Twitter: @zachklineQB | @calfootball
Instagram: killerkline8 | cal_football
Kline had two stints at Cal beginning with the first two seasons of his collegiate career as a 2012 true freshman and 2013 redshirt freshman before leaving the program following the 2013 campaign. After one season at Butte College in 2014 and another at Indiana State in 2015, he returned to Cal in the spring of 2016 but announced in May after the conclusion of spring ball that he would not be attending Cal as a graduate student and playing for the Golden Bears in 2016 before eventually using his final season of collegiate eligibility at Fresno State as a senior and graduate transfer in 2016. Kline was involved in battles for the starting quarterback job during both of his stints at Cal along with eventual starter Jared Goff and Austin Hinder prior to the 2013 season and as one of five quarterbacks on the roster during 2016 spring football. Kline was the team’s backup behind Goff in his lone season of action at Cal as a redshirt freshman and played in six games off the bench, completing 43-of-82 (52.4%) passes for 443 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions while rushing for another 14 yards on 13 carries.
After Cal
• Played in seven games with one start as a graduate transfer as a 2016 senior at Fresno State and completed 42-of-79 passes for 523 yards with two interceptions while rushing 48 times for 13 yards
• Worked towards a master's degree in education during his lone season at Fresno State and made the fall Academic All-Mountain West team
• Has committed to play in the inaugural professional football Spring League in April of 2017
Cal Career (2012-13, Spring 2016)
• Played in six games off the bench during the second of his two seasons as a redshirt freshman in 2013, completing 43-of-82 (52.4%) passes for 443 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions for a 100.14 passer efficiency rating while rushing 13 times for 14 yards
• Left the program following the 2013 season and then played one season at Butte College (2014) and another at Indiana State (2015) before returning to Cal in the spring of 2016 and had a strong spring game by completing 15-of-16 passes for 202 yards with two touchdowns on passes of 39 and 32 yards to Melquise Stovall
• Announced in May of 2016 that he would not attend Cal as a graduate transfer for the 2016 season
• Wore No. 8 in his first stint at Cal and No. 17 in his second
Senior (2016)
• Returned to Cal in the spring of 2016 and was one of five quarterbacks on the roster battling for the starting position
• Had a strong spring game by completing 15-of-16 passes for 202 yards with two touchdowns on passes of 39 and 32 yards to Melquise Stovall but did not score on either of his two-point conversion running attempts
• Announced in May that he would not attend Cal as a graduate transfer for the 2016 season
Indiana State (2015)
• Played in three games and completed 6-of-13 passes for 47 yards while rushing three times for 26 yards
Butte College (2014)
• Played in all 11 games and completed 145-of-237 passes for 1,708 yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions for a squad that finished 7-4 overall, 4-1 in the Nor Cal League and reached the Gridiron Classic Bowl
• Added 208 yards rushing and three scores on the ground over 73 carries as well as two catches for eight yards
Freshman (2013)
• Played in six games off the bench, completing 43-of-82 passes (52.4%) for 443 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions for a 100.14 quarterback rating while rushing 13 times for 14 yards
• Completed 18-of-37 passes for 165 yards with one touchdown and one interception in his Cal debut vs. Oregon, while adding one rush for a loss of six yards for 159 total yards
• Completed 11-of-16 passes (68.8%) for 71 yards and two touchdowns while rushing four times for 28 yards against Oregon State
• Also played in games at Stanford (8-of-15, 115 yards, 1 INT; 4 rushes, -12 yards), at Colorado (3-of-7, 41 yards; 3 rushes, 3 yards), vs. USC (1-of-3, 34 yards; 1 rush, 1 yard) and vs. Washington State (2-of-4, 17 yards, 1 INT)
• Posted a season-long 38-yard pass to Bryce Treggs at Stanford and his longest run of the season with a 15-yarder against Oregon State
• Ranked as the nation’s No. 34 Fantasy Football quarterback according to Lindy’s prior to the season
• Completed 7-of-14 passes for a game-high 124 yards including a 19-yard touchdown throw to Maximo Espitia in the spring game, and also had one yard rushing on five carries
• Listed as one of three quarterbacks in a battle for the starting position on the preseason depth chart along with Jared Goff and Austin Hinder, with Athlon ranking the quarterback battle as one of the top 12 in the nation in its preseason magazine
Freshman (2012)
• Redshirted
• Did not play
• Tabbed as the nation’s No. 4 incoming freshman quarterback prior to the season by Athlon, Lindy’s and Phil Steele
• Listed as Cal’s top newcomer according to Athlon, Lindy’s and USA Today, while Athlon had him as the No. 9 overall recruit in the Pac-12 and Lindy’s placed him at No. 13
• The nation’s No. 39 overall recruit by Athlon and No. 44 national incoming freshman according to Lindy’s
• A mid-year enrollee for the spring semester who participated with the team during its spring practices
• Completed 3-of-5 passes for 54 yards in the spring game, including a 40-yard touchdown throw to Spencer Hagan and a subsequent successful two-point conversion pass to Jackson Bouza in the fourth quarter for what proved to be the winning points
San Ramon Valley High School (Class of 2012)
• Earned SuperPrep All-American honors during a 2011 senior season in which he completed 230-of-341 passes for 3,630 yards and a school-record-tying 36 TDs with only seven interceptions to rank fourth in California and No. 18 nationally in passing, while adding 210 yards and eight scores on the ground
• Had a school-record completion percentage of 67.4% as a senior while his yardage total was second all-time at the school
• Threw for at least one touchdown in 13 of 14 games and passed for at least 200 yards on 12 occasions as a senior, including a career-high 337 yards vs. California in a game in which he also equaled a career best with five touchdown passes to earn MaxPreps Player of the Week honors
• Played in the Under Armour All-America Game following his senior season and completed 5-of-10 passes for 92 yards, including a 32-yard TD pass that rated No. 3 on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays of the Day
• Collected a series of other top honors as a senior including Gatorade California State Player of the Year, first-team All-State (ESPN High School California, MaxPreps), East Bay Offensive Player of the Year (Bay Area News Group), first-team All-Metro (San Francisco Chronicle) and first-team All-East Bay Athletic League
• Senior team posted a 10-4 record and reached the North Coast Section title game before falling to eventual California Open Division Bowl champ De La Salle
• Also a first-team All-EBAL selection as a 2010 junior when he completed 164-of-278 passes (59.0%) for 1,978 yards and 10 touchdowns
• Graduated from high school in three and a half years
Recruiting Rankings (Class of 2012)
• A four-star recruit of the 2012 recruiting class by 247Sports, ESPN, MaxPreps, Rivals, Scout and 247Sports
• The nation’s No. 2 pro-style quarterback recruit according to 247Sports and Rivals, while ESPN and Scout had him as the No. 4 overall quarterback recruit and MaxPreps listed him as the No. 6 pro-style quarterback recruit
• Also among the nation’s best recruits overall according to 247Sports (No. 38), Rivals (No. 44), ESPN (No. 58), Scout (No. 123) and MaxPreps (No. 139)
• Ranked as high as No. 5 overall by 247Sports among all recruits from California, while ESPN had him at No. 7 and Rivals at No. 10
Other
• Full name is Zachary Scott Kline
• Born October 13, 1993
• Parents are Scott and Lisa Kline
• Played at the same high school as current Cal football player Matt Anderson as well as recent former Cal football players Kyle Kragen, John Sheperdson and Patrick Worstell
• Graduated from Cal in May of 2016 with a bachelor's degree in legal studies
Kline's Cal Career Game Highs
Pass Completions: 18 (at Oregon, 2013)
Pass Attempts: 37 (at Oregon, 2013)
Passing Yards: 165 (at Oregon, 2013)
Passing TDs: 2 (Oregon State, 2013)
Long Pass: 38 (at Stanford, 2013)
Interceptions: 1 (four times, last at Stanford, 2013)
Rushes: 4 (twice, last at Stanford, 2013)
Rushing Yards: 28 (vs. Oregon State, 2013)
Long Rush: 15 (vs. Oregon State, 2013)
Total Yards: 159 (at Oregon, 2013)
All-Purpose Yards: 28 (vs. Oregon State, 2013)
Last Updated
March 23, 2017
