All eyes on quarterback as Cal fall camp gets underway

Who will win the quarterback battle between Chandler Rogers and Fernando Mendoza in fall practice?

Cal is going to have a big quarterback decision on their hands that they will have to resolve in the next three weeks. Do they stick with the one that brought them here, or do they roll the dice and run with the experienced transfer?

Fernando Mendoza

Pros: He led Cal back from the brink of a third losing season in a row. He is a locker room favorite, and was definitely pushed by many to be given a starting shot as Cal struggled at the midpoint of last year. He was by far Cal’s best option last year.

He proved himself to be a capable game manager to supplement the workhorse that was Jaydn Ott down the stretch. He has a great rapport with the remaining receivers from last season, like Trond Grizzell and Jack Endries. He was capable of making the proper first read, had a surprisingly solid deep ball, and kept the offense moving more regularly than the original two starters. And in spring he seemed to transition seamlessly to working with the new receiving corps.

Finally, his work ethic is impressive. Now that he has the opportunity to be QB1, he’s evolved from his first form. Mendoza has conditioned himself to a proper FBS weight that should make him stronger and more resilient to the wear and tear of season. He attended the Manning Passing Camp over the summer.

Cons: His turnover issues are a clear concern. Mendoza threw ten interceptions in seven games and fumbled the ball eight times. It’s a lot to expect for a player in that situation to be ready to take on the starting role. But this will be a concern until those mistakes are limited.

And while Cal’s offense was much improved from 2022, the biggest reason was a much improved run blocking offensive line that pushed the Bears to a 2000+ rushing yard season. When the Cal run game gets stuck (like it did against Utah and Texas Tech), it’s still yet unproven if Mendoza can maintain the consistency required to keep the pass attack humming.

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Chandler Rogers

Pros: Rogers brings a high level of experience from his time in the G5, having 27 starts under his belt. He was extremely efficient during that time, dealing 53 touchdowns to 19 interceptions and compiling over 7000 yards.

Rogers provides a dual-threat ability, having rushed for 900 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns. He also might be a good fit for offensive coordinator Mike Bloesch, who originally tried to recruit him to North Texas. His athleticism will be as tantalizing as Sam Jackson V, except Rogers has the experience and background. If the offense lulls at any point during the difficult start for the Bears, we should not be surprised to see Rogers on the field.

Cons: Rogers’s talents are evident, but they have really only been put to the test against G5 competition. So even though he has plenty of experience, the number of quality opponents in those 27 starts likely isn’t that much different from the ones Mendoza faced last season. And when Rogers would play a Texas or an Alabama, it didn’t go much better than when Mendoza was at Autzen.

Conclusions

At this point, this is Mendoza’s job, and he will have it likely throughout fall camp if he maintains his spring baseline level off performance, but as Rogers said below, he didn’t come here to sit on the bench. The good news is if they’re up to the challenge, this competition can only be beneficial to both in improving them to be the best option for this extremely deep offensive unit.

Quotes

Here’s some quotes from ACC Media Day from the two quarterbacks vying for the job.

Fernando Mendoza

Q. The Stanford and California rivalry that goes back years and years. Now y'all are joining the ACC. How excited are you to keep that rivalry going? How has bringing in Chandler Rogers helped you with your game over the off-season?

FERNANDO MENDOZA: That's a great question.

First off, talking about the Stanford and California rivalry, I'm from Miami, Florida. I'm from the East Coast. I was an ACC kid growing up. When Cal was my only scholarship offer, I was honored and blessed and so thankful that Coach Wilcox took a chance on me.

First year, I was a signal caller. Now it doesn't really matter because we have the helmet. I was actually the fake signal caller. I was doing little whips and sprinklers and stuff. I looked like a fool. We played Stanford at home. That was our sold-out game that year. It was crazy. After the game everyone stormed the field, alumni came up to me shaking and hugging me while crying. Thank you so much. I'm like, I'm the fake signal caller, man. I would love to think...

Being a scout team quarterback that year, I helped the team. At that moment it really showed me how much that rivalry meant. That's something we look forward to continuing. As long as I've been here, Jaydn has been here, I know Craig has had his fair share of big-game victories, it's something we look forward to sharing with our older and new teammates that we got through the transfer portal and new ACC fans.

Chandler is a six-year quarterback, a lot of football under his belt. Quarterback competition and competition in general, whether you might be uncomfortable with it, you're comfortable with it, it always makes you be a better player. As I referenced before, my goal is to be the best player I can be at the NFL camp. Chandler is helping me do that because he has a ton of experience, probably over thousands of college football game reps. That's something that's invaluable. That's something that I've learned from playing seven games last season, from my first game to my seventh game, I saw how you can grow so much as a player physically and mentally. That's something I'm excited we have on our offense.

Chandler Rogers.

Q. What brought you to California from the transfer portal? Being a six-year player, where do you see your role within this team?

CHANDLER ROGERS: To answer your first question, what brought me to Cal, first and foremost, I had an established relationship with this current staff from Coach Wilcox, Coach Bloesch, to specifically I had an opportunity to come here last year but things didn't quite work out. Entering the portal again, it was a mutual interest. Like I say, what's nice comes twice. I really believe in this opportunity. I know they have a lot of returning production coming back. Going to be in the backfield with Jaydn Ott. Why not?

To answer the second question, I didn't come here to sit. As well as Fernando, he's here to play as well. The goal is definitely to help this team win games.

Q. You've been around the block a couple times at ULM, ended up here. What's really stuck out about the differences being at those sort of schools and now to Cal?

CHANDLER ROGERS: The biggest difference is obviously the resources and the money involved that goes into the recovery and the nutrition as well as just the football stuff. We have the sleep pods here, that really helps with recovery as well.

Just being at ULM, for example, we weren't provided meal plans. There was no way for us to eat. In Texas, we had meal plans. There's just a lost more money invested here, the people, alumni, and boosters really care about us. They really give us money to help this program be great.