North Texas QB Chandler Rogers Is Transferring to Cal

Rogers put up impressive numbers for the Mean Green and figures to compete with Fernando Mendoza for the Bears' starting quarterback job in 2024

North Texas graduate transfer quarterback Chandler Rogers is transferring to Cal, and he made the announced his commitment to the Golden Bears on social media on Monday.  He was impressive for the Mean Green this season, and he figures to compete with Cal redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza for the starting quarterback job in 2024, which will be Cal's first season in the ACC.

As a graduate transfer, Rogers would be eligible to play for Cal in 2024, even though he has transferred multiple times.

The news of Rogers transfer to Cal comes just a few hours after reports that Cal quarterback Sam Jackson V is entering the transfer portal.

College Football Network ranked Rogers as the fifth-best quarterback available in the transfer portal, behind Dillon Gabriel, DJ Uiagalalei, Cam Ward and Jordan McCloud. It made this comment about Rogers:

A dominant player for the North Texas Mean Green, Chandler Rogers’ injection into the portal gave a QB-needy team yet another option for a veteran leader. The best part about Rogers is the fact that he’s done this before and immediately dominated.

Rogers had just previously transferred in to North Texas, and despite not winning the starting job out of camp, quickly assumed the starting role and ran with it. He was dominant with both his arm and his legs and put his name on the national radar in doing so.

He is ranked ahead of Grayson McCall of Coastal Carolina and Riley Leonard of Duke, who also entered in the transfer portal. 

Rogers transferred to North Texas last offseason from Louisiana-Monroe, and Cal was among the schools he considered before opting to attend North Texas in 2023. 

Rogers put up some impressive numbers for the Mean Green. He completed 62.1% of his passes for 3,382 yards, 29 touchdowns and five interceptions. Rogers passer rating of 149.71 this season is better than that of Mendoza, who has a passer rating of 134.02 while completing 62.4% of his passes with 13 TDs and seven interceptions.  Mendoza presumably played against better competition in the Pac-12 than Rogers did in the American Athletic Conference.

Rogers is ninth in the country in touchdown passes (29) and 14th in the nation in passing yards.

Rogers put up good numbers against Tulane, which is ranked No. 23 in the final regular-season AP poll, and SMU, which is No. 24 in the last CFP rankings. Rogers was 35-for-51 for 343 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 35-28 loss to Tulane, and he went 18-for-31 for 240 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in a 45-21 road defeat to SMU.  In the Mean Green's final game of the season, Rogers went 30-for-53 for 403 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in a 45-42 victory over UAB.

North Texas finished 5-7 this season, including 3-5 in the AAC.

Rogers was not North Texas' starting quarterback in the Mean Green's 2023 opener at Cal.  Stone Earle was North Texas' starter in that game, which Cal won 58-21.  Rogers entered that game late in the second quarter and was 3-for-7 for 10 yards, no touchdowns and one interception against the Bears.

Rodgers became the starter in the third game, and started the rest of the Mean Green's games this season.

Rogers will have traveled a circuitous route to land at Cal. The 6-foot, 195-pound Rogers came to North Texas after transferring Louisiana-Monroe, where he was the starter in 2022.

He began his college career at Southern Miss, spending the 2019 season there.  He then played at Blinn College, a junior college in Texas, in 2020 and 2021. He went to Louisiana-Monroe from there.

Rogers told 247Sports last week that Cal, Arizona State, Syracuse, Illinois, Indiana, TCU, South Carolina, Washington, Washington State, Houston, East Carolina, Tulane and Troy, among others, had shown interest in him after he entered the transfer portal.

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