Full name: Jared Thomas Goff Born: October 14, 1994 Parents: Jerry and Nancy Goff

Dad was a catcher who played Major League Baseball with Montreal (1990, 1992), Pittsburgh (1993-94) and Detroit (1995-96)

Chose #16 during his Pop-Warner games as a young kid and Joe Montana

Jared Goff’s first start will be the beginning of a new era when he faces the Dolphins on Sunday. Whether that era is full of success or failures remains to be seen as Goff is now the Los Angeles Rams’ Quarterback of the future.

The 1st-overall draft pick and California native is not new to the blue and yellow. He’s also not new to taking punishment with a Cal team that provided little pass protection. Funny as it sounds very similar to the Rams current situation. Goff’s ability to take hits, evade tackles and burn secondaries earned him a starting spot with the Rams who have struggled exactly like Cal did back in 2013.

2013-2015: California Golden Bears

At Cal he showed incredible accuracy, intelligent pocket presence and the ability to release the ball quickly, an area where his predecessor Case Keenum struggled. He was the first true freshman quarterback to start a season opener at Cal.

Goff shined through all of his 12 game starts setting single season records in passing yards (3,508) pass completions (320) and passing attempts (530).  He ended the season with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions which gave the Bears a record of 1-11. You could say he’s not new to a losing team looking to build from the grounnd up.

Goff’s sophomore year was much of an improvement as the Bears finished with a 5-7 record. He broke his own single season passing record with 3,973 yards and impressed plenty of skeptics with  breaking a school single season record of 35 passing touchdowns. In his final year at Cal he continued to break records and let the team to a winning record of 8-5.

Cal notable alumni: Aaron Rodgers, Deshawn Jackson, Marshawn Lynch

2016: NFL Preseason Week 1

Goff looked as comfortable as you could be with a weak offensive line taking hits, tipped balls and pass rushes. During his NFL preseason debut he accurately threw to receivers who simply dropped passes. He isn’t afraid to throw into coverage and will occasionally throw the deep ball keeping defensive backs on their toes.

2016: NFL Preseason Week 2

Again the same story with plenty of dropped passes but a few early plays which resulted in a fumble and near interception made Goff look like a duck out of water.

2016: NFL Preseason Week 4

Nothing to see here. A lot of dropped passes in the hands of receivers but the first real sign of struggle as he over threw and under threw multiple passes. Late in the 2nd quarter Goff repeated his performance with a snapped fumble leading to a turnover. An ugly outing for Goff topped off with an interception before he was taking out of the game at the end of the half.

Preseason Totals:

22 of 49 passing (44.9 percent) for 232 yards with two TDs, two INTs and three fumbles.

If you are expecting a winning season with Jared Goff under center think again. Unless Goff has improved his accuracy and ball protection, the Rams will have to look next year to beat .500.

With the Rams struggling on the offensive line Goff will only be able to do so much, hopefully the front office will invest in protecting the quarterback they’ve spent so much money on.