Btw, for everyone wondering where the money came from for Wilcox's push to be able to pay assistant coaches bigger salaries ( to attract solid assistants and keep them) and to expand his admin capabilities, here's a web page of an email I received. Get out your checkbooks (even for a small contribution) or you won't have a reason to complain. (And yes I give. I'm a Charter Hill member).
The transfer portal wasn’t meant for open free agency when a guy feels a bit overwhelmed by COVID rules. It should be restricted to head coaching changes, position coach changes, and the occasional special exemption. Everything else should be old rules - sit a year before you get to play.
Agree 100%. If a random English major wants to transfer from Cal to XYZ school, the only restriction is XYZ school admitting him. Why are athletes treated differently? They are not the school’s property
Well, if true, losing some players because of the City of Berkeley's COVID rules is well within reason after it played out in such frustrating fashion.
This makes a little more sense than transferring for NFL purposes, considering one of the positions that this staff does get into the league is O-line...the secondary being the other.
Like I said it is speculation but I’m sure it is one of the reasons he is looking to transfer.
Perhaps he doesn’t like his OL coach, perhaps he doesn’t think playing for Cal will get him drafted, perhaps he doesn’t like to play in an empty Memorial stadium. It’s probably a combination of multiple things.
We unexpectedly lost Polk to the portal and that was before all the Covid issues. Losing Polk and now him hurts.
Well, you know how I felt about the Polk news, as he was my breakout NFL prospect for the 2021 Bears...tough for the program.
Incidentally, Makai had more catches than our top two players combined, over 340 more receiving yards than our leading receiver, and more TDs than our entire WR room altogether.
Big loss, tho he doesn't put up those numbers with Chase in this offense.
As an aside, we are recruiting his brother who is a pretty good QB. If, and I don't know this to be true, McKade left unhappy we can probably kiss his brother good bye as well.
So, he's graduated and electing to move w/ one year of eligibility remaining, correct Rob?
Cal now has to replace the entire right side of the OL, frankly, if done properly, I view this as an opportunity for Cal. McKade was one of few solid OL for Cal, he will be missed.
Swinney could step into this role. He was very solid at center during the UA game ~ for a true freshman starting his first game. Angus has to play the top 5 OL regardless of seniority. I have little faith in Angus & one does wonder if Mckade felt that way?!? I expected 40% of the line to be new next year, now it is 60%. Craig can't be counted on at LT due to his regular injuries (not sure if he loves playing football). So Cal likely will start a new LT, RG, & RT. Cindric is likely a top 5 OL but Driscoll is as good, perhaps better, at center. So, Cindric could move to RG. Who knows who fills out the tackle spots, but however they go so shall the entire team. First blush, this probably ain't good.
Agree with you Taco. I've been watching him since he was a freshman. He has nasty that is rare amongst O-Linemen. He's also big and strong. The negatives on him were breakdowns in discipline, penalties and poor technique. I was hoping coaching could help his technique. Either he is planning to transfer into a solid school with a chance at a big season and big bowl, so he can experience it before he finishes college. He has the experience to get picked up by a top program, but we'll see when they look at film. Also, maybe some our youngins will be challenging for starting jobs next year and the writing was on the wall. I'm glad to hear he has graduated; that's a big deal and means grades aren't the issue. He will always be a Golden Bear and I wish him well where ever he lands. And. I would expect so see him playing on Sundays.
Nope, you read wrong. Angus seems to be doing OK w/ recruiting but his OL is way too inconsistent for Wilcox to reach the goals he has for the team. This departure by McKade isn't going to make it any easier, IMO.
This transfer is every bit as devastating as when Makai Polk pulled the plug during the COVID season. When you add in the graduate transfers on offense from Remigio, Tonges and Brooks, it sends a message these guys are not too excited about playing in this offense anymore. Yes, I know those last three guys graduated and fulfilled their commitment to Cal, but they also could have stayed. But wait a minute.....Cal's head coach turned down Oregon to stay at Cal. I am he will fix everything.
Nah. We'll be fine. Our recruits have all gotten longer and bigger. Hate to lose him, but we really don't know what went on. Unless he gets a starting job at a much better program, and only time will tell, then it means that he was under pressure to perform better to keep his starting job. See my comments above. He has the nasty and the size, but his technique is not great and he gets a lot of penalties.
You thought the OL would be fine this year, it wasn’t. If you truly believe that McKade has NFL talent and might play on Sunday’s then this is a big loss for a unit that has underperformed on the field the last 3 seasons and has had trouble developing talent.
I guess the question is what is 'fine.' Losing important contributors like this is one of the reasons why the program is perpetually stuck in the 5-7 to 7-5 range, and losing McKade will only make it that much more unlikely to get a break through season.
Golden SD81 and Nick, I'll respond to both of your comments here. It is never good to lose contributors who are solid players. Whether it's a graduate transfer, a player leaving early for a shot at the pros, or someone like McKade, who has been a starter, using the transfer portal as a junior. Hell, we lost Remigio, Brooks, Mettauer and more this year. The fact is that it happens, every year, and it has been happening every year since way before social media was around. Back in my time (yes that sounds old) we lost Rob Emmons who went beck to his hometown to start for Oregon State. Daryl Skaugstad, who ended up playing 13 years in the NFL left for a year and then came back. One of our starting D-Lineman left. Kevin Uparesa who started as a freshman o-lineman and was destined for the NFL, left after his freshman year. And many freshman recruits left after their first year. The fact is that there is always someone to replace them and the gap in ability between players in the rotation is not that great. Because we lose a starter or 5 should not mean the difference between a 5-7 season or 7-5 season. We see a starter leave on a Social Media post and we flip out. What happens if the replacement for Mettauer is better than McKade? We do have solid depth now. It's next man up. But, in fairness to your point, next man up is not worth much unless the player is coached up. I don't think that because McKade left we will see a huge drop off in productivity at RG. Coleman came in at LG this year and was dominant. We'll see some of our other kids do the same. As to GoldenSD81's comment about my forecast about our O-line, I can say this: they weren't great but they were much improved over last year and the year before, mostly because of talent, not so much because of coaching IMHO. In the three games where they struggled (UNR, WASU and UCLA) they faced similar defenses and got beat soundly. I never said McKade has NFL talent. I said I expect to see him play on Sundays. Why? Because he is big and nasty. But he needs a LOT of work on his quickness, technique, staying on his blocks, and more. If he has a good coach and works on all this stuff then I expect to see him play on Sundays. If not, he'll just be another Big Ugly looking for a job. To conclude, we have recruited well. We now have some big and athletic kids on our O-line. Depth is not the issue it was in the past, even though we can always use more quality O-Liners. If they are coached up we should be fine, and maybe even better. It's all on Angus at this point.
Coleman needs to get in shape. He gets gassed too quickly and takes plays off, IMO. I look forward to the competition at both tackle spots come Summer camp. Needing new pieces at 60% of the OL along w/ a new QB suggests the offense will get off to a slow start next year. I'm with you, however, and optimistic that fresh new faces will develop and appear on the OL along w/ a fierce competition at QB. Millner ain't going to take a transfer coming in lying down, he'll fight for that spot. Hopefully he does, indeed, have a sound grasp of the playbook.
Agree, but I think the o-line might come together faster than you think, if Angus is up to the job. That's a big if and one I will have to see to believe. Agree about Millner. I think he has a huge advantage with one year in Musgrave's playbook and even the limited reps he's received. I think it will be difficult for Plummer to learn the playbook and get enough reps to be solid in one season. We may have some growing pains with either Kai or Zach, but I am hoping one of them earns the spot because in the long run it will be better for the team. And, as much as I like Zach, Kai has the athleticism to really do well if he can handle the on field mental stuff.
Skaugs was a beast. I used to butt heads with him in practice regularly. The studs from those days were Skaugs, Craig Watkins, Greg Peters, Bob Warner, Jeff Barnes (played noseguard before becoming a LB in the NFL) and then Pat Graham. Pat might have been the best of all of them. Great memories.
Totally agree. Now that the ether has worn off a little bit from Wilcox spurning the Oregon offer, it's back to reality. Wilcox wants a Wisconsin style offense, but does not have the horses to make it work in the Pac 12. Brooks and Mettaur would have been two key ingredients in the ground and pound run game he wants - possibly the two biggest - and they said don't think so to coming back. It's a little ironic that Brooks is headed to Purdue to play in an offense that benched a guy who will likely be Cal's starting quarterback next season.
If you are talking about guys who have not seen the field, the answer is no. There is a big difference between the hype of recruits and what they actually do when they get in there. The best example of that is a guy you have alluded to on this thread - Will Craig. Wasn't he a 4-star guy who everyone thought would be Cal's answer at left tackle for years? And yet now you are talking about him losing his job to Rohme.
When I saw guys get repeatedly getting whipped off the ball this season, it was usually either Daltoso or Rohme. Maybe they were more noticeable because they had to block the edge rushers. I am thinking Mettaur would have been an anchor of that line next season had he stayed.
A lot of penalties...and respectfully, this is nowhere near as devastating as losing Makai Polk. This offense cannot be losing skill position players that are going to be day 2 draft picks & play on Sunday, especially when they’re from the 510.
It still sucks when guys leave, but we may never know the reason. The only guy we’re losing so far that really bums me out is Chris Brooks.
I'm sad to lose any and all of them but wish them all great success, where ever they land. And the cycle continues. Depth moves up, competition does its job and the team gets better.
The graduate transfer I understand - Cal is infamous for not allowing its undergrads stay on for its graduate programs and there's a good chance that Cal didn't offer a graduate degree in the field of study these grad transfers wanted to pursue.
Non-graduate transfers are concerning - Mettauer is the second and that's a bummer since he was a solid beast on the o-line. I wish him the best of luck. Hopefully, he'll be the only one.
BTW, the article says he's the second non-senior loss - who was the first? I thought everyone else either graduated or is a grad-transfer?
I'm assuming the other one is JH Tevis. But he may have obtained his degree and was a red-shirt Junior in terms of football eligibility. I suspect McKade is in this category as well. Hard for me to imagine that both of these guys would put in 4 years, be close to their Cal degree, and simply walk out without it.
JH graduated. Also Chiggy as well. But JH is. true grad transfer with only one year left. Chiggy should have 2 left so technically not a senior in the eligibility sense.
You can almost count on two hands the number of big plays Nikko has made since the 2019 Big Game despite missing relatively few snaps....great Cal Bear, but let’s get some of the younger, more talented WRs some run.
Btw, for everyone wondering where the money came from for Wilcox's push to be able to pay assistant coaches bigger salaries ( to attract solid assistants and keep them) and to expand his admin capabilities, here's a web page of an email I received. Get out your checkbooks (even for a small contribution) or you won't have a reason to complain. (And yes I give. I'm a Charter Hill member).
https://view.our.berkeley.edu/?qs=1bdc079195b95adb653baa0df5bdc3832279455de2b777f06d3d8b9ec39751ab34309005687de679564292610b4399597ce0d232d92dcbc57f1042ec0042ac5ed1e084e1b51817714a2de82a8e1cd881
The transfer portal wasn’t meant for open free agency when a guy feels a bit overwhelmed by COVID rules. It should be restricted to head coaching changes, position coach changes, and the occasional special exemption. Everything else should be old rules - sit a year before you get to play.
Is that the reason he switched? Covid rules?
It’s not confirmed but it is the speculation. Also, he hasn’t transferred anywhere yet, he could still decide to stay at Cal.
Hell no. Athletes need to have the same rights as anyone else to move and play wherever you want to play.
Agree 100%. If a random English major wants to transfer from Cal to XYZ school, the only restriction is XYZ school admitting him. Why are athletes treated differently? They are not the school’s property
Are we sure that’s the reason why he’s bolting?
It’s just speculation at this point. I believe it is speculated due to him being impacted by the Covid rules and him being from Texas.
Well, if true, losing some players because of the City of Berkeley's COVID rules is well within reason after it played out in such frustrating fashion.
This makes a little more sense than transferring for NFL purposes, considering one of the positions that this staff does get into the league is O-line...the secondary being the other.
Like I said it is speculation but I’m sure it is one of the reasons he is looking to transfer.
Perhaps he doesn’t like his OL coach, perhaps he doesn’t think playing for Cal will get him drafted, perhaps he doesn’t like to play in an empty Memorial stadium. It’s probably a combination of multiple things.
We unexpectedly lost Polk to the portal and that was before all the Covid issues. Losing Polk and now him hurts.
I don't think there is any information out there on why he's transferring
Well, you know how I felt about the Polk news, as he was my breakout NFL prospect for the 2021 Bears...tough for the program.
Incidentally, Makai had more catches than our top two players combined, over 340 more receiving yards than our leading receiver, and more TDs than our entire WR room altogether.
Big loss, tho he doesn't put up those numbers with Chase in this offense.
So who's the othe non senior?
Chiggy. By school Hess. Grad transfer but eligibility he’s only a sophomore due to Covid year.
??JH Tevis??
As an aside, we are recruiting his brother who is a pretty good QB. If, and I don't know this to be true, McKade left unhappy we can probably kiss his brother good bye as well.
So, he's graduated and electing to move w/ one year of eligibility remaining, correct Rob?
Cal now has to replace the entire right side of the OL, frankly, if done properly, I view this as an opportunity for Cal. McKade was one of few solid OL for Cal, he will be missed.
Swinney could step into this role. He was very solid at center during the UA game ~ for a true freshman starting his first game. Angus has to play the top 5 OL regardless of seniority. I have little faith in Angus & one does wonder if Mckade felt that way?!? I expected 40% of the line to be new next year, now it is 60%. Craig can't be counted on at LT due to his regular injuries (not sure if he loves playing football). So Cal likely will start a new LT, RG, & RT. Cindric is likely a top 5 OL but Driscoll is as good, perhaps better, at center. So, Cindric could move to RG. Who knows who fills out the tackle spots, but however they go so shall the entire team. First blush, this probably ain't good.
Pretty sure he has 2 Cz the Covid year.
No, the article says he's a junior; not graduating......
Agree with you Taco. I've been watching him since he was a freshman. He has nasty that is rare amongst O-Linemen. He's also big and strong. The negatives on him were breakdowns in discipline, penalties and poor technique. I was hoping coaching could help his technique. Either he is planning to transfer into a solid school with a chance at a big season and big bowl, so he can experience it before he finishes college. He has the experience to get picked up by a top program, but we'll see when they look at film. Also, maybe some our youngins will be challenging for starting jobs next year and the writing was on the wall. I'm glad to hear he has graduated; that's a big deal and means grades aren't the issue. He will always be a Golden Bear and I wish him well where ever he lands. And. I would expect so see him playing on Sundays.
I think he has a shot at the League as well.
Unclear if he graduated, so I asked Rob if he knows?
No, the article says he's a junior; not graduating......
I think that is a reasonable assumption. That said, I personally know 3 people that graduated from Cal in 3 years.
Alex Morgan and Shane Vereen graduated in 3.5 years as well, while doing all the work as athletes.
I don’t believe he has graduated. As Steve W said below, this seems similar to Makai Polk and he is leaving early without graduating.
Nope, you read wrong. Angus seems to be doing OK w/ recruiting but his OL is way too inconsistent for Wilcox to reach the goals he has for the team. This departure by McKade isn't going to make it any easier, IMO.
Maybe he's just transferring California University?
Why?????? Is "something" going on causing the transfers?
This transfer is every bit as devastating as when Makai Polk pulled the plug during the COVID season. When you add in the graduate transfers on offense from Remigio, Tonges and Brooks, it sends a message these guys are not too excited about playing in this offense anymore. Yes, I know those last three guys graduated and fulfilled their commitment to Cal, but they also could have stayed. But wait a minute.....Cal's head coach turned down Oregon to stay at Cal. I am he will fix everything.
Nah. We'll be fine. Our recruits have all gotten longer and bigger. Hate to lose him, but we really don't know what went on. Unless he gets a starting job at a much better program, and only time will tell, then it means that he was under pressure to perform better to keep his starting job. See my comments above. He has the nasty and the size, but his technique is not great and he gets a lot of penalties.
You thought the OL would be fine this year, it wasn’t. If you truly believe that McKade has NFL talent and might play on Sunday’s then this is a big loss for a unit that has underperformed on the field the last 3 seasons and has had trouble developing talent.
I guess the question is what is 'fine.' Losing important contributors like this is one of the reasons why the program is perpetually stuck in the 5-7 to 7-5 range, and losing McKade will only make it that much more unlikely to get a break through season.
Golden SD81 and Nick, I'll respond to both of your comments here. It is never good to lose contributors who are solid players. Whether it's a graduate transfer, a player leaving early for a shot at the pros, or someone like McKade, who has been a starter, using the transfer portal as a junior. Hell, we lost Remigio, Brooks, Mettauer and more this year. The fact is that it happens, every year, and it has been happening every year since way before social media was around. Back in my time (yes that sounds old) we lost Rob Emmons who went beck to his hometown to start for Oregon State. Daryl Skaugstad, who ended up playing 13 years in the NFL left for a year and then came back. One of our starting D-Lineman left. Kevin Uparesa who started as a freshman o-lineman and was destined for the NFL, left after his freshman year. And many freshman recruits left after their first year. The fact is that there is always someone to replace them and the gap in ability between players in the rotation is not that great. Because we lose a starter or 5 should not mean the difference between a 5-7 season or 7-5 season. We see a starter leave on a Social Media post and we flip out. What happens if the replacement for Mettauer is better than McKade? We do have solid depth now. It's next man up. But, in fairness to your point, next man up is not worth much unless the player is coached up. I don't think that because McKade left we will see a huge drop off in productivity at RG. Coleman came in at LG this year and was dominant. We'll see some of our other kids do the same. As to GoldenSD81's comment about my forecast about our O-line, I can say this: they weren't great but they were much improved over last year and the year before, mostly because of talent, not so much because of coaching IMHO. In the three games where they struggled (UNR, WASU and UCLA) they faced similar defenses and got beat soundly. I never said McKade has NFL talent. I said I expect to see him play on Sundays. Why? Because he is big and nasty. But he needs a LOT of work on his quickness, technique, staying on his blocks, and more. If he has a good coach and works on all this stuff then I expect to see him play on Sundays. If not, he'll just be another Big Ugly looking for a job. To conclude, we have recruited well. We now have some big and athletic kids on our O-line. Depth is not the issue it was in the past, even though we can always use more quality O-Liners. If they are coached up we should be fine, and maybe even better. It's all on Angus at this point.
Coleman needs to get in shape. He gets gassed too quickly and takes plays off, IMO. I look forward to the competition at both tackle spots come Summer camp. Needing new pieces at 60% of the OL along w/ a new QB suggests the offense will get off to a slow start next year. I'm with you, however, and optimistic that fresh new faces will develop and appear on the OL along w/ a fierce competition at QB. Millner ain't going to take a transfer coming in lying down, he'll fight for that spot. Hopefully he does, indeed, have a sound grasp of the playbook.
Agree, but I think the o-line might come together faster than you think, if Angus is up to the job. That's a big if and one I will have to see to believe. Agree about Millner. I think he has a huge advantage with one year in Musgrave's playbook and even the limited reps he's received. I think it will be difficult for Plummer to learn the playbook and get enough reps to be solid in one season. We may have some growing pains with either Kai or Zach, but I am hoping one of them earns the spot because in the long run it will be better for the team. And, as much as I like Zach, Kai has the athleticism to really do well if he can handle the on field mental stuff.
Skaugs was a beast. I used to butt heads with him in practice regularly. The studs from those days were Skaugs, Craig Watkins, Greg Peters, Bob Warner, Jeff Barnes (played noseguard before becoming a LB in the NFL) and then Pat Graham. Pat might have been the best of all of them. Great memories.
Totally agree. Now that the ether has worn off a little bit from Wilcox spurning the Oregon offer, it's back to reality. Wilcox wants a Wisconsin style offense, but does not have the horses to make it work in the Pac 12. Brooks and Mettaur would have been two key ingredients in the ground and pound run game he wants - possibly the two biggest - and they said don't think so to coming back. It's a little ironic that Brooks is headed to Purdue to play in an offense that benched a guy who will likely be Cal's starting quarterback next season.
Have you looked at our roster of O-linemen?
If you are talking about guys who have not seen the field, the answer is no. There is a big difference between the hype of recruits and what they actually do when they get in there. The best example of that is a guy you have alluded to on this thread - Will Craig. Wasn't he a 4-star guy who everyone thought would be Cal's answer at left tackle for years? And yet now you are talking about him losing his job to Rohme.
When I saw guys get repeatedly getting whipped off the ball this season, it was usually either Daltoso or Rohme. Maybe they were more noticeable because they had to block the edge rushers. I am thinking Mettaur would have been an anchor of that line next season had he stayed.
Rohme actually played pretty well and I would be surprised if he didn't take Craig's job away from him.
A lot of penalties...and respectfully, this is nowhere near as devastating as losing Makai Polk. This offense cannot be losing skill position players that are going to be day 2 draft picks & play on Sunday, especially when they’re from the 510.
It still sucks when guys leave, but we may never know the reason. The only guy we’re losing so far that really bums me out is Chris Brooks.
I'm sad to lose any and all of them but wish them all great success, where ever they land. And the cycle continues. Depth moves up, competition does its job and the team gets better.
The graduate transfer I understand - Cal is infamous for not allowing its undergrads stay on for its graduate programs and there's a good chance that Cal didn't offer a graduate degree in the field of study these grad transfers wanted to pursue.
Non-graduate transfers are concerning - Mettauer is the second and that's a bummer since he was a solid beast on the o-line. I wish him the best of luck. Hopefully, he'll be the only one.
BTW, the article says he's the second non-senior loss - who was the first? I thought everyone else either graduated or is a grad-transfer?
I'm assuming the other one is JH Tevis. But he may have obtained his degree and was a red-shirt Junior in terms of football eligibility. I suspect McKade is in this category as well. Hard for me to imagine that both of these guys would put in 4 years, be close to their Cal degree, and simply walk out without it.
JH graduated. Also Chiggy as well. But JH is. true grad transfer with only one year left. Chiggy should have 2 left so technically not a senior in the eligibility sense.
You can almost count on two hands the number of big plays Nikko has made since the 2019 Big Game despite missing relatively few snaps....great Cal Bear, but let’s get some of the younger, more talented WRs some run.
Dangit.
man, I thought that guys were gonna stay now :(
He seemed like a fixture on the line - he will be missed. But, good luck to him.
Yeah, this one hurts and was unexpected. Will Wilcox ever field a good OL?
This is a bad loss. He was nasty as hell.
oh crap