Nate Longshore

He led the Bears to a 10–3 record, a share of the Pac-10 title for the first time since 1975, and a victory in the 2006 Holiday Bowl.

He was named the co-offensive MVP of the Holiday Bowl alongside running back Marshawn Lynch

Longshore was particularly effective in his first full season as California's starting quarterback.

He became the second quarterback in California school history to throw for 3,000 yards.

He was second in the Pac-10 in passing touchdowns with 24 and second in passing efficiency at 141.6.

He was an honorable mention Pac-10 honoree and earned various player of the week awards.

Nathan Dean Longshore (born June 30, 1986) is a former American football quarterback for the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a three-year starter and led the Golden Bears to a share of the Pacific-10 Conference championship in 2006.

Longshore graduated from Canyon High School in 2004.

He set ten school passing records and rang up 6,750 yards and 64 touchdown passes during his career.

Longshore's 2005 season ended in the season's first game with a fibula injury and ligament damage in his ankle against Sacramento State.

Joe Ayoob took over starting duties for Longshore.

Longshore entered spring practice in 2006 in a heated battle for the starting quarterback job with veteran senior Joe Ayoob.

During fall practice, head coach Jeff Tedford named Longshore the starting quarterback the week leading up to Cal's season opener at Tennessee.

Coach Jeff Tedford particularly liked Longshore's mental understanding of the game of football.

Despite passing for only 85 yards in a lopsided loss to Tennessee and being replaced by Ayoob in the second half of the Tennessee game, Longshore remained the team's starter.

Longshore entered 2007 as the established starting quarterback.

In the preseason, Longshore was rated as the No. 5 quarterback in the nation by The Sporting News and ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr.. ranked him the 3rd best junior quarterback in the country.

Longshore led the Bears to 5-0 start and a number #2 ranking with wins against #15 Tennessee and #11 Oregon, but suffered a sprained right ankle that resulted in a bone spur in California's close victory over Oregon.

Longshore missed the Oregon State game, Cal's first loss.

He returned to start the Bears' last six regular season games, but he and the Bears were not the same, winning only one game, against Washington State.

Longshore faltered badly over the second half of the season, throwing 11 interceptions compared to 9 touchdowns over the team's final six regular season games.

His struggles were particularly apparent in the fourth quarter of close games where he threw several interceptions in critical game situations that prevented California from making comebacks.

Longshore started for Cal at the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl, but was replaced by backup Kevin Riley in the second quarter, who finished the game and was named the game MVP in Cal's 42-36 victory over Air Force.

The extent to which the ankle injury affected Longshore's performance is uncertain.

Some media reports and telecasts have noted the injury on several occasions, some saying it was causing him to limp, while others have claimed that the impact was mental.

The game marked his first start since the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl.

Longshore started the next Cal game, an away game at Arizona.

After a difficult second year, Longshore was looking to 2008 as a fresh start.

Coach Jeff Tedford hinted that Longshore and Kevin Riley, Longshore's primary competitor for the quarterback position, would play significant minutes leading into conference play.

On August 30, in Cal's season opener against the Michigan State Spartans, Tedford inserted Longshore for two drives.

Both resulted in interceptions, one of which was returned by the Spartans for a touchdown.

By comparison, Riley, who quarterbacked for the rest of the game, completed 202 passing yards with two touchdown passes.

Tedford announced on September 2 that Riley would be the starter and that Longshore would be the backup.

Longshore saw playing time the following week on September 6 in Cal's 66-3 rout of Washington State in Pullman, Washington.

He led the Bears in the third quarter and into the fourth, and passed for 53 yards.

Longshore saw playing time three weeks later on September 27 against the Colorado State Rams, replacing a struggling Riley who had thrown for a touchdown and had one interception.

Although Longshore's two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter came with the game's outcome beyond doubt in the Bears' 42-7 victory, Tedford reopened the quarterback competition for the following week against Arizona State on October 4.

Longshore won the starting job and played the entire game, throwing for 198 yards, including three touchdowns and one interception in the 24-14 victory.

Rivals.com rated him the No. 8 "pro-style" quarterback in the nation and the 17th-best overall player in California.

After redshirting his freshman year, Longshore was chosen to succeed Aaron Rodgers, who left for the NFL, to be California's starting quarterback.