Cal WR Trevor Rogers Bidding for Playing Time as a Freshman

First-year wide receiver has made impressive plays in practice as he competes at a crowded position

Trevor Rogers /

Who will emerge this year?

In the spring of 2022, early freshman enrollee Jaydn Ott wowed folks with his skills, letting it be known he would be a factor in Cal’s offense as a freshman.

In preseason camp last fall, lightly recruited redshirt freshman quarterback Fernando Mendoza and walk-on wide receiver Trond Grizzell caught everyone’s attention with their surprising ability, and both became starters for the Golden Bears by the middle of the 2023 season.

This preseason the focus is on true freshman wide receiver Trevor Rogers, whose sprinter speed and natural gifts have been evident in Cal’s first seven preseason practices. Every day he seems to make a play that raises eyebrows and draws a viewer response of “Hmmm.”

Does he have a chance to get meaningful playing time this season?

“I think so,” said Cal quarterbacks coach Sterlin Gilbert.

“I would not write him off at all right now,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said Monday.

“It all depends on BT [Cal receivers coach Burt Toler III] and the game plan, how we fit in personnel-wise and whatever,” said Rogers, “and whatever they have planned for me is what I’m going to go with.”

Rogers’ situation is different from that of Ott, Mendoza and Grizzell, though.  Cal was looking for a breakaway back when Ott emerged, and Cal was unsettled at the quarterback and wide receiver positions last fall when Mendoza and Grizzell made an impact.

Conversely, Cal is packed with potential starters at wide receiver this season thanks in large part to the transfer portal.  Grizzell, the Bears’ top returning receiver with 39 catches in 2023, may not be a starter this season with Notre Dame transfer Tobias Merriweather, Ohio State transfer Kyion Grayes and Utah transfer Mike Matthews operating with the first-team offense for the most part this fall.  And they all have speed.

Cal defensive backs coach Terrence Brown said Tuesday “there’s a new level of speed” at the wide receiver position this season.

Rogers is as fast as any of them, though. He was a track star at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California, last spring, and ran 10.82 for the 100 meters as a senior.

“He can fly,” Cal receiver coach Burl Toler III said.

Rogers admits that’s not enough.

“Everybody’s just as fast [in college],” he said. “In high school you can just run by people. You can’t really do that here.”

Rogers was the state champion in the long jump and had a personal best of 24-7 3/4 in that event, which is why he plans to join Cal’s track team and why he can outjump defenders for the ball.

“He’s got length, goes up and gets the football, has made some high-point plays in the last few days,” Gilbert said.

Rogers is running with the third-team offense in practice at the moment so he has some work to do to demonstrate he can do all the things a wide receiver must do at the college level.  But it’s not like he’s competing against established stars for playing time.

Merriweather, Grayes and Matthews are young players with plenty of potential, but none was a regular starter at his previous school in 2023.

So can Rogers break into the rotation and get significant playing time as a freshman?

“We’ll see,” said Wilcox. “That [wide receiver] room in particular, it’s anybody’s ballgame. Anybody in there can earn the right to play.”

Rogers is unlikely to be a starter in the August 31 opener against UC Davis, but check back midway through the 2024 season.

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