Cal Spring Football Scrapbook #7 (4/8/23)
Into the home stretch before the Spring Showcase
As Cal football reconvened after Spring break, Head Coach Justin Wilcox noted that there were more procedural penalties and undisciplined mistakes on Wednesday (4/5) and Friday (4/7) than he would’ve like to see. Saturday’s scrimmage would provide the Bears one of their best chances to rectify these mistakes as they continued to install Jake Spavital’s offense. Here’s what I observed, asked, and learned. Usually these are posts for paying subscribers but since I’m the one writing and I’m all over the place this is one free!
https://twitter.com/CalFootball/status/1644818217507115009
Miscellaneous/DNP’s:
For one reason or another, here are the list of players who weren’t available today (some of these are continued from the initial list of those who were ruled out of spring)
RB #4 Justin Williams-Thomas, DB #29 Jeremiah Earby, ILB #51 Blake Antzoulatos, RB #21 Byron Cardwell, G #73 Matthew Cindric, DL #95 Akili Calhoun, OLB #44 Xavier Carlton, WR #89 Tommy Christakos, DB #21 Collin Gamble, DL #90 Brett Johnson, DL #49 Darius Long Jr, WR #82 Mason Mangum, DB #11 Tyson McWilliams, DL #75 Jaedon Roberts, WR #18 Mason Starling
a laundry list of guys, however Byron Cardwell and Jeremiah Earby were new additions to the injury report compared to the guys who were already out
in the post practice presser, I asked Coach Wilcox on their statuses, Cardwell’s injury was in the process of being identified while Earby seemed to be week to week
Jake Curhan was at practice, nice to see a #proBear in the building
Fernando Mendoza’s speed option 2 pt conversion to end practice sent the team into a frenzy
Observations:
Lots of 1v1 drills to start, Oklahoma style and others, Coach Wilcox looked as energetic as I’ve ever seen him, taking pride in seeing the guys lay it out there for a rep.
The linebackers and running backs did drills I had never seen before. The backers were put underneath a trampoline and disengaged off a medicine ball before being met by a block that they had to further disengage from. Low man really wins.
Speaking of the low man winning, the running backs played limbo! What I mean by that is that Aristotle Thompson had the group walk underneath a sled to meet one of their teammates on the other side for a block. He sped them up as they got more reps but these two respective drills were the first I’ve ever seen of them and had my eyes glued.
Offense:
There were several 11v11 sessions throughout the day and both sides of the ball had their moments.
Offense came out and threw a haymaker, 4 plays and 75 yards later they were in the endzone courtesy of a Jeremiah Hunter go route and a Monroe Young slant
Sam Jackson V looked solid in his pocket presence, from throwing guys open in some respects to taking off scrambling, he’s nimble
however, he’s a bit out of control when on the run and what I mean by that is that his internal clock is sped up a little more than it needs to be, resulting in some errant throws where he still has tenths of a second to work with
Both Coach Wilcox and Coach Spavital noted that they wanted to see better focus in terms of procedure with some pre snap penalties earlier in the week, the offense delivered and only had one pre snap penalty
both the first and second team offenses broke out of their own endzones in the first session
2nd and 3rd sessions were more balanced with the defense
Fernando Mendoza and Sam Jackson V aren’t afraid to call their own numbers in zone read action, a new development from last year
Mendoza had a zone read TD on the goal line
Jackson V had an interception in the late session to Raymond Woodie III and Craig Woodson almost had another pick off him
protection slowly got more inconsistent, leading to more inconsistent QB play
Coach Wilcox stressed that Jackson just needs reps
Wide Receivers were winners in a lot of 1v1’s today
Jackson: 9/19, 121 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Mendoza: 15/22, 159 yds, 2 TD
my questions are at the 1:43, 4:23, and 6:52 mark
Offensive lineups (lots of mixing and matching)
First team: QB #5 Sam Jackson V, RB #6 Jaydn Ott, WR #11 Mavin Anderson, WR #3 Jeremiah Hunter, WR #14 Monroe Young, TE #85 Asher Alberding, LT #63 Brayden Rohme, LG #79 Ender Aguilar, C #60 Brian Driscoll, RG #71 Sioape Vatikani, RT #72 TJ Session
Second team: QB #15 Fernando Mendoza, RB #31 Ashton Stredick, WR #83 Chris Rogers, WR #84 Jaiven Plummer, WR #37 Kenden Robinson Jr, TE #87 Jack Endries, LT #78 Jackson Brown, LG #68 Trent Ramsey, C #65 Dylan Jemtegaard, RG #77 Everett Johnson, RT #66 Colin Hamilton
Andy Alfieri and Aidan Lee subrotated at running back with the injuries despite being out of position
JT Byrne subrotated at TE, Trond Grizzell subrotated at WR
My question is at the 7:18 mark
Defense
As it was stated in Coach Wilcox’s presser, I said the defense got its lunch taken from them in the opening session to which Wilcox quipped “lunch and dinner, you’re spot on” (this boosted my ego for the record)
the first drive it seemed like the guys were recovering from a night at Kips
Coach Peter Sirmon was incensed after that session, lambasting that the leaders need to step up, bring the energy and fight that’s a requisite to win close games
initially, the defensive line was losing contain on Jackson V, over pursuing off the edges
after the first session, they recovered extremely well, going back and forth in the second session before stonewalling in the final session
David Reese has an explosive release and first step
Lu Magia Hearns and Craig Woodson both had solid PBU’s
inside linebackers did not stand out in any way, a casual day at the office and neither had me pleased nor disappointed
Pressure was ratcheted up in the second and third session, flushing Jackson V and Mendoza a lot more
defensive line became more in tune with rollouts, blowing them up by the end and forcing by my tally 2-3 straight turnovers on downs
Raymond Woodie III and I had a good back and forth after on how hard it is to stay disciplined and plastered to your guy when a quarterback is scrambling and forcing you to make a decision
My questions are at the :40, 1:04, 1:30, 2:29, 2:57, and 4:44 marks
Defensive lineups (more mixing and matching)
First team: DB#4 Kaylin Moore, DB #3 Nohl Williams, DB #13 Miles Williams, DB #2 Craig Woodson, ILB #8 Jackson Sirmon, ILB #10 Sergio Allen, DB #5 Raymond Woodie III, OLB #33 Myles Jernigan, OLB #7 David Reese, DL #91 Ricky Correia, DB #15 Lu Magia Hearns (as you can see a lot smaller of a unit, almost a 3-3-5 look at times with guys hybriding)
Second team: DB #22 Matthew Littlejohn, OLB #47 Moso’oipala Tuitele, DL #99 Ethan Saunders, DL #58 Stanley McKenzie-Saole, ILB #42 Nate Rutchena, ILB #53 Kaleb Elarms-Orr, ILB #31 Hunter Barth, DB #28 Kaleb Higgins, DB #23 DeJuan Butler, DB #20 Cam Sidney, DB #41 Isaiah Young
Wrap up and MVP’s
It felt good to be back for spring football. In general, Cal should flashes of what they could be, with a need to find the consistency that the coaches have noted. The wide receiver group and defensive back group look exceptional and look to be strengths. The offensive line looks better relative to last season at this same time and in general everything looks more creative. There’s been a big emphasis on reps as Coach Spavital noted, as they didn’t introduce the screen until this week. Consistency will need to continue to be the name of the game for the Bears.
The MVP’s of this practice were Trond Grizzell on the offense and Raymond Woodie III for the defense. Grizzell consistently got the better of defenders in 1v1’s, the Oklahoma Drill and even caught a touchdown at the end of practice to wrap it all up, a great showing overall. Woodie III gets the defensive MVP for his interception, which would’ve been a pick six had the whistle not been blown. Just subperb discipline with his eyes and breaking ability.
The Spring Showcase is next week for Cal on Saturday, April 15th, at 2:00pm from California Memorial Stadium and it will be broadcasted on Pac 12 network. Go Bears!
P.S.
Enjoy the media session with Heisman Trophy Favorite and starting kicker Michael Luckhurst. He’s the truth. 11/11 on kicks this spring and was 3/3 during this practice.
LOVE how Spivital communicates. Such a contrast...I hope and pray this will translate to results on the field, but 100% the players must be able to relate to him more than he who shall not be named. I also love Spring, when hope literally springs eternal. GO BEARS.
Thanks much. This makes me think of how I am doing while learning the cello. There is a steep and fun learning curve in the beginning. And then you realize what is really hard, and what you don't know. This begins the phase of learning that is known in academic circles as "Shitty time". A term used to describe the in-between phase of knowing enough to know what you don't know, and finding it hard to know it. At this point in the spring, their are tired and I'm not surprised the coaches are having to motivate them. Let's face it, we are going to have a dynamic offense that will yield more points and also more turnovers by a young QB. There is no way that won't happen. Spav says as much. If defense can hold teams to 24, and we can score 31, we are all happy. Just don't want a Dykes situation, and we won't. Fair number of players out right now, or never played in spring. I'm especially concerned about Cardwell and wish we knew more about his injury.