browning, one of three freshmen quarterbacks starting in the Pac-12, has improved with each outing. Through three games, the 6-foot-2, 206pound Granite Bay native is 59-of-89 for 844 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
But to join Goff as one of the nation’s elite quarterbacks, Browning must fine-tune the position’s subtleties: footwork in the pocket, throws under pressure, pinpoint ball placement.
Though he is pleased with Browning’s early performance, Huskies head coach Chris Petersen is hesitant to draw parallels between Browning and Goff just yet.
“One guy’s played three years, and the other guy’s played three games,” Petersen said. “I think Goff is one of the best in the country, without question. So it’s kind of hard to make that comparison.”
Browning, who threw for a national-record 229 touchdowns in his Folsom High School career, once considered signing with Cal. He liked Sonny Dykes’ pass-heavy offense and the idea of being just 100 miles from his hometown.
But Browning wanted to play early, which seemed highly improbable at a program boasting Goff. So he signed with Petersen — the second coach to offer him a scholarship — and eventually beat out junior Jeff Lindquist and redshirt freshman K.J. Carta-Samuels last month.
“Cal was definitely one of those schools he was really interested in,” said Troy Taylor, the former Bears quarterback who coached Browning at Folsom. “But I think it all worked out the way it was supposed to. He’s pretty happy with his decision.”
Said Dykes: “He looks like he’s going to be a really good quarterback.”