Cal Football Spring Practice: Day 13
OC Bill Musgrave names backup QB for Saturday's spring game
After the Bears’ thirteenth spring practice, offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave stepped up to the Zoom mic post-practice to give updates on the development of his offense. He started off with an update on which players will fill the H-back role this year.
“We’ve had [TE] Nick Alftin doing some of those. We’ve had [TE] Elijah [Mojarro] doing some fullback jobs. [TE] Gavin Reinwald, [TE] Jake [Muller] has been doing a bit,” said Musgrave, so it appears that the lower rungs of the Bears’ TE depth chart are still getting reps in.
With regards to the QBs, Musgrave made it clear who will be under center for the Bears in the fall: “This is Chase’s [Garbers] squad. We’re riding Chase, and we’re going to have a great year.”
“The more turns he gets at the concepts, the more comfortable he is, the more you can throw it early.”
Musgrave says that Garbers proved he would remain the starter with some impressive performances last year.
“He threw for well over 300 yards against the Beavers. He played well against Stanford; we beat Oregon. Even that first Sunday morning game he did some good things. We didn’t have the production we wanted, but we’re very pleased with the way Chase played, with his progressions and accuracy.”
Musgrave was also asked to take a firm stance on who would be the #2 QB, backing up Chase Garbers, in Saturday’s spring game. It’ll be second-year Zach Johnson.
“Zach’s rolling with the two’s.”
“Chase’ll roll with the one’s. Both Robby [Rowell] and Spencer [Brasch] will get the rest of the reps.”
TE Jermaine Terry, the local star in his first semester at Cal, continues to garner praise from Musgrave.
“He had a strong day again today. He’s blocking people; he’s catching the ball. He’s got dynamic ability, so we’re really excited about his future.”
Musgrave was also asked about incoming TE recruit Keleki Latu, out of Carmichael.
“He’s got a really great frame where we’d anticipate him filling out and being a lot bigger here in future years. He’s pretty slender right now which is good. He can really move; he’ll retain that movement and fill out and really be a force to be reckoned with.”
WR Tommy Christakos, who rarely saw the field on offense last year, has apparently been filling up the stat sheets during the closed practices. Musgrave expanded on why Christakos has made such a great leap forward.
“We didn’t really have any summer lifting or player-run practices or any fall camp. Those last couple of weeks, whether it be the Oregon week or the Washington State week, Tommy started showing up in practice. He’s making big plays and a lot of eyebrow raising plays. He’s picked up right where he left off in the fall this spring with, every day, doing something out of this world.”
The lower rungs of the TEs may have to get their reps elsewhere because the current crop of starters impresses Musgrave greatly.
“Collin [Moore] had a big catch today on a crossing route from Zach Johnson that might have gone 40, 50, 60 yards. He made a good move on the safety out in the open field, used a stiff arm, so he’s creating some explosive plays in the pass game.”
“Nick Alftin is another guy that’s making a lot of plays. He shows up every day making a crucial block or catching the ball down the field because he’s so big and got such a big wingspan and catch radius.”
For Saturday’s spring game, Musgrave is excited to see the development of his offense and how well they perform against the Bears’ defense.
“It’s really good training for us. Our defense is multiple in both fronts and coverages and pressures, so any opportunity we have to go up against our defense is a chance to learn and get better.”
The Bears have another practice on Friday before their spring game Saturday at 2 p.m. PST, televised on the PAC-12 Network.
Later today, the Bears will also have their Pro Day. Former Cal players Camryn Bynum, Jake Curhan, Zeandae Johnson, Traveon Beck, and Jordan Duncan will participate. Good luck to our future #ProBears!
Can't believe Spring football is almost over. Thanks for the write-up.
Great detail. Thanks. Zach Johnson is an unknown to us really, but beating our Brasch says a lot. We have a solid group of 2-5 going into Fall.