Hello all, another CAL fan and most likely a Ram fan after draft day. First off been lurking in these forums since the trade was announced and love the tone of the forums, it a huge difference from the CAL Bear Insider forums. All the posts have been insightful and positive.
Like the original poster I’m completely enamored with Goff becoming a Ram. I have a disdain for SF due to the arrogance of a lot of the fans, happy he’s not ending up there or Cleveland. As for Goff my take is you are getting a really good QB. One thing where he stands out is his football acumen. As a thrower his feet are always moving (choppy steps), head and shoulders always pointed up field which allows him to make quick position adjustments, move around the pocket, side step or release. As he’s moving head shoulders and body still stay pointed down field. Goff also can feel the pressure and keep his composure; he will step up six inches to avoid a free blitzer, he very rarely will completely break his throwing stance when under pressure also, just takes a step or two to avoid whatever's coming. As the OP said the CAL line was not the best, if you watch film on him you will rarely ever see a great pocket, in fact most of the time there is no pocket and someone is coming free on him. He also has ice running through his veins, never saw him get flustered.
From a throwing prospective he very accurate especially when under duress but does have some bad throws from time to time, this has to be expected though when you throw so many passes. What is very impressive about him though is his quick release, ball placement and his anticipation are off the charts, I think it’s due to his great footwork. If you watch his film most of his passes are out before the receiver cuts and he throws the receiver open. Arm strength I would say is above average but not special. One thing I have heard before is the QBs don’t get full arm strength until they are around 25 so he still has some room for growth here if that’s true. He does have great touch on the ball though, he’s very adept at dropping passes over defenders where a lot of strong arm passers lack the touch. (Colin Kapernick)
I would not be worried about him coming from and AIR Raid, we actually call it the Bear Raid as it has slightly different concepts. First off he’s thrown over 1500 passes in 3 years of college, he was recruited by Jeff Tedford as a Pro Style QB and had to adapt to The Bear Raid as a freshman when Tedford was fired. Also CAL ran a lot of pistol, that’s not a 5 or 7 step drop but still not traditional shotgun either. One other thing is that I read recently that something like 60% of NFL snaps are taken from the gun now, I understand the Jeff Fisher has his offense but here’s the thing, I think it’s a lot easier to teach a QB to take snaps from under center then to teach (if it’s possible to teach) the other intangibles Goff already possesses. I think the RAMS see the same thing and that’s why they moved up. I don’t see them taking Wentz, I’ve seen too much of Goff with no pass protection dropping dimes while calmly avoiding the rush, over 1500 passes against 30 ints against D1 talent, most fans will tell you most of those picks were his receivers tipping balls up also (he hits them in the hands a lot)
There are quite a few CAL games and Goff highlight reels on you tube so please don’t just take my word for it.
And I’m really hoping the Rams take him because y’all seem pretty cool in these forums! Let me know if you have any questions at all. We have our spring game tomorrow, first time in 4 years it’s going to be a game not a practice format as CAL has had not enough depth the last three years to field two teams ;-) That should also tell you a little about the talent that has surrounded Goff. Oh and were going to get there early to watch Goff throw for Jerry, another place I hope he doesn't end up.