Cal WR coach Burl Toler talks up the new look receiving room

The California Golden Bears will be debuting a new group of wideouts in their offense in the 2024 season.

Near the conclusion of spring practice, Cal wide receiver coach Burl Toler chatted with the media about the status of his wideouts.

On what the new wide receivers will bring

It's been great. It's been a little unique having six new guys be here since December, so it's been good.

We have a good addition with speed and size with Tobias [Merriweather], he can really stretch the field, so he's shown some great things out there the first couple of days.

Mikey [Matthews], we needed somebody that had something to him in the slot and can move around and also has returning ability, so Mike has been a great addition coming from Utah. Somebody that I've known as well. Him and Tobias I've known for a long time.

Jonathan Brady. Ballgame. He's doing a great job understanding concepts and just running.He brings a physical factor to the game, stretches the field as well.

And we have Cole Boscia, came from Colorado, another local Bay Area kid that I've known for a long time, but he's shown that he can really contribute and we'll expect a lot out of him.

We also have Isaac Torres that came in from Santa Rosa Junior College. So all those guys are contributing can contribute in battling and doing what they should do out here.

On the emergence of Josiah Martin

He's doing well. Started off just understanding and really being in there. He lives in the meeting room. He's in there. By the time I get in there and grade the film, he's already watched it three times and then he'll come in and watch it again.

So he's extremely detailed. Everybody notices him out here because of how he runs off the ball. So that's something he does a good job of, is just stretching the field, having an explosion that burst. And he's extremely detailed.

On the evolution of Trond Grizzell

So Trond, I look at him to be a leader in the room, he's got to be the guy. The way I was able to move around last year because he knows everything. He knows the playbook and you know as well as me, he gets up, draws, plays up on the board, corrects guys.

He has corrections before I even say himself, to have another coach in the room has been awesome and he shows a lot. He's able to stretch the field on the outside, come up with contested catches.

On Trond transitioning from walk-on to leader

That transition, we expected that he'd be able to handle it and he's shown it. I treat everybody in a fair manner. I give everybody the opportunity. Last year was his time to, you know, accept that role and really take it to the next level.

Next is is to be a dominant factor. Every single play he flashed last year, has some plays here and there, but we looked at to see what he does every single play, and that's when he's not getting the ball, when he's backside of a route, when he's catching the ball, and then just really yards after the catch, contested catches.

On becoming a better blocking receivers group

No block, no rock. They’re physical. We have a great group of DB's and we always say iron sharpens iron. They do a great job of competing all day, and then they'll walk off the field and talk to each other, crossing the ball, both sides of the ball.

But physicality is great and you can't expect the guys to play that way if they don't do it in practice. So it's something we demand. We work perimeter blocking individually every single day.

We have crossover working with the DBs, you know, day in and day out as well. So physicality is something that's part of our nature and you have to do it to be able to play for us.

On adjustments from Jake Spavital to Mike Bloesch

Coach Bloesch, we all know he's a mastermind. He knows what he's doing back there. He's done it. He's called plays. He had the most explosive offense for a couple of years in a row.

But he wants to let our guys play like them. So if a guy's really good at running in space, let's let him do that. So we have concepts to put our guys in the right spot. We have our offense, we have what we're doing, but this is based around the players and what they can do.

So we'll continue to increase their roles and what they can do and then we'll put them in the right spots.