Cal Football Fall Camp: Practice Notebook #2

8.9, 8.11

8.9 - Evening Scrimmage

There’d been a fair bit of chatter the week prior that this past Saturday’s scrimmage would elucidate many roster oriented mysteries to this coaching staff, so it was fitting that the stadium was wrapped in fog as you approached Memorial stadium that evening. What we were witnessing, or witnessing the stretching and warm ups for, was clear; We were witness to magic. Spell casting. Sorcery. (To be clear, we are allowed in for warm ups this year, but cannot stay for scrimmage).

• I am left to ponder the mysteries of the fog. Am I meant to be finding the essence of Oski in the fog? I must seek answers from the high priests. (Cal Burners sound off in the comments.)

• The privilege and glory of watching over 100 college athletes do stretches and warm up drills to a clean version of Super Gremlin was worth the trip.

• Such nights make you cherish the little things, like how the excessive fluff on the many crows that populate the area between the parking structure and the North Gate might appear so because these ultimately unknowable creatures are stuffed full of offensive schematic secrets. Perhaps they themselves are both physical, and multiple.

8.11 Part 1 - Warm Ups and Drills

Brent Austin was on the sideline doing what looked to be leg-intensive work, a bit separate from the full team stretch was doing, but parallel. This was the case on Saturday evening as well, so possibly something to keep an eye out for. Other players seen sitting out warm ups were fellow defensive back Kaden Cook and defensive lineman Tyson Ford. Cook is a freshman and Ford is a redshirt sophomore so it’s unfair to speculate what the deal is. I suppose speculation isn’t particularly fair most of the time. On the offensive side Ben Howard, Jojo Genova, and Sam Bjerk all sat out stretches.

With what we’ve heard from the staff and players so far about the depth at offensive line, it’s not so crazy to see three freshman O Lineman holding back on a day with spider pads. All in all not much to glean here, got some sun, listened to the clean version of what i’m starting to refer to as the golden oldies era of trap (early 2010s, late aughts). We heard the beat to Tell Me When to Go begin to rattle its way out of the speakers as press exited the field.

8.11 Part 2 - Dazmin James, Kyion Grayes, Jason Novak

If you’re reading the second installment of this preseason column, I’m assuming you’ve been following the Dazmin James story as closely as one can follow a before and after picture. The affable speedster is looking to add new wrinkles to his game, as always.

• When asked how his new body actually felt while playing; “Everything just feels much smoother. Running feels way better, and I still got my speed. It feels amazing.”

• They took the before picture one of his first days on campus, but really, by his response to questions about it, it sounds like he didn’t think too much of his body’s transformation until the widespread reaction”I really didn’t even think it was nothin’ to crazy until I posted it and people were saying ‘This has to be AI, this has to be AI.’ But it was normal.”

• One notable thing for James; “When I stick, I’m able to get out of my breaks faster.”

• On his game, and how his new frame might change it: “It’s really the same.” It’s nice that this can just be a fun story where the athlete put in some work, didn’t think to hard on it, and we had a bit of fun.

Kyion Grayes did not have the year he wanted to have last year, and is palpably ready to kick into high gear.

• It seems like one of the hardest things about sitting out last year was seeing where he could fill in blanks. This year feels more full. “Honestly I don’t think there’s anything missing this year. We all got different roles, different assignments, we all do different things, and that’s one thing I think is really good about our team.”

• A consummate teammate, Kyion is tight lipped about the quarterbacks, stating overwhelming confidence in both Devin White and Jaron_Keawe Sagapolutele, careful to also praise the other players in the QB room by name. I understand he’s being careful because it’s the right thing for him to do as a player and teammate, since whoever is throwing the ball, he’s trying to pull it out of the sky regardless. On Devin Brown: “Really good, knows his reads, the whole nine.” On Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele: “Same thing. Jaron’s just Jaron. Reminds me of A-Rodge, he’s just putting it out there…he’s really good for his age. You’d look at him and you wouldn’t really realize he’s as young as he is.”

• On how many wideouts you could see in a game; “I mean honestly, I don’t really got a number, I feel like we could all go out there and do it and produce.”

Strength Coach Jason Novak is just a delight, man. Some dudes just dude, and he dudes with the best of them. I won’t step on an article that’s coming up soon, but suffice to say he’s a considerate guy whose ethos revolve around the health and safety of the players.

• It’s quite apparent the individual care he puts into each player. He cites his time with the Titans, and noting how individualized the player care was, and how that might be transferable to the college game. “You’re trying to meet them where they’re at, and you’re trying to melt 25-30 different programs into one program, and they’re not all in the same place…There’s never a philosophy of just look to the rack next to you and do what they did.”

• On the Key differences between developing Student Athletes vs. Professionals: “First and foremost I think that nutrition plays a key roll in that, because nine times out of ten guys really don’t know what it takes to fuel their body for this level of work because it never stops. For instance we’re about to play a season right? But the way I see that is that it’s the longest uninterrupted block of training that we get. There’s no holidays, there’s no spring break, no memorial day. So, we can gain a lot of ground in the way we train, but they’re burning the candle at both ends, then you throw in class work on top of that…the way i say i say it to the guys is if hydration and nutrition are on point, bright eyed and bushy tailed has never been a bad way to walk into a room.”