44 Comments
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SO MUCH PAIN

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Ugh, I feel bad for him. And this is a huge loss for the defense despite our depth.

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Very sad and I'm sure very demoralizing for him. Next man up

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Wow and just 1 day ago I was marveling about how healthy this camp had gone. This is terrible news for BJ and shifts the potential of the defensive front 7 from elite in PAC12 to middle of the pack, IMO.

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wtfffff god damn it

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It seems a sad Cal football tradition to lose a key player to injury before the season even kicks off. Sad for Brett and wish him well.

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Opens iPad to check email…

Sees W4C post. 😳

Closes iPad.

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NOOOO! GOD NO!

-Michael Scott GIF

This is terrible news.......Feel horrible for Brett....

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Season hasn’t even started for us and things are already trending down. I thought we would win 6-7 games but I’m dropping that to 4-5 now on this news.

On a side note: Wilcox is the defensive version of Scott Frost and both should be fired after this season but I have a feeling Wilcox will be back to help usher us into our glories MWC debut.

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author

Jeebus. We haven’t even kicked off yet….

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8 wins or he should be shown the door. No more excuses

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You just know people will use this as an excuse if we lose to UC Davis or UNLV.

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author

Defense is too good regardless to be losing to them

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we will not lose to UC Davis.

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Never say never. We should win, but the reason they play games on Saturdays is because if we did it on paper then we'd all know how the season ended before it started. Remember when FCS App State beat #5 Michigan in the season opener in the Big House? And UW lost to Montana last year in their opener. Anything is possible if you don't prepare and don't come out ready to play.

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Yes I remember. We beat Tennessee on that same day. ( It keeps popping up on Jackson's Wizard of Returns video)

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author

I get the frustration. I truly do. But you’re asking our AD who hired Mark Fox to make a football hire. I’d rather roll with Wilcox.

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Such bad luck to make it through all of spring and fall camp and then get injured the week before the season starts. Such a Cal thing to happen.

This program just feels apathetic right now and I think a lot of the fan base and alumni feel the same way. At least that’s the read I get in DBD from posters. Throw in the uncertainty of realignment and it is really difficult to get excited for this season of Cal football.

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I never have trouble getting excited for Cal football.

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I usually don’t but the disappointment of last season, the Wilcox extension, Wilcox bringing Musgrave back and realignment has really drained any excitement I had going into this season.

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I am still pumped for Cal Football but I share your apathy for college football as a whole due to all the realignment business

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Aug 27, 2022·edited Aug 27, 2022

All true, and a stomach punch nonetheless. Ooomph.

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The Pac10/12 is living on borrowed time. I don’t think the Pac 12 will exist after 2025.

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I like you're thinking. Change is inevitable, and sometimes it can be good. I would love to see SDSU and Boise State in the conference.

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Chase Garbers is apparently a Raider. Who'd have thought?

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Cal football instagram re-posted a deep throw by Garbers. It looked nice until I saw the receiver and it was a terribly underthrown ball..

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author

Not the post for that.

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I doubt there's going to be a whole article on Garbers on the ninth island so why not here...?

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I think he's trying to cheer us up.

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AWEFUL!

Prayers for full recovery.

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Under this sad circumstance, do the Bears have an effective replacement?

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It's not about replacing a player like Brett with one other player. We don't have another Brett Johnson. What we will need to do is create schemes where the team impact is solid enough that we don't miss Brett. Will be very difficult to do but not impossible.

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author

Kinda depends on what you mean by replacement. There are guys that can play effective at DE, but Brett was one of the few guys on defense who could realistically project to be an all conference level player, something the defense has been lacking since Weaver and Kunaszyk left.

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It hurts no doubt. A player like Brett is not easy to replace. I am hopeful, however, that our schemes will help with the adjustments we need to keep our D at the top of the PAC12

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Okay, that is certainly an approach to the loss.

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That's how the coaches are looking at it. I'm sure there already have been some minor adjustments on player packages.

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That answers my question. Hopefully one of the back up players will at least be competent at that position.

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author

I think Ethan Saunders has the potential to be that guy. There were times at camp he looked like the best defender out there. But obviously we haven't seen it in-game like we saw it with Johnson.

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With the caveat being that our OL has underachieved lately. Hopefully Saunders can have similar performances against our opponents, we will need it.

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Good to know, thanks.

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author

Yup

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I feel so bad for him. To battle back after his hip injury, get through camp to where the team was starting to get ready for the regular season, this has to be difficult for him. Certainly the team will miss him as he has been listed by a number of publications as our best player. I just feel real bad for him.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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