Top-10 Cal Quarterbacks

Current Cal quarterback Jared Goff has been getting quite a bit of national attention this season. That might have taken a hit over the last two games but he's still one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. Perhaps the best. In January he'll have a big decision to make regarding his football future. Should he or shouldn't he jump to the NFL a year early. He'll be a top-10 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. Maybe even the top pick. Goff is seven games into his third season as Cal's starting quarterback and he's already grabbed many of the school's career passing records. Now matter when he leaves Berkeley he'll leave with just about every school passing record. All of this Jared Goff talk over the past month nationally and past three years regionally had me thinking about the best quarterbacks to play in Berkeley. Here's a Flea Flicker look at the Top-10 Cal Quarterbacks.

10. Kyle Boller
Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick and general manager Ozzie Newsome saw something that they liked in Boller. They selected him in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft. Boller had terrific arm talent, he was athletic, but he was often wild with his throws. Despite the occasional wild throw head coach Jeff Tedford was able to turn the Bears around in a single season because of the talented quarterback that he inherited.

  9. Gale Gilbert
Gilbert was the quarterback when I arrived on the Berkeley campus. The team was terrible but Gilbert's obvious talent made the games exciting. He was also the starting quarterback in the Big Game that held "The Play." Gilbert managed an 11-year NFL career and went to an incredible five consecutive Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers.

  8. Troy Taylor
Taylor was the quarterback my final years on the Berkeley campus. I've always wondered how both Gilbert and Taylor would have fared with better football talent around them. Both were very talented throwers and made the games exciting despite the lack of wins. Taylor played well enough in college to be drafted by the New York Jets in the fourth round of the 1990 NFL Draft.

  7. Mike Pawlawski
Some of the most fun Cal football seasons in my lifetime came when Pawlawski led the team. He led the Bears to a 10-2 record and #8 national ranking in 1991. The best college football that I ever attended was the 1991 Cal-Washington game. Washington was #3 at the time of the game. Cal was #7. It was a thrilling game throughout but the Huskies held on for a 24-17 win. Washington was #2 in the final AP poll. #1 in the Coach's poll. Pawlawski and Cal challenged that Huskies team all day that sunny day in October.

  6. Craig Morton
As with Gilbert and Taylor, Morton was the quarterback of some sad Cal teams. Sad despite having Marv Levy as their head coach and Bill Walsh as an assistant coach. Despite playing for a Cal team that lost more than they won Morton was All-American and the #5 pick in the 1965 NFL Draft. He had a very good 18-year NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos. He led the Broncos to Super Bowl XII.

  5. Joe Kapp
The only reason that Kapp is ahead of Morton on this list is that he led Cal to the 1959 Rose Bowl. It's still, sadly, the last time that the Bears have played in Pasadena on New Years Day. He also led the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl IV. That's pretty important to this Vikings fan.

  4. Jared Goff
Hopefully Cal's past two games are more stumble than trend. If Goff can get the team back on track and end the season strong he probably leaps to #2 on this list. He really does have all of the traits a quarterback needs to succeed at any level. Arm talent, accuracy, smarts, leadership, dedication.

  3. Steve Bartkowski
Bartkowski has always been something of a puzzle for me. He's the only Cal football player to ever be selected #1 overall in the NFL Draft. He obviously had the talent and potential to be great. As with Morton, I only really saw him play at the professional level. Morton played for nationally prominent teams like the Cowboys and Giants and some very good Broncos teams. Bartkowski played for some struggling Atlanta Falcons teams. I saw far more of Morton. I only saw Bartkowski play when he played some very good to great San Francisco 49ers teams. The Falcons often gave those 49ers teams a helluva time. Bartkowski had a very good 12-year NFL career. He just played for a team that wasn't very good for most of that career. I think that I appreciate Bartkowski's talent and career more now than I did when he was playing. He still holds most of the Falcons career passing records.

  2. Joe Roth
Before cancer started robbing Roth of his strength and then his life he looked like he was on his way to being one of the best to ever throw the ball. Roth was Cal's quarterback the day that I stepped into Memorial Stadium for the very first time. He was a wonder.

  1. Aaron Rodgers
Anyone that didn't see the talent of Rodgers during his too short stay at Cal is a fool. His performance against #1 USC in 2004 was one of the best college passing performances that I've ever seen. He's well on his way to being thought of with the best that's ever played. That player could be seen in the player that played at Cal. You just had to look.