Garbers growing into Cal’s starting QB role nicely
Graduate-transfer receiver Moe Ways was prepping for the Big Game two weeks ago when something on the Cal roster stopped him in his tracks.
Quarterback Chase Garbers was born in 1999.
“It really hit me that Chase is 19 years old. A redshirt freshman. A first-year starter,” Ways said. “I mean, he’s had an impressive year. He’s had a lot of growing pains. He’s had a lot of learning lessons and teachable moments, but he’s 19 years old.
“He’s done a great job, and he’s grown every week. His confidence has grown. He has ice in his veins. When the game is on the line, and we need a big play, he wants the ball in his hands. He doesn’t shy away from the moment or defer to somebody else. He wants to be the guy who helps Cal get the ‘W.’ ”
Six months from his 20th birthday, Garbers could solidify his spot in Cal football lore by breaking the Bears’ eightgame skid against Stanford on Saturday — a day that will be filled with pomp and pageantry that the quarterback embraces as little more than a “fancy practice.”
That’s the way the 6-foot-2 205-pounder from Newport Beach (Orange County) appears to handle just about everything. Whether it was yoyo-ing in and out of the lineup in the first half of the season or dealing with the Bears’ shift to a grittier game plan in recent weeks, Garbers has remained placid.
“I’m proud of him for his growth and his maturity, and I really believe that in the next two to three years, he’s going to be one of the top quarterbacks in the country. I really, really believe that,” Ways said. “I see him work every day and know his mind-set. Who he is off the field is even more important. He’s a natural-born leader. He’s a playmaker.
“Cal is in very, very good hands with Chase Garbers as the QB.”
Ways took on the role of hype man this week, because Garbers isn’t one to talk about himself — or really anything — all that much. He’s an actionsspeak-loudest guy, but the numbers haven’t necessarily told the whole story.
Since setting career highs with 234 passing yards and three touchdowns against Oregon State on Oct. 20, Garbers has completed 58.4 percent of his passes for just 122.3 yards per game in a four-game span.
He’s thrown for four touchdowns during the span, and the Cal defense has scored three.
Garbers’ 121.6 passing yards per game this season ranks 12th among Pac-12 quarterbacks, and his 128.7 passer rating is ahead of only true freshmen JT Daniels at USC and Dorian Thompson-Robinson at UCLA.
Heck, he doesn’t even have the best passer rating on the team. That belongs to running back Patrick Laird, who has completed both of his attempts on check downs.
“I think it’s smart,” Garbers said. “We’re looking at the team’s big picture as an offense. We know how well the defense is playing, and if we don’t turn it over and put them in bad positions, we’ll have a good chance to win.”
Cal beat Washington without scoring an offensive touchdown. The Bears had 93 passing yards in a win at USC, and they beat Colorado with 211 yards of total offense.
In the same stretch, Stanford has averaged 39.5 points per game, and K.J. Costello has completed 69.9 percent of his passes for 1,356 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Garbers may need to do more than just manage the game against the Cardinal, and that’s just fine by Ways.
“When the game is on the line or we need a big play, he just takes command: ‘Let’s get it. Let’s go. I believe in you,’ ” Ways said of Garbers. “He’s not emotional. He’s never high; he’s never low. He’s just evenkeeled, and you need that out of your leader, especially your quarterback, because the team kind of goes off the quarterback’s emotions.”