The Bears’ recruitment of senior QB Chandler Rogers has come full circle. A year after nearly signing Rogers from the portal before eventually winding up with QB Sam Jackson instead, the Bears nabbed the senior North Texas grad transfer as a spring ‘24 add today.
Rated a high 3 star (89) in 247’s portal ratings, the 6-1/190 senior as a redshirt soph in 2022 at Louisiana-Monroe completed 216-of-320 passes for 2,403 yards and 15 TDs with 7 interceptions and a 141.67 rating. He also rushed for 353 yards and 5 additional TDs. He topped that as a junior at North Texas this season, completing 62.1% of his passes for 3,382 yards, 29 touchdowns and five interceptions for the Mean Green. He also added 180 yards and 4 TDs on the ground in 2023.
"Right after I hit the portal, I got a call from Coach Bloesch," Rogers said. "We talked about some things and I talked to Coach Wilcox and the rest of the staff there. They were still open for me to come to Cal and really wanted me to come again. And then we talked about the roster and the different situations there. They're gonna have a lot back, especially with Jaydn Ott (his host last year on his OV) coming back at running back. And they had two quarterbacks in the portal and Fernando's the only returning quarterback.
"With my abilities coming in, with my experience and also with Cal being in the Bay Area, San Francisco's right there among other places. It's a great area for me. And having the familiarity already with the coaches and some of the players I met during the recruiting process before just made the decision a lot easier. I mean, all the way around, it just felt great."
Ironically enough, the Bears were the first team Rogers faced while playing for North Texas, though only in limited duty in the season-opening 58-21 Cal victory.
"Cal looked good,” Rogers said. “In a way it was a little weird playing them right away after they recruited me but in a way, it wasn't. I talked with Coach Wilcox and it was all good. Mavin made a couple really tough catches that game. I was like, 'Wow, how'd he catch that?’"
Rogers will join redshirt frosh QB Fernando Mendoza and incoming freshman QB EJ Caminong in the Bears’ QB depth chart. He plans to sign next week and enroll in spring classes and be available for spring ball.
Can never have too many experienced QBs in the room. Welcome to Cal Mr. Rogers!
Interesting side note from this article: he seems confident that Jaydn Ott will be back which is huge news. I know some more pessimistic fans think he might leave for a massive NIL deal somewhere else but that would be really important for our team success next year to keep him in Blue & Gold
