Cal tight end Jermaine Terry enters the portal, Oregon State TE J.T. Byrne ends up at Cal
More roster upheaval for the Bears.
Cal tight end Jermaine Terry has entered the transfer portal, joining his compatriot Keleki Latu.
Terry started last season, catching seven passes for 41 yards.
These losses are tough but expected, as new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital has generally run offenses that do not emphasize tight end play. But it doesn’t make the losses any easier. Both Latu and Terry are talented players that seemed to be underutilized last season by Bill Musgrave, and with the right coaching could’ve made a significant difference.
Cal did stop the bleeding a little bit with the commitment of tight end J.T. Bryne, who entered the portal from Oregon State yesterday. He played in nine games in 2021, logging no game stats as a redshirt freshman.
The Cal offense has seen a number of key losses in the portal from their 2022 campaign.
Top two quarterbacks (Jack Plummer, Kai Millner)
Four of the top five running backs (Damien Moore, DeCarlos Brooks, Chris Street, Ashton Hayes)
One of our top two wide outs (J Michael Sturdivant)
Two starting offensive linemen (Spencer Lovell, Ben Coleman)
And now our top two tight ends.
Cal has peppered over some of the losses with Byron Cardwell and now Byrne, but more transfers are needed in a hurry.
Everyone seems to be really bummed about Terry leaving because he was such a highly rated 4* recruit. But forget his rating and tell me how well he played the last two years in a system MADE for TE's. He played no where near to the potential that his recruiting scouting report suggested he would play. For his size and strength he was not a good or effective blocker and he did not seem to get open and did drop some easy catches. Hopefully he will do much better where ever he ends up. I want nothing but success for him. And just to show you that highly ranked TE's can be a bust, check out Arik Gilbert. I don't think there are many guys with a 5* rating and higher than a .9972 score. Yet he's been to LSU, FL, GA and is transferring again. https://247sports.com/Player/Arik-Gilbert-94709/
Sometimes the highly regarded guys are just a bust.
I like our new kid, JT Byrne, from Oregon State. He's 6'6" like Latu. He's big. He's a multi sport athlete who has yet to participate in Spring drills (I'm sure he will at CAL if he want's playing time and I'm sure that was part of the discussion with his new coach). Let's see what he can do, but one thing is for sure, and he CAN block well. i'm not dying with the departure of some of our guys like some on this thread.
But, unless we get ourselves a solid QB we will be in trouble.
lol yea