Youth on display as Cal Football wraps up Spring Ball

2 years since last Spring Game, and the Bears won!

One year since the postponement of Cal’s Spring camp, two years since the last spring game, the Bears returned to some normalcy with a full spring camp, capping it off with a spring game that ended with a Bears win!

It wasn’t a spring game in the sense of a Blue team vs. Gold team, but the defense and offense were mix and matched with the 1s and 2s followed by a 3rd rotation. With only 3 QBs on the roster, Chase Garbers and Zach Johnson led the first two groups with Robby Rowell as the QB for the 3rd group. 

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📍 Strawberry Canyon

All the QBs got a decent amount of playtime and a good rotation from the playbook. Chase Garbers was 5-5 on the day for 71 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. He also completed the pass of the day to Nikko Remigio, which you can watch below. Zach Johnson was 10-15 for 78 yards, no touchdowns, and 1 interception. While Garbers took some shots down the field, Johnson was more conservative in his approach taking the pass that the defense would give him and allowing his skill players to make moves after the catch. Robby Rowell finished the day with 6-12 for 57 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. He did have a few solid scrambling moments as the pocket collapsed getting 17 yards on 3 attempts.

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🆙🔝 What a catch by @nikkoremigio! 📺 @Pac12Network

The ground attack was a different story as it was DeCarlos Brooks who exploded onto the scene with 55 yards on 10 carries and 2 touchdowns. Chris Street had 8 carries for 17 yards. Ashton Stredick had 4 carries for 12 yards. Expected starter Christopher Brown Jr. only got two rush attempts but for 18 yards and this monster run. Marcel Dancy only had two rushing attempts as well for 4 yards. The only back not to play in the game was Damian Moore who did not suit up for the game.

The WRs were a question mark behind the presumed starters of Kekoa Crawford, Trevon Clark and Nikko Remigio. We got to see glimpses of what Justin Baker, Tommy Christiakos, Aiden Lee, and Jeremiah Hunter could do in small sample sizes and that has to excite all Cal fans. The surprise was the emergence of the middle group of experienced players in Monroe Young (1 catch for 21 yards) and Ben Skinner (3 catches for 57 yards) making an impact as well. It’s clear the talent is there for Burl Toler’s group, but a matter of experience and production on the field after the first 3 guys. 

The TEs were an interesting group, for most recruiting following cal fans. It was to mostly see the impact of early enrollee & 4-star TE Jermaine Terry. Terry did have 2 catches for -4 yards before limping out of the game, and was seen after the game with crutches but without any brace or cast. (I think we’re all collectively praying for just a little knock.) 

The defensive side of the ball is where it got interesting, not only with the very intriguing pairings but also the emergence of the younger players making big-time impacts. Muelu Iosefa made an impact, leading all players with 6 tackles, alongside fellow underclassmen in Tyson McWilliams, Ricky Correia, Andy Alfieri, and Miles Willams. Ricky Corriea was especially interesting as he had 4 tackles,1 tackle for loss, and a sack all from the nose guard position. The Bears have lacked any depth at the position over the last 3 seasons and finally look to have talent and depth at a position that is integral in the front 7s ability to mask and diversify their looks. If any of the nose guards were to take a step forward that would allow Brett Johnson, who did not register a stat in the spring game, to move to the defensive end and that is definitely something that brings joy to any Cal fan. Early enrollee Hunter Barth and Akili Calhoun also showed some flashes that they could contribute to this upcoming season as well.

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Enrolled Early. @hunter_barth_ is making an IMPACT!

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The awareness. The hands. What a pick by Miles Williams! 📺 @Pac12Network

I’m looking to do a full breakdown of the game over the next few weeks so you’ll see more then, but for now. Here are the full unofficial stats from the game! Let me know what you thought was interesting or intriguing to you, and if you have any specific things you’d like me to cover in my series, comment it down below as well!

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Laying the foundation 🧱 Wrapped up spring ball strong!

Spring Game Unofficial Stats

Scoring Plays

• Chase Garbers 1 TD pass to Elijah Mojarro

• DeCarlos Brooks 9 TD run

• DeCarlos Brooks 1 TD run

Team Statistics

Rushing (Att-Yards, TD)

• 33-128-2 TD

Passing (Comp-Att-Int-Yds, TD)

• 21-32-1-206, 1 TD

Penalties (No-Yds)

Offense (2-10)

Defense (2-19)

Total (4-29)

Individual Statistics

Rushing (Att-Yds, TD)

• DeCarlos Brooks (10-55, 2 TD)

• Christopher Brown Jr. (2-18)

• Chris Street (8-17)

• Ashton Stredick (4-12)

• Robby Rowell (3-17)

• Zach Johnson (3-2)

• Marcel Dancy (2-4)

• Chase Garbers (1-1)

Passing (Comp-Att-Int-Yds, TD)

• Zach Johnson (10-15-1-78)

• Chase Garbers (5-5-0-71, 1 TD)

• Robby Rowell (6-12-0-57)

Receiving (Rec-Yds, TD)

• Ben Skinner (3-57)

• Jake Muller (3-15)

• Aidan Lee (2-18)

• Jermaine Terry (2-(-4))

• Nikko Remigio (1-33)

• Monroe Young (1-21)

• Evan King (1-14)

• Gavin Reinwald (1-10)

• Ashton Stredick (1-9)

• DeCarlos Brooks (1-8)

• Jeremiah Hunter (1-8)

• Justin Richard Baker (1-6)

• Marcel Dancy (1-4)

• Chris Street (1-4)

• Elijah Mojarro (1-1, TD)

Field Goals (FGM-FGA – Distance Result)

• Dario Longhetto (2-3 – 43 no good, 46 good, 48 good)

• Nick Lopez (1-3 – 43 good, 46 no good, 48 no good)

• Ronan Donnelly (2-3 – good 46 no good, 48 good)

Tackles (Other Plays Defense)

• Muelu Iosefa (6)

• Hunter Barth (5; 1 PBU)

• Andy Alfieri (4; 1.0 TFL, -2 yards)

• Ricky Correia (4; 1.0 TFL, -4 yards; 1.0 sack, -4 yards)

• Tarik Glenn Jr. (3; 1 PBU)

• Stanley McKenzie (3)

• Evan McLurkin (3; 1 PBU)

• Tyson McWilliams (3)

• Erick Nisich (3)

• Orin Patu (3)

• Parker Bosche (2, 1.0 TFL, -1 yard)

• Zane Cribb (2)

• Branden Smith (2; 1.0 TFL, -13 yards; 1.0 sack, -13 yards)

• Kyle Smith (2)

• Raymond Woodie III (2)

• Isaiah Young (2; 1 PBU)

• Blake Antzoulatos (1)

• Akili Calhoun (1)

• Braxten Croteau (1)

• Matt Horwitz (1)

• Myles Jernigan (1)

• Jaylen Martin (1; 1 PBU)

• Ryan Puskas (1; 1.0 TFL, -2 yards)

• Gunnar Rask (1)

• Nate Rutchena (1)

• Evan Tattersall (1)

• Miles Williams (1, 1 INT)

• Craig Woodson (1)