Cal Spring Game - Drills 

Cal Spring Game - DeSean

Cal Spring Game - Surplus Sale

Spring Game - The Start 

 

Firstly, let us all think good thoughts about the Dubs tonight.  If they can pull off the unthinkable and head back to see Jessica Alba up 2-0, then this could be a series for the ages.   

 

Many people have already commented on the special teams at the Spring Game.  Perhaps it is because of the intricacies of special teams, but it seemed fairly sloppy at times.  A player gets thrown in with a lot of other random players to block for a punt.  It requires a lot of communication, both verbal and physical, that requires a lot of practice and experience to get down pat.  IIRC, at last year’s Spring Game, there were a lot of blocked punts, too.  So, perhaps, I should not be too concerned by all the blocked punts last Sat. 

 

So many punts got blocked that they started doing long snaps to an assistant and the punter would then proceed to punt the ball about 10 feet away.  But I think they did that last year, too, so perhaps it is of minimal concern. 

 

Also, let me say how disappointed I was that Cal scrapped the orange condom looking things from last year.  As people of both offense (white jerseys) and defense (blue jerseys) play together on special teams, they need a new way to differentiate.  Last year they had these skull caps, but this year it was aprons.  Aprons?  Yeah, aprons.  Aprons.

 

 

 

 What was really exciting was that there were actually 2 run backs.  Right in a row.  Here is the first:

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite one right there!

 

 

 

 

There was a plague of disembodied hands ruining photos all over the place that day.  Also, challenging people to duels.  I hate it when they do that!

 

Very exciting.  And even more exciting was that they went back to back.  I was looking at the photos I took of the first runback during the second and missed most of it.  But I did snag one at the end.

 

 

 

Of course, not every kick was run back as evidenced by this blurry tackle (the photo is also slightly blurry):

 

 

The scrimmage is always frustrating, because for every positive there is a negative.  But I’d like to discount the negatives as due to inexperience as this stage and emphasis the positives.  Next up is some scrimmage action photos.

 

Go Bears!  Go Dubs! 

If you haven’t already heard, the Cal coaching staff has released the post-spring depth chart. 

Here are a few of my thoughts regarding the depth chart:

*How about Chris Guarnero?  Some people may have forgotten about him since he red-shirted last year but he’s a player you definitely want to keep in mind.  The depth chart currently shows Guarnero as the #2 center behind Alex Mack and ahead of #3 center Mark Gray.  Now, remember that Tedford and Michalczik both talked about the possibility of moving Alex Mack to offensive tackle to cover for Mike Gibson who is rehabbing from an injury.  And if Mack were to be moved from center that would leave Guarnero as our starting center.  Obviously, Tedford and company feel very confident in Guarnero’s knowledge of our blocking schemes and his blocking ability to consider putting him in game situations despite him being an inexperienced red-shirt freshman. 

*Cameron Morrah secured that #2 tight end spot despite the arrival of Skylar Curran.  This will be an interesting battle to watch during fall camp.  Morrah has the size, speed, and hands to become a big time receiving threat.  The same can be said of Curran who is 6′5", 250, and runs a 4.6 forty.  Morrah’s familiarity with the offense should give him enough of an edge to hold off Curran… but for how long? 

*Ah, the backup quarterback battle.  Notice that the guide says that Kyle Reed OR Kevin Riley will be the #2 quarterback?   Nice of the coaches to not name somebody to the #2 spot considering Riley and Reed were both hampered by injuries.  The backup quarterback battle will be very interesting to watch in fall camp. 

*Tyson Alualu moves to DE.  There was some rumor and speculation that this might happen and now it’s official.  Honestly, the decision makes sense too.  We have plenty of experienced DTs (Malele, Kane, Alualu) and plenty of relatively inexperienced DEs (Davis, Jones, Smith).  So why not move our most nimble bodied DT to DE? 

*Tad Smith is back.  Did you notice #92 in blue zipping across the field all during the spring?  Smith has a motor and the speed to make him a dangerous pass rushing threat.  Watching his development should be pretty interesting. 

*Kane over Hill.  Wow.  I thought this was a bit of a shocker.  In the past few years Cal has been blessed with talented DTs to anchor the DLine.  In the past we had Lorenzo Alexander, and Brandon Mebane.  Derrick Hill has been hyped up as the next great Cal DT to consistently draw double teams but now he sits #3.  What gives?  I think we all forgot about Kane.  Nothing is wrong with Hill.  He’s not under performing - he’s just not as experienced as Kane.  And Kane, he’s one of those under-the-radar kind of guys.  Last year Kane was a little out of sight and out of mind with his hand and/or wrist injury.  Remember that huge cast club for a forearm he had?  That kept him from being as effective as he could be and cut into his playing time too.  Now that he’s back to 100% we should see a lot more of him and he’ll make sure we don’t forget about him either. 

*Linebacker positional chairs.  At first I wasn’t sure what to think about all this.  Follett was supposed to be slotted in for the MLB but now he appears to be at one of the #2 OLB spots.  And big WW (Worrell Williams) is now at MLB after formerly being at the WLB.   And Anthony Felder went from MIA to starting at the WLB position.  And Eddie Young put himself on the map with his INT in the HB against aTm.  Holy crap.  That’s a lot of switching - and a lot of abbreviations.  Anyways, I think the fact that Follett is being moved to OLB is because of his superior pass rushing skills.  Plain and simple, he is our best pass rushing LB.  Putting him at the edge gives him more chances to utilize his ability.  As for WW moving back to the interior, some have questioned his coverage abilities as a WLB so the move to MLB seems like a logical way to minimize his pass coverage responsibilities. 

*Finally, the cornerback battle.  With Peele at CB it appears as if the #2 spot will be his.  Putting Peele at CB instead of safety is a no-brainer considering Decoud and Hicks have the two safety spots locked up.  As for the backup CBs, Hagan locked up a backup spot and will probably get rotated in occasionally to keep legs fresh and to slowly acclimate him to life on an island.  The same goes for Amadi.  Oh, and how about Charles Amadi?  Scout had him listed as a two-star prospect when he signed with us.  Two-stars my ass.  While watching Amadi practice all last year it became very obvious to my amateur eyes that he has the discipline, skill, and potential to be great.  He’s a quiet and serious guy who treated every practice like a game.  He took every opportunity to learn and push himself.  All that hard work is paying off and it should earn him some snaps on the field next year. 

While these spring depth charts do give some insight into how players are developing, it should also be taken with a grain of salt.  Afterall, it is just spring and not fall camp.  Nevertheless, spring camp and post-spring depth charts aren’t exactly meaningless…