Cal is looking elite everywhere except for WR DL and OL. Unfortunately 3 pretty important positions but at least our secondary will be up to the TAKERS standards
I'm not worried about the WRs. They're in a new scheme getting used to a new QB with new timings, it's going to take some practice. They're all talented enough.
Spav's looking for up to to 7 more scholarship players on offense in the portal. At the scrimmage he said he wants more WR's and that he has plenty of TE's and he's learning how to use them. Likewise he wants to find an solid QB with game experience. And last but not least, he wants some more O-Linemen. For sure we need a stud at weakside tackle. I was watching the film from the final scrimmage and I'm concerned about Rohme. He's come a long way from last year and he plays with physicality, but on pass pro I worry that he's just not athletic enough. He gets pushed back to easy; I think this is because his ass isn't low enough and he loses leverage (and he is a tall dude). And I observed him overstepping to the outside and getting beat to the inside on an early play in the scrimmage. Right now, if we have a weak spot on our 1st team o-line, its him. I think he can solve a lot of his issues with smart play and sticking to technique, but it remains to be seen if he can do that. Maybe I'm to hard on Rohme because he's on an island, but he needs to be able to slow that pass rusher down for a couple seconds more. If he does that Jackson will light up the opposing defense. I like that Bloesch moved Aquilar to weak side guard. He's still a bit raw but performed pretty well and he is physical as well. The right side of the o-line looked good. I wonder how Cindric coming back will change things. I could see Cindric going back to C and Driscoll moving to one of the guard spots and maybe Agular moving to weakside tackle. I also liked the 2's. I htink we have 3 redshirt freshmen on the 2's. They're big thing to fix is calls at the line for their blocking assignments. They made a few bonehead errors. If they fix those then they look pretty good.
Is there anyone in the portal you have your eye on (or have heard is being targeted)? Do you think using a 2nd blocking TE could help or would that just bring in another defender?
Apparently he's a big, nasty, physical player who is a little bit raw on technique.
Since the transfer portal reopened on Saturday, more than 200 players have entered. These are some of the players who have been piling up the offers.
OL Emmanuel Pregnon – Wyoming
The skinny: It has been difficult to keep up with all of the offers that Pregnon has received since entering on Saturday. Already officially in the chase are Miami-Florida, Tennessee, Penn State, Auburn, Arizona State, Kentucky, Colorado, Washington State, Ole Miss, UCLA, Indiana, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, Purdue, Arizona, and Charlotte, while serious interest is also coming in from LSU, Michigan State, Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma and many others. Only two days into his process Pregnon will take some time to organize his opportunities but look for official visits to start in the next week or two.
Thanks Bob, I appreciate your confidence in me but I can assure you that everything I see the current coaches see even more. Bloesch is doing an excellent job based on the improved performance I've seen in the o-line in just 15 practices with several of them being non-contact. I would say that let's keep it between us as coaches don't need the distraction of an outsider critiquing their work.
Btw, I met both Knowlton and Wilcox in downtown LA last year at the Watch Bar when the travelling pre-season roadshow came to town for the PAC12 press conferences with coaches and players. I was throughly impressed with Wilcox's in depth knowledge of the inner workings of the O-Line. He knows he stuff. And I also came away impressed with Knowlton. People don't know what he has done, quietly, to keep CAL Athletics afloat. I am a huge supporter both men.
And, I coached at JC, not high school. As the first Head Coach I worked under told me, the jump from high school football is far greater to JC ball than from JC ball to P5 ball. Our kids were all all league, but maybe just a bit undersized or maybe they were just a fraction slower than at the D1 level, but they were all great athletes, tougher than nails, and great competitors.
One of our DB's (Dwight Lowery) ended up going to San Jose State and led all D1 football in INT's his junior year and tied his senior year. He was a non-academic quaifier out of high school so had to go the JC route. He was drafted and played on Sundays. I can tell you that when you watched him you just knew he was going to play in the NFL. The kid had instincts that you rarely observed.
And I'm happy to say that half of my linemen ended up going to four year schools on scholarships (even Div lll which were grants in aid) and ended up with degrees. I had one o-liner end up a FCS All American and another a starter at UC Davis.
I experienced one of the most enjoyable times of my life working with those kids. They certainly did not get the pampering that players get in a D1 program. They played for the love of the game. Go Bears!!
I agree on OL and DL but not sure I share the sentiment on the WR's. Jeremiah Hunter, Mavin Anderson, and Monroe Young are a solid group of starters. Then you have Brian Hightower, Mason Starling, and players like Trond Grizzell fighting for reps.
Welcome Patrick and Go Bears! We put guys in the NFL all the time, and this will let him play against the move visible schools this year. Do well against Pac12 talent and you've proven you can compete against NFL talent.
Great news! I watched the Spring Game. Happy to see the speed and agility on both sides of the ball. The defense will be better this year I bet. Still fretting over the O line. But hey, I got to admit it's getting better, getting so much better all the time. And the offense can't get now worse from last year, right? More Kool-Ade! Go Bears!
I met him when he came to Sacramento. A genuinely warm-hearted, humble human being (though didn't recognize him at half the size). Was a big fan before meeting him and am an even bigger fan after.
Nice!
*to don the blue and gold. :)
i fiddled with the phrase for literally 15 minutes deciding if this was right or not and still got it wrong lmao
Cal is looking elite everywhere except for WR DL and OL. Unfortunately 3 pretty important positions but at least our secondary will be up to the TAKERS standards
What is your definition of elite? We have an elite RB, good WRs and LBs, a bunch of positions that are solid and are bad along the lines.
I’d hesitate to say anything beyond the pairing of Ott/Cardwell is elite though.
I'm not worried about the WRs. They're in a new scheme getting used to a new QB with new timings, it's going to take some practice. They're all talented enough.
Yeah, we should have several WRs emerge out of nowhere and shine in Spavital's offense
Spav's looking for up to to 7 more scholarship players on offense in the portal. At the scrimmage he said he wants more WR's and that he has plenty of TE's and he's learning how to use them. Likewise he wants to find an solid QB with game experience. And last but not least, he wants some more O-Linemen. For sure we need a stud at weakside tackle. I was watching the film from the final scrimmage and I'm concerned about Rohme. He's come a long way from last year and he plays with physicality, but on pass pro I worry that he's just not athletic enough. He gets pushed back to easy; I think this is because his ass isn't low enough and he loses leverage (and he is a tall dude). And I observed him overstepping to the outside and getting beat to the inside on an early play in the scrimmage. Right now, if we have a weak spot on our 1st team o-line, its him. I think he can solve a lot of his issues with smart play and sticking to technique, but it remains to be seen if he can do that. Maybe I'm to hard on Rohme because he's on an island, but he needs to be able to slow that pass rusher down for a couple seconds more. If he does that Jackson will light up the opposing defense. I like that Bloesch moved Aquilar to weak side guard. He's still a bit raw but performed pretty well and he is physical as well. The right side of the o-line looked good. I wonder how Cindric coming back will change things. I could see Cindric going back to C and Driscoll moving to one of the guard spots and maybe Agular moving to weakside tackle. I also liked the 2's. I htink we have 3 redshirt freshmen on the 2's. They're big thing to fix is calls at the line for their blocking assignments. They made a few bonehead errors. If they fix those then they look pretty good.
Is there anyone in the portal you have your eye on (or have heard is being targeted)? Do you think using a 2nd blocking TE could help or would that just bring in another defender?
This guy...but he has received a lot of offers from big time programs in just two days:
https://247sports.com/Player/Emmanuel-Pregnon-46140927/
Apparently he's a big, nasty, physical player who is a little bit raw on technique.
Since the transfer portal reopened on Saturday, more than 200 players have entered. These are some of the players who have been piling up the offers.
OL Emmanuel Pregnon – Wyoming
The skinny: It has been difficult to keep up with all of the offers that Pregnon has received since entering on Saturday. Already officially in the chase are Miami-Florida, Tennessee, Penn State, Auburn, Arizona State, Kentucky, Colorado, Washington State, Ole Miss, UCLA, Indiana, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, Purdue, Arizona, and Charlotte, while serious interest is also coming in from LSU, Michigan State, Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma and many others. Only two days into his process Pregnon will take some time to organize his opportunities but look for official visits to start in the next week or two.
Thanks Bob, I appreciate your confidence in me but I can assure you that everything I see the current coaches see even more. Bloesch is doing an excellent job based on the improved performance I've seen in the o-line in just 15 practices with several of them being non-contact. I would say that let's keep it between us as coaches don't need the distraction of an outsider critiquing their work.
Btw, I met both Knowlton and Wilcox in downtown LA last year at the Watch Bar when the travelling pre-season roadshow came to town for the PAC12 press conferences with coaches and players. I was throughly impressed with Wilcox's in depth knowledge of the inner workings of the O-Line. He knows he stuff. And I also came away impressed with Knowlton. People don't know what he has done, quietly, to keep CAL Athletics afloat. I am a huge supporter both men.
And, I coached at JC, not high school. As the first Head Coach I worked under told me, the jump from high school football is far greater to JC ball than from JC ball to P5 ball. Our kids were all all league, but maybe just a bit undersized or maybe they were just a fraction slower than at the D1 level, but they were all great athletes, tougher than nails, and great competitors.
One of our DB's (Dwight Lowery) ended up going to San Jose State and led all D1 football in INT's his junior year and tied his senior year. He was a non-academic quaifier out of high school so had to go the JC route. He was drafted and played on Sundays. I can tell you that when you watched him you just knew he was going to play in the NFL. The kid had instincts that you rarely observed.
And I'm happy to say that half of my linemen ended up going to four year schools on scholarships (even Div lll which were grants in aid) and ended up with degrees. I had one o-liner end up a FCS All American and another a starter at UC Davis.
I experienced one of the most enjoyable times of my life working with those kids. They certainly did not get the pampering that players get in a D1 program. They played for the love of the game. Go Bears!!
I agree on OL and DL but not sure I share the sentiment on the WR's. Jeremiah Hunter, Mavin Anderson, and Monroe Young are a solid group of starters. Then you have Brian Hightower, Mason Starling, and players like Trond Grizzell fighting for reps.
I liked Robinson on the first drive for the 2's.
I think Monroe Young will be passed by younger receivers.
Welcome Patrick and Go Bears! We put guys in the NFL all the time, and this will let him play against the move visible schools this year. Do well against Pac12 talent and you've proven you can compete against NFL talent.
robbing Peter to pay Paul (my teams!)
Safety U
Safety School???
First to 2 points wins!
!?
Great news! I watched the Spring Game. Happy to see the speed and agility on both sides of the ball. The defense will be better this year I bet. Still fretting over the O line. But hey, I got to admit it's getting better, getting so much better all the time. And the offense can't get now worse from last year, right? More Kool-Ade! Go Bears!
O-Line is still a work in progress but they looked much better this Spring than they looked last season.
Great to hear! The Rugbear assessment is always at the top of my list, but that's particularly true when it comes to the O line.
Great family! Happy to add yet another to our Cal family!
Malik was so fun to watch
I met him when he came to Sacramento. A genuinely warm-hearted, humble human being (though didn't recognize him at half the size). Was a big fan before meeting him and am an even bigger fan after.