Cal Bears Name Starting Quarterback, Have Potential Breakout Running Back
With the college football season right around the corner, the Cal Bears have named their starting quarterback, and may have a potential breakout running back on their hands.
One of the biggest questions – no, probably the biggest question for the California Golden Bears’ football team coming into the 2016 season was “who would take over at quarterback for Jared Goff?”. That question has been answered, as graduate transfer Davis Webb has been named the starting quarterback.
Webb came in to camp in competition with a glut of other quarterbacks, including redshirt sophomore Chase Forrest, redshirt freshman Ross Bowers, true freshmen Max Gilliam and Victor Viramontes, and former safety Luke Rubenzer, who has since returned to safety. But Webb earned the job and been given very high praise from head coach Sonny Dykes
"“He is very mature and methodical with his approach,” Dykes said. “His preparation is unparalleled from what I’ve seen by what he’s done during the summer. We have complete confidence in him leading our offense and leading our team. We felt it was in the best interest of our football team to make this decision now.”"
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Webb comes with starting experience from his days with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. In 23 games over three seasons, Webb completed 61.4 percent of his passes (459-747) for 5,557 yards and 46 touchdowns, with 22 interceptions. Even with that experience, Webb has his work cut out for him, trying to fill the shoes left by Goff.
In his three seasons at Cal, Goff broke just about every record imaginable for the Bears. He completed 977 of 1,568 attempts, good for 12,195 yards and 96 touchdowns, all the best in school history. He led the Bears from a 1-11 record in his freshman season to an 8-5 record and an Armed Forces Bowl win in 2015, the school’s first Bowl victory since 2008. Goff was the first overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams in this year’s draft.
Webb took part in his first 11-on-11 practice session since being named the starter on Thursday, and completed eight of his nine pass attempts for 101 yards.
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It won’t all be on Webb this season, as he has some talented running backs playing behind him. One of those running backs, the power back of the group Vic Enwere, has been named one of Pro Football Focus‘ top-25 breakout college players for 2016.
With Daniel Lasco heading to the NFL as well after being drafted 237th overall by the New Orleans Saints, the starting running back spot is up for grabs as well. That was mostly the case last season as well, as Lasco played in nine games and carried the ball just 65 times while dealing with various injuries. In his absence, Enwere became the workhorse back, leading the team with 106 carries. He picked up 505 yards, second on the team, and scored half of the team’s 16 rushing touchdowns. His most spectacular run came in the fourth quarter of week five against Washington State. On a third-and-36 play, Enwere busted it up the gut, carving a path around his blockers and breaking a couple tackles en route to a 42-yard pickup.
Enwere is a power back, but he has no problems shaking defenders either. He broke 33 tackles in his 106 carries, which led to an elusive rating of 105.0 from PFF, 11th-best in the nation. He also has a good bit of speed, breaking off an 80-yard run in day three of camp.
There are two very talented returning running backs around Enwere, in Khalfani Muhammad and Tre Watson. Muhammad picked up a team-leading 586 yards on 87 carries, adding a touchdown. Watson carried 88 times for 494 yards, scoring three times. Both are capable receivers, as Muhammad caught 17 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns, and Watson caught 10 for 106 yards and a score.
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Football season is right around the corner now. The Bears open the season on August 26th, three weeks from today, in Sydney, Australia against the Hawaii Warriors.