Cal Football

Bears Add Experience to QB Room in Grad Transfer Ryan Glover

By Jim McGill

June 5, 2021

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The Bears picked up some experience in the QB room with the grad transfer of former Penn and Western Carolina QB Ryan Glover on Friday.

Glover was was on campus Thursday to get a thorough tour of everything and also had a chance to visit his grandma and other family members in the evening.

“Everything was super nice,” said Glover. “Obviously it's a step up from what I'm used to with Cal being a Power-5 school. Everything seemed very new and organized and I liked how they had all the football facilities in one place.”

Already holding a degree from Penn, the chance to add a certificate in Business Administration and Management from Cal, as well as play a season under the tutelage of longtime former NFL offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave was too hard for Glover to pass up.

“Coach Musgrave has been recruiting me the most over everybody,” said Glover. “I'd say he’s a very smart, intellectual guy. He has experience with his playing and coaching in the NFL. Just having that type of guy on the staff and being able to be coached by someone like that will take my game to the next level, which is one of the reasons I chose Cal.

“He thinks I have a pretty strong arm and can be a strong passer. Also, being mobile and being able to move out of the pocket, he likes that I’m a dual threat quarterback.

“I talked to Coach Wilcox, too. He kind of reiterated some of the same things, that I bring good experience with this being my fifth year. I started a double digit amount of games, playing in maybe 20 in my collegiate career so just having that type of experience alongside Chase will definitely help the team as a whole.”

Glover’s transition to Cal was definitely not the traditional route.

“It was a pretty complex process I went through,” said Glover. I graduated a semester early and traditionally, Penn doesn’t allow grad students to play football. That’s one of the main reasons I needed to transfer from Penn after the Ivy League cancelled their season in the fall as well as spring.

“I transferred to WCU for the spring and started the season in February. There were only eight games scheduled and we only played six, with the last two games dropping off due to covid. So a lot has happened pretty fast.”

Even though Glover is switching coasts, he’s more than familiar with the bay area and Cal.

“I come to the bay maybe once a year,” said Glover. “My parents are from Oakland and from Richmond. My mom (celebrity stylist Tameka Foster) actually went to Berkeley High School so we’ve always been into Cal. My grandma actually went to Cal as an undergrad (1960-64). She was a part of all of the rallies during the free speech movement after school was over and some of the Black Panther movement.”

As it turns out, this wasn't Glover’s first time on the Memorial Stadium turf, either.

“I actually camped at Cal in 2014 when I was a freshman in high school,” said Glover. “I went to the same camp that Najee Harris went to and they offered him on the spot. Amazing athlete and a great kid. He did the running back drills and killed it. Then he went to receiver and torched some DBs. He was a freak even back then.”

As a prep, Glover was a 3 star dual threat QB from Woodward Academy (College Park, GA). H was committed to Colorado State and had offers from Minnesota, Southern Miss and a host of mid-majors being opting for Penn. At Penn, Glover played in 16 games with 10 starts, throwing for 1573 yards, eight tds and seven interceptions. He also rushed for 373 yards and two tds, as well.

After his transfer to WCU, Glover passed for 832 yards, three tds and four interceptions, starting all six games.

The Bears are currently hosting their first official visitors for the 2022 class on campus from Friday through Sunday. Stay tuned for more details as they emerge.