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Countdown to College Football Kickoff 2015, Day 35: Jared Goff TD Passes

By Patrick Schmidt

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The college football kickoff countdown is down to 35 days, the same amount of touchdowns California quarterback Jared Goff threw last year for the Golden Bears. 

ALSO READ: Countdown to Kickoff Day 36, Dubious Texas Tech Record

Saturday’s will be full of sports drama in five weeks with the start of the college football season with North Dakota State taking on Montana in the first game of the year. As we continue our countdown to kickoff series, we arrive at Day 35, the same number of touchdowns for Cal quarterback Jared Goff.

The junior signal-caller has been one of the best-kept secrets in the game the last two years where he’s thrown 53 touchdowns to 17 interceptions and 7,481 yards in his first two years, but the team success has avoided him as the Bears have managed to win six games.

Despite the lack of team success, his individual success has put him in the preseason conversation for the Heisman Trophy and a potential first round pick should he leave school early for the 2016 NFL Draft.

It’s easy to see why NFL teams would covet the 6-4, 215-pound quarterback after the large leap he took from his freshman season to his sophomore one with throws like this one in the season opening win at Northwestern.

Credit: Bleacher Report

Goff was fifth in the nation with 3,973 yards and fifth with his 35 touchdown passes and he showed he could elevate the play of his teammates around him and went from a 1-11 team as a freshman to a 5-7 team.

He isn’t focused on the individual accolades or what his future holds, but is trying to get Cal back to a bowl game and competing in the Pac-12.

“I’m not concerned about that right now,” he tells Josh Dubow of the AP. “I need to go out here and get better every day and win games and let that stuff happen when it happens. Now is not the time to make that decision.”

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Before his time in the college game ends, and it likely will end after his junior season if he has another season like last year, and there’s little reason to believe he won’t be one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in his third year in Sonny Dykes spread offense.

The third-year head coach of the Bears saw something special in Goff two years ago as a freshman when he threw for 450, 485, 317 and 504 yards with nine touchdowns in his first four full games, but Dykes thinks he’s a different player now.

“I thought he was a completely different player,” Dykes said of Goff following spring football, according to Jeff Faraudo of the Bay Area News Group. “To me, the biggest jump I’ve seen from Jared was this spring. He ended the fall as a really good quarterback. He finished spring practice as an elite-level quarterback.”

He’s the greatest college quarterback you haven’t watched yet so make sure you watch him at Cal this year, because he could be your favorite NFL team’s first round pick next year.

Next: Top 15 Breakout Candidates to Watch in 2015

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