Cal Golden Bears Appear To Have New Starting QB Ahead Of LA Bowl

8 Hours Ago

Aug 31, 2024; Berkeley, California, USA; The Atlantic Coast Conference logo is painted on the field before the game between the California Golden Bears and the UC Davis Aggies at California Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

California appears to have decided on their starting QB for tonight's LA Bowl against the UNLV Rebels. Third-stringer CJ Harris looks poised to be under center for Justin Wilcox's Golden Bears after taking first-team reps in pregame warmups. Check out some highlights from Harris' first game when he was a member of the Ohio Bobcats.

Fernando Mendoza started the first 11 games of the season and was seen as the cornerstone of the program. In 2024, the sophomore completed 68.7% of his pass attempts for 3,004 yards with a 16:6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. However, Mendoza announced last week that he would enter the transfer portal. He finished the season as the third-leading passer in the ACC.

Cal QB Fernando Mendoza is entering the Transfer Portal, per reports.

Mendoza threw for 3,004 yards and 16 touchdowns this season for the Golden Bears pic.twitter.com/zNff0317FJ
— NCAA Transfer Portal (@RivalsPortal) December 11, 2024

Much like their former quarterback, coach Justin Wilcox has moved on, focusing on identifying the next leader for the program. Wilcox was forced to decide between three players with vastly different experiences: fifth-year sophomore CJ Harris, who saw limited action in the season finale against Southern Methodist, true freshman EJ Caminong, who has yet to take a snap, and fifth-year senior Chandler Rogers, who started Cal’s last game, but suffered an injury against SMU and was deemed highly questionable. Harris and Caminong took the majority of snaps in practice this past week.

“They’ve earned the respect of their teammates,” Wilcox said. “They both work really hard. They’re accountable to the team. … You can see the energy that the team, and the offense in particular, brings when those guys are on the field.”

Coach Wilcox and the Golden Bears seem likely to go with fifth-year sophomore CJ Harris to quarterback Cal in the LA Bowl against the UNLV Rebels tonight. Harris, who began his career at Ohio, has played 10 games over four seasons, completing 78 of 147 passes for 829 yards. He has tallied five touchdowns and four interceptions while rushing for 239 yards and three additional scores. This decision gives the appearance that Wilcox is opting for experience over youth as his other choice, EJ Caminong, has yet to take a college snap. That being said, we wouldn’t be surprised to see multiple quarterbacks play in this game. Even Chandler Rogers suited up despite being questionable with an injury.

According to our Las Vegas sports betting sources, the respected money in Las Vegas is expecting a low-scoring affair due to the quarterback change. This has caused the total to be driven down from 48.5 to as low as 45 at some books in Las Vegas.

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