On Wednesday, as questions wrapped, it became apparent RB Coach Bhonapha wasn’t been exactly sure of what day it was. Today felt like that but two days further into the feeling. Things are even more routine than what’s been written here; the players don’t just form the same lines during stretches, but the same positions in the lines. A handful of players have come and gone; today Ricky Fletcher is once again leading stretches Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele and Adam Mohammed, on Wednesday he wore sneakers, today he’s wearing cleats again.
Special teams drills still come after stretching, then O-line and D-line break out, hitting sleds and pads. A period later, three distinct groups of offense and defense do the same drill at the same time, and you start to see what Rolovich described on Wednesday in action, with three quarterbacks getting simultaneous reps, 1s, 2s, and 3s all working.
It’s the first time I’ve happened to stand close enough to hear the refs talk amongst themselves. One will be at OSU at some point this year; another mentioned somewhere in Big 12 country. It’s their preseason too.
After practice we have time with the inside linebackers coach. Gregory is a familiar face to Cal fans, returning after coaching here last year, as well as serving as Defensive Coordinator for the Bears from 2002–2009; significantly, he coached Lupoi when he was a player under HC Jeff Tedford.
When asked about the progress of Tristan Jurnigan and A.J. Tuitele, he was affirmative but sure to mention the group: “We have a lot of calls on defense — I couldn’t be happier with where they’re at. It’s those two guys, it’s Aaron Hampton, it’s JD McKinley, it’s all those guys doing a nice job.” He praised Hampton’s increased confidence and fluidity in his play. Freshman JD McKinley has shown a certain kind of promise. “What’s remarkable about JD is that he’s a really smart player,” he continued, “seven months ago this kid was in high school. Really, really impressive.”
Coach Bryan Barraza was also made available for questions. Barraza is a first time position coach, coming with Tosh Lupoi from Oregon, his official title is “Edge Coach”. Barraza is a warm personality and smiles a lot. He seems really happy to be wherever he is, and is effusive about his players ability to learn. “Truly it’s been their level of growth…through spring ball, just their constant improvement …How much they’ve been able to retain and how much they’ve been able to grow.”
Barraza’s approach to the player-coach dynamic echoes the ways in which the position coaches over the course of the week have talked about their players like responsible humans; “All we can be for them at the end of the day, get em to know to know the playbook, they’re the ones that’ll execute it. So, me off the field is a lot different than me on the field, as far as, I want them to be able to have fun, I want them to be able to learn…from there I’m gonna have fun, tell jokes, and hold them to a high standard.”
The trust being extended to the players, as well as the standard they are held to, might have something to do with the close knit nature of this staff. Barraza lightsa up when asked; “Those guys are some of my best friends. Ed trained D2 (Derrion Daniels) when he was coming out of college, so Ed’s been in the game for a minute working with NFL Guys, me and (Derrion Daniels), we met up at Oregon, when we were with Tosh, so coming down here’s been like a family reunion.”
Today is the last day with periods of practice open to the media before the season opener. Sixteen more days until Cal football.
It’s getting more real by the day. Thanks for these excellent, insightful write ups!
WRITE ON YOU BEARS!!!
If the Safeties and Backers can contain the QB bootlegs/broken play runs, I give the Bears 🐻 the win against UCLA. PS: Offensive Line also needs to be consistent on pass blocking.