Cal Players Taking About 170 Final Exams This Week Before the LA Bowl

The best guess is that CJ Harris will be Cal's starting quarterback for Wednesday night's bowl game

Cal quarterback CJ Harris / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Cal head coach Justiin Wilcox made one interestng statement on Tuesday about the number of final exams Cal players are taking in the days leading up to the LA Bowl, and he also made one interesting implication regarding the Bears startng quarterback for Wednesday nght's LA Bowl game against UNLV.

"People forget these guys go to school," Wilcox said during Tuesday's press conference. "Combining Monday, Tuesday and tomorrow game day, we wll have had about 170 fiinals being taken. We have guys takng finals before the game."

One of the problems with Cal playing a bowl game early in the bowl season is that it comes in the middle of Cal's final exams. That was the case last year when Cal lost to Texas Tech 34-14 in the Independence Bowl played on December 16.

Wilcox has not announced who wll be Cal's starting quarterback for Wednesday's game aganst UNLV (10-3), but if you read between the lines, it seems it will be CJ Harris.

When a questioner suggested Cal may be down to its third quarterback for the game, Wilcox said this:

"CJ [Harrs] has played college football. He's played in conference champonship games. He was MVP of a bowl game. He can play. I'm really excited for CJ to get an opportunty."

That makes it sound as though Harris, a fifth-year sophomore and Cal's third-string quarterback, wll be the starter against the Rebels. It certainly won't be Fernando Mendoza, who is in the transfer portal, and there was no mention of No. 2 quarterback Chandler Rogers, who suffered an injury in the final regular-season game against SMU and was considered questionable for Wednesday's game.

The best bet is that Harris will be the starter, and true freshman quarterback EJ Caminong may make his college debut sometime in that game as well.

Harris played in 10 games over four seasons at Ohio before transferrng to Cal after the 2023 season. He completed 78-of-147 passes for 829 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions at Ohio. He started the final three games of the 2022 season as a third-year freshman, including wins in the MAC championshp game and the Arizona Bowl. He was named MVP in the latter.

Neither team is lkely to have its 2024 offensive coordinator. Cal hired Bryan Harsin last week as its next offensve coordinator, but he won't be calling plays on Wednesday. And UNLV interim head coach Del Alexander said Rebels offensive coordinator Brennan Marion has left the team and has gone on to "other opportunities." It's been reported that Marion is the leading contender to become Sacramento State's head coach.

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