Cal Sports Report

Cal QB Chandler Rogers Reportedly Enters Transfer Portal

It's unclear how Rogers has another year of eligibility, but apparently he does and could have competed for the starting job at Cal in 2025

Jake Curtis

Chandler Rogers
Chandler Rogers / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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A Monday report that came as a surprise claims that Cal quarterback Chandler Rogers has entered the transfer portal, according to multiple sites. Rogers even retweeted that On3 twitter report, suggesting it is accurate.

The surprise is that Rogers apparently has another year of college eligibility, as a move to the transfer portal implies. He played 12 games in 2021 at Louisiana-Monroe, 12 more games in 2022 at Louisiana-Monroe, 12 games in 2023 at North Texas and eight games this past season at Cal.

That's four full seasons of college football participation, and it does not include the 2020 season, which was the pandemic season that did not count against a player's eligibility.

Rogers played some games at Blinn (Junior) College, and a recent NCAA ruling allows players who played in junior college another year of eligibility if the participation at the junior college counted as a year of college eligibility. That does not seem to apply in Rogers' case, but some interpretation of that ruling must have somehow given Rogers an additional year of eligibility. He even played two games as a true freshman at Southern Mississippi in 2019.

If Rogers has another year of college eligibility, he could have competed for the starting quarterback job at Cal in 2025 after being the Bears' backup this past season. Fernando Mendoza transferred to Indiana, leaving CJ Harris, who was redshirt sophomore this season, and EJ Caminong, who was a true freshman in 2024, as the primary returning quarterbacks.

Incoming freshman Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele, who transferred to Cal over the weekend after orignially signing with Oregon, has fans excited about his prospects, and he certainly has a chance to win the starting quarterback job next season. But he will be a true freshman, so it's difficult to say for sure how he will perform next season.

Rogers, by contrast, was the starting quarterback at North Texas in 2023, and had a close preseason competition with Mendoza for the starting job at Cal this year. Coaches were still trying to weigh the quarterback competition three games into the 2024 season before Mendoza emerged as the Bears' No. 1 quarterback.

It is also unclear how Rogers was able to enter the transfer portal now, after the window to enter the portal closed on December 28. It's possible he entered the portal a few weeks ago without anyone noticing. It will be interesting to see where Rogers winds up.

Here is the On3 report on Rogers entering the transfer portal and Rogers retweeting it.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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