Cal Football Fall Camp: Practice Notebook #1

7.30, 7.31, 8.5

7.30 - Justin Wilcox

Preseason availability in Bear Territory is positively Spartan, so no looks at practice today, we come in at the end, enter Coach Wilcox;

Photo Credit: Rob Hwang

• A new structural approach is being taken for the first four practices, in which the squad is split in two in order to get more intensive individual coaching with the same amount of reps. The coaches practice with half the team at a time; “It’s basically half the team practicing against each other at one time, and that way we get more attention to a lot of new players who maybe haven’t been here, or haven’t played as much, and they get more intensive one on one with the coaches.” Wilcox mentions he’s used it at previous stops and they’re implementing the method because it fits the team. It seems the takeaway is that during individual drills they want to get more groups more reps because there’s wider competition across the roster.

• A question about the number of new coaches on staff somehow, in the liminal space between question and answer, morphs into a response about conducting practices in accordance with NCAA guidelines, before taking a moment to expound on the unifying elements of football practice across this country. “Everybody does seven on, and team, and group work, so...”

• On the big summer class potentially stepping into starting roles, and when that might begin to flesh out: “It could be day one it could be day three, it could be day 17, it just depends when it reveals itself.” Philosophical, mystical, I like the energy. The follow up of course is if anyone flashed day one. “It’s one practice, we don’t even have full pads on.” Wilcox did follow up that the coaches have plenty of game tape from the transfers.

• The energy on day one is clearly high, Wilcox emphasizes that it’s always good on day one, and points to the true struggle; keeping that energy up. “What we’re concerning ourselves with is maintaining and increasing that level of energy, and attention, that’s what’s more difficult, because it’s not new every day, get into day seven, 14, week one, three…you’ve got to be able to be able to sustain it, and that’s endurance.” “everybody can come out on day one and be excited to play, anyone.”

• About halfway through the scrum the subject of the constricted media availability is brought up. A reasonably expected stock answer serves as the entry point to drag the presser into a brief back and forth which yields the quote “I don’t know when it will reveal itself either, isn’t it all speculation until we play the game?” Rest your mind. Listen to the wind.

• Wilcox halfway thought Dazmin James’ strength and conditioning transformation photo was AI, and hit him up when he say it to tap in. If you’re reading the Practice Notebook on Write For Cal a calendar week after the day of the practice you’ve likely ready 1,000+ words on this image already, and me talking about it some more is like getting the news again, but later, delivered by the Pony Express. Still pretty sick though. Coach states that there’s a number of guys who have undergone a reach change this offseason. Look for more power and endurance this year, and it’s worth noting again it’s a predominantly healthy roster thus far.

• Towards the tail end of availability Wilcox is asked if there’s any players in particular he’s particularly excited to see evolve, and he’s quick to be affirmative, ticking off position groups where that’s the case. When he’s finished he’s listed all of them, It’s day one.

7.31 - Transfer avails on the concourse, DB Brent Austin

A handful of transfers will be made available today, and a familiar cadre of local writers amble around forming a bit of a net as they wait for the trickle of players to be sent our way. The sheer number of new faces speaks to the new reality of the game, nothing to gleam from the situation about the program in particular. Once we’re sorted, speaking with incoming transfer Brent Austin is easy. A transfer cornerback coming off a year USF which was preceded by a year at JMU, making him and Jason Novak ships in the night. A Southern California native, he’s happy to be back in his home state.

As is the case in the current game, his relationship with the defensive coaching staff stretches beyond this current moment, Defensive Backs Coach Allen Brown recruited him his senior year of high school, and he’s excited to be part of the DB room that’s been electric as of late. Allen would have had an early look at Brown as he had been the backs coach at Cal Poly himself 2015-2018. Ultimately Brent Austin is a man on a mission, working to stack each day to get to a particular place, and he sees Cal is an important part of that journey. “They got Nohl Williams in the league, that’s a big time decision for me, if they put people in the league, that’s where I want to go.”

8.5 Part 1 - Stretching and Individual Drills

I wonder if the little earthquake warnings with the diagrams they post as you head onto the field from the visitors locker room are more jarring for ACC opponents than our fellow fault line addled opponents of yore. Familiar (ten, fifteen year old) trap singles blare from the sideline. Former conference mates are on the tip of positional coach’s tongues this morning. They come in the form of reminders; “Four more Saturdays until football.” Sometimes the reminders take for form of questions; “Is it too real with the pads on?”

DB’s are running drills to stop the backpedal and cut back inside, linemen set to work drilling thrust without footing, on the sideline closest to us, defensive units capture giant bouncy exercise balls to enforce getting arms wide on tackles (lose or rework the drill stuff). In short, they are holding a football practice, and we are watching individual drills.

8.5 Part 2 - Cade Uluave, Bryan Harsin, Devin Brown, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele

Cade Uluave is one of those players that flips the homer switch more or less instantly, and it’s pretty clear he’s stepped up as the heart of the program in an uncertain time.

• Cade kicks things off by naming names. When asked who he’s excited about he mentions Luke Ferrelli, Harrison Taggart, Aaron Hampton, and Buom Jock he brings up Khamani Hudson in the secondary.

• On continuity in the defensive coaching room, and in the scheme: “I think what you’ll see from us on defense will be pretty similar. I think last year we had a solid year and we were held to a standard, and the standard is the standard still. Schematically I think everything is going to be pretty similar.” He seems particularly heartened by the continuity in staff, and it’s the kind of thing you could see allowing a leader to be more sure of their footing when guiding newer teammates. “The standard is the standard” is the phrase that keeps coming up, the sort of hypnotic repeatable that you either buy into and get everything out of, or not.

• If all goes well look for this defensive unit to mirror the energy of it’s coaches, which is to say, high energy. “When we make a play we’re going to let everyone know, and be loud and enthusiastic throughout the whole game.”

• If the ball gets rolling in the right direction on gameday this energy won’t be hard to get up, as Cade states this is the best he’s felt about the team culture since he’s arrived at Cal. “I think our team culture has been the most positive since I’ve been here.”

• On the evolution of his own game this season; “It’s really easy to see ball get ball, but once you realize what the offense is trying to do, it gets you a step ahead and gives you an advantage, so that’s what i’m going to try to do.” He continued to emphasize encouraging his teammates, “when they play good, you play good.”

• Cade’s avail closes out with a question about him taking snaps at running back. It’s possible. Coach has been drawing some stuff up, would be fun, “…Remind me of my high school days, run the rock a little bit.” The final follow up asks if he’d be interested in also returning punts, which he also did in high school; “Ehh, I don’t think I’ll be returning.”

Bryan Harsin is thirsty, like, literally very thirsty. Devin Brown is in the background waiting for his availability right after, and fires a blue gatorade his way, affably surrendering the rest of it to coach. Bryan, like the Quarterbacks that follow him, is much bigger in person than he feels on screen, and more affable.

• There’s official gear everywhere that says “Smart and Tough” and Harsin leads with that when asked about his approach to a roster that “Maybe on paper is not seen as one of the most talented in the country” he begins that yes, “It starts with the things we talk about; Smart and Tough...We have that here.” He wants smart players, tough players, and great team chemistry. I suppose the unstated part is this is as an answer to not having the most freakishly talented squad. In this light, the answer takes on a dignified air in which the players are considered as people, rather than pure coach speak. The actual answer is about as long as this bullet point, it ends with him mentioning his player’s lives after football and what he wants for them, it’s the first time i’ve heard this invoked by anyone.

• In a spring interview Harsin mentioned that the offense would depend on the personnel on hand, and wouldn’t take shape until August, as of August 5th it appears to still be taking shape. “It’s a bit under fire learning as you go…what you look for is the effort, if you’re not getting it right that’s coaching, players have to study too, but you have to understand as the coach ‘are we teaching them the right things, are we putting them in a position to be successful?”

• One thing that’s clear across the board in these early interviews is that the vibes, internally, are higher than outside expectation. “I will say Coach Wilcox has done a fabulous job of building the chemistry, as a team, I feel like the guys like each other, they like being here, they like the work, they love what we’re doing in the weight room.” One thing Coach Harsin repeats most answers is “We’ve got to get better at football.” Or “It’s about getting better at football.”

• On the Quarterbacks in general: He’s satisfied with the preparation and effort. The approach right now from a messaging standpoint is to praise the room and avoid individual critique, but we get some nuggets.

• On Devin Brown; “Devin’s really smart, I’ve said that before, Devin’s got the mind of an offensive coordinator, he sees things, he’s been around great coaches, he understands that and applies it to the field, he’s doing a great job throwing the ball, he’s been very accurate in camp, he’s a guy that can run, he’s physical, he’s got great command.”

• On Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele: “Jaron is learning, but he understand now from spring ball through summer what it’s going to take to get himself prepared for a game…It’s much different in spring, you don’t have a deadline, then you get to fall camp, it’s August 30th. Every single day matters…I think his understanding of that is now complete.” Harsin notes his physical transformation as well, which becomes evident ten minutes later when he’s in front of us. He cites the details and urgency of playing at this level after complimenting Jaron-Keawe’s vision and strength once more.

• When asked about addressing the Offensive Line struggles of the past few years Coach Harsin mentions that “you always want to have seven” guys ready to go, but thinks they have two full rotations of guys this season, and it seems there’s cause for optimism, at least in terms of depth, and Jason Novak is invoked again. Some guys in the room have put on 25, 30 pounds this offseason. Expect physicality. “They’ve changed their bodies, they’ve taken it serious.”

• It’s worth noting that there seems to be a good bit of emphasis being placed on this coming Saturday’s scrimmage. Next week we should begin to see the fallout of what the coaches see in their team after that, and the depth chart will begin to take real shape.

Devin Brown is, as always the case and previously stated, bigger than he appears on tv. He speaks with the poise of someone that’s been at a large program under constant scrutiny.

• Devin also kicks off his session by naming names who have impressed thus far, listing Trond Grizzell, Jacob De Jesus, Jordan King, Jayden Dixon-Veal (who is still on field putting in work behind us during the interview), Dazmin James, Quaron Adams, Mark Hamper, from the wide receiver room, as well as tight end Landon Morris.

• Devin believes he needs to show consistency to become the starter, to “stack every day...it’s not a matter of can or can’t, but continuing to do it.” Not to harp on it but he’s one of those guys who walks away and you go “man what an adult.”

• When asked if he expects to be the starter he chuckles and delivers a confident “Well I always expect to be the starter.” That imparts self confidence and drive more than cockiness. Again, very adult. There’s a follow up asking him to describe his playing style; “I don’t know, I haven’t been playing, right, so it’s hard to tell.” He goes on to cite his leadership qualities before complimenting the other offensive weapons on the roster.

• Expounding still on the offensive weapons Devin circles back to the emphasis on Smart and Tough, stating that the receivers have these qualities in spades. When asked about the offensive line depth described by Harsin, he confirms, adding that “just with centers, there’s three of ‘em that could play, you just can’t choose.”

Jaron - Keawe Sagapolutele

This dude is so much larger than the average freshman QB. He’s so much larger than he looked attending the men’s basketball game against Virginia last spring. Jason Novak forever, man.

• Jaron-Keawe kicks things off speaking to the big difference between spring ball and fall camp. He’s been off away from the interviews, so you know that messaging inside the building is clear, and everyone’s having the same conversations. The deadline comes up again. We, as a ragtag group of reporters, are asking broad questions about the entire season, this team is laser focused on August 30th, Corvalis, Oregon State.

• Speaking to his conditioning since arriving on campus Jaron-Keawe smiles and says “The staff got me right, getting all the guys right as well…just trusting them, eating right.” He’d love to look like Dazmin, but knows QBs have to keep some weight on to take hits.

• There’s so much development involved with a freshman, even a five star, the points of emphasis seem to be on taking the checkdown, matching feet to the timing of the play, and generally resisting the urge to put the game on your shoulders every play, as a five star recruit is typically asked to do at the high school level. He speaks repeatedly to his good relationship with Coach Harsin. Jaron-Keawe’s gifts are multiple and have been discussed ad nauseum in our circles, we know what we have on our hands, and he is making the right moves to continue developing at pace.

• The young QB fields questions designed for him to brag on his own game but he cites the O line and Wideouts when asked what the greatest assets to his game are, and gracefully works around the question of how he’d feel if he weren’t named the starter. Eventually he demures that Harsin states his best quality is his accuracy, he’d like to think it’s his running ability but “a lot of people don’t agree.” he says laughing.

• On his relationship with Devin Brown. “He’s taught me a lot, we’re great friends on and off the field, so there’s no animosity. He helps me a lot and came from a similar offense such as this, he’s helped me with the plays, the formations, different defenses, when we’re in meetings he’ll see it, and checks to get out of it. It’s been helpful to see that and learn from that, and take as much of his game and and it to mine.”

• On the quarterback competition itself; “I think it’s been going well, we’re both splitting ones and twos reps, he’s been doing his thing, I’ve been doing my thing, and we just continue to get better.”