I was getting distracted while writing this post, so RemoresfulBruinBabe, probably inspired by my mom, offered to write: "How about I rank the players by their butts; they must have good butts from all the squats and lunges."  Where are you going to get pictures of their butts?  "Isn’t there a ‘men of Cal football calendar’…of their butts?"  Sadly, no.  The closest thing we have to that was the black and white picture of shirtless Ayoob and Longshore almost cuddling.  I couldn’t find it online (I’m pretty sure there are a number of people who don’t want it being seen), but lets just say that Ayoob’s eyes are more beautiful than his completion percentage.

Monday’s practice was a spirited affair with lots of hitting and shouting.

 - The offense did well during 7 on 7s, generally dominating the d-line and linebackers.  The offensive line open up huge holes for Slocum and DeBoskie.

 -  They did not fare so well during 11 on 11s when the focus was on passing.  The receivers, including Cunningham, were dropping everything.

 - DJ Holt got a bit of an earful after making a late break on a pass underneath.  Kenwick Thompson (linebacker coach) implored him to be more proactive: "Come on DJ, you saw that one; trust what you saw!"

 - The receivers got it going a bit later, sparked by a nice leaping catch by Calvin between two defenders in the corner.  He got a foot down in bounds after snatching the ball over Amadi.  Tad Smith followed with a fantastic catch between three defenders over the middle, while taking a pretty big shot.

 - Follett might have decapitated Slocum on a screen pass if it wasn’t a friendly practice

 - The DBs had a terrific afternoon, affecting almost every pass.  Jesse Brooks in particular had a nice showing.  He picked off a ball tipped by Tad Smith the play after he broke up a pass intended for Cunningham over the middle.  This was in contrast to the receivers, summed up nicely by Boateng meekly indicating incomplete pass on a tipped diving interception.  For what it’s worth, I thought the ball hit the ground too, but it was interesting to see the defensive backs playing with such confidence and the receivers failing to match the intensity.

 - The wise HydroTech refuted an oft stated belief that defensive backs should look back for the ball.  On Monday, Hydro received validation from Al Simmons, our new and seemingly very good (the secondary is looking much improved) DB coach.  After an incompletion (ball was slightly overthrown to a moderately open receiver), Simmons instructed Charles Amadi, the defender on the play, "Don’t look early - look late, or don’t look at all."  The lesson, as always: Hydro, you know more about football than anyone, except coaches and maybe TwistNHook.

 - As practice closed, Worrell laid a big hit on Smith in traffic, and Vereen had a big gain down the sideline for the best offensive play of the practice.

On Friday, the team practiced without helmets, taking it easy for a situational scrimmage the next morning ala Cal day.

 - The Defensive backs practiced adjusting to overthrown or underthrown passes on fly.  Chris Conte showed a nice burst to catch up to a ball and snare it with one hand.

 - The QBs and receivers practiced deep passes.  In general, I thought the QBs did a better job than the receivers - there were a number of passes that I felt should have been caught but weren’t.  If you’re wondering why Boateng and Calvin, guys who have never caught a ball for Cal, are ahead of someone like Cunningham, who’s played well in the past, it’s because of speed.  They are clearly faster than any of the other receivers, excluding Jeremy Ross who is hurt at the moment (he practiced catching balls without making any cuts).

 - A few days after Tedford said "He’s as sick as I’ve ever seen anybody," Cameron Morrah was back at practice and caught a nice pass on a Riley bootleg.  I’ve noticed that our QBs have tended to be a little more accurate when throwing on the run this spring than when standing in the pocket; maybe they’re not overthinking it when they’re moving around?

 - On one of the less accurate bootleg passes, Skylar Curran made a slick one-handed catch on pass thrown behind him.  

 - The funniest play in practice was a short pass that hit offensive lineman Matt Laird in the back.  Somehow, I doubt he was the intended target.

 - Calvin had a nice catch on the sideline, using his body to shield the defender from Riley’s pass.

 - Covaungh DeBoskie impressed with a nimble run down the sideline.

 - Syd Thompson, continuing a great spring, nearly picked off a pass to Boateng on a square in.  Boateng later had a sweet leaping catch over the middle.

Go Bears! 

Continuing on with part two of The Dunbar Year (2006) and the four part analysis of how Tedford’s offense has changed in the past four years. 

Part I: Tedford’s Evolution of the Offense: The Tedford/Cortez Years
Part II: Tedford’s Evolution of the Offense: The Dunbar Year (2006): New Formations

So in this second part analysis of The Dunbar Year (2006) I’m just going to show the famous zone-read plays that are becoming more prevalent among shotgun spread option teams. 

So what is the zone-read?  Well, if you watched Texas use Vince Young, or Oregon use Dixon and Stewart, then you’d probably know what it is.  It’s a bit hard to explain so I’ll just give you an example.  As the old adage goes: a picture is worth a thousand words.

Below is the pre-snap picture.  Notice, Cal is in shotgun.  Ayoob is the quarterback.  Notice the TE is to the right of the OL, thus the strength is to the right.  Notice the RB is in a "weak" position - the side opposite of the TE (to the QB’s left).

Below is a picture of the play just after the snap.  I have highlighted the Tennessee right defensive end (RDE).  Notice he is unblocked in the picture.  The Cal left tackle (LT), instead of picking up the RDE has crashed in on the Tennessee defensive tackle (DT). 

The offense has purposely left the RDE unblocked.  The quarterback then "reads" the RDE (hence the name "zone read").  See, the runningback is going to run across the face of the QB, meaning right in front of him, to the right, and prepared to take the handoff.  If the RDE dives in to pursue the RB, then the QB will not hand off the ball, keep it, and run to the outside to the area vacated by the RDE.  If the RDE stays home or jumps outside to cut off the QB, then the QB will hand the ball off to the runningback who will be running to the right behind the strength.  This decision has to be made in a split second.  In the picture below, the blue line shows the Cal RB’s running route, and the green line shows that the QB is "reading" the RDE. 

Essentially, if the QB reads the DE properly, the DE will always be wrong.  Meaning, if the DE dives in to pursue the RB, the QB will run the ball to the outside towards the area that the DE vacated.  If the DE stays home or jumps outside, then the runningback will get the ball and the DE has been taken out of the play.

Let’s do a little math.  If you go back to the first picture (the pre-snap picture) you’ll see Cal has 6 blockers on the line of scrimmage (LOS).  They have the 5 OL-men and 1 TE (5+1=6).  You’ll see that Tennessee has 8 defenders in the box.  Like said in the previous paragraph, if the QB makes the correct read, then the DE will be wrong every single time and essentially be taken out of the play.  Thus, if the DE is taken out of the play then the defense only has 7 defenders (8-1=7), against 6 Cal blockers.  Six blockers versus seven defenders is better than six blockers versus eight defenders, right?  I didn’t major in math, but I think that’s right. 

Below is the next picture in the play.  As you can see, the Tennessee RDE has focused on the RB, and crashed inside (represented by the green line from the RDE to the RB).  Ayoob correctly read the RDE, kept the ball, and now is running (represented by the blue arrow) to the area that the RDE has vacated (represented by the green area).  The only defender who has a chance of stopping Ayoob is a Tennessee linebacker (assuming the Cal WRs adequately block off their defenders).

And in the final picture of the play, you can see the Cal WRs adequately blocking off their defenders.  Ayoob beats the Tennessee LB and gets in the endzone. 

That was an example of the zone read.  Oregon used it with Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart.  Texas used it with Vince Young. 

For the zone read from shotgun to be as effective as possible, it helps to have a fairly quick and fast quarterback.  Such speed helps the quarterback avoid defenders and outrun them for yardage gains.  Longshore’s foot speed has long been dissected on many Cal forums so I don’t feel any need to really go into detail about how his athleticism didn’t quite suit the shotgun zone-read that well.  So obviously, there was some concern as to how effective the zone-read play could be with Longshore as the quarterback.  Had Longshore been the QB above, do you think the play would have been as effective?  Probably not.  Ayoob’s quickness helped him beat the Tennessee LB and get into the endzone. 

But one thing I have noticed, is that Dunbar ran a different type of run from the shotgun when Longshore was the quarterback.  In fact, I’m not sure it’s even a zone-read.  I will illustrate that below.   

Below is the pre-snap formation.  Notice Cal is (more or less) in the same formation as the previous play (the exception being that there are two WRs to the side of the TE in the picture below instead of one WR in the picture above).  The TE is again, on the right side of the OL.  The RB is in a "weak" position - to the side opposite of the TE (meaning to the QB’s left).  I have already shown what makes this play different than the zone-read illustrated above.  Below, I have shown that the Cal RT will pull on this running play.  In the zone read above, none of the OL blockers pull.  They zone block, hence the name "zone read." 

In the picture below, I highlighted the Cal RT pulling.  I also illustrated the RB’s running route.  The RB first cuts across the QB to take the handoff, then cuts back to the opposite side to run behind the pulling RT. 

Unfortunately, this play didn’t work so well this instance and things get messy.  In the picture below, the Cal RB (Marshawn Lynch) cuts back (as designed) behind the pulling RT.  But the Tennessee DT gets unblocked and into the backfield - he is barely visible just right above the pulling RT.  Had the OL picked up that defender, this play probably would have gone for a gain.  Lynch would have snuck up behind the pulling RT, and been on his merry BEAST MODE way. 

Anyways, this was the other run from shotgun that Cal used in 2006.  I don’t think this is even a zone-read because I don’t believe there is a "read."  Why?  Because of the tackle pulling.  Why would the offense pull a tackle from the right to the left, if it possible that the run could go to the right.  That is taking a blocker away from the point of attack.   It just doesn’t make sense.  As I’ve noted in previous posts, a pulling OL-man is indicative of a run in the direction that the blocker is pulling.  So I don’t think this running play was ever designed to go right although it appears like it.  In fact, I think it is supposed to appear like it to the defense - which is aided by the fact that the RB runs to the "back side" (the side opposite of the direction of the run; the run is designed to go left thus the "playside" is left and the "backside" is right) before he cuts back behind the pulling RT. 

So by using this play to run from shotgun with Longshore, Cal never really placed Longshore in a zone-read situation.  In fact, during 2006, I noticed Dunbar called this pulling backside tackle play all the time when running from shotgun instead of a zone-read.  This, I believe, was in acknowledgement of Longshore’s lack of footspeed to run the zone-read.  What supports my conclusion is that in the 2006 Tennessee game, Dunbar called the pulling backside tackle play for Longshore 2 times that game.  Then once Ayoob came in, Dunbar immediately called a zone-read play since he had a QB who had the speed to effectively execute the play (should the QB have to keep the ball).   Furthermore, in subsequent games, Dunbar continued to call these backside tackle pulls when Longshore was the QB and rarely, if ever, called a zone read from shotgun for Longshore. 

So what does this all mean?  Well, because Longshore rarely if not ever ran the zone-read, then his lack of footspeed was never really a factor.  Because Dunbar mostly called these backside tackle pull runs from shotgun where the direction of the run was predetermined and it was predetermined that Longshore would hand the ball off to the RB, then Longshore’s speed was never essential to the play.  This situation differs drastically from the zone-read where the QB’s speed is crucial in maximizing the effectiveness of the play by (1) outrunning the defenders; and (2) keeping the defense "honest" and not just pursuing the runningback because they know the QB is slow enough to where even if the DE doesn’t play the QB that a LB can prevent the QB from picking up a large gain. 

To explain that second point, imagine if Longshore was the QB in the first play, the zone read.  The RDE knows that Longshore isn’t fast enough to outrun the Tennessee linebacker.  Thus the RDE can just crash inside and pursue the RB because he knows the QB really isn’t a threat to beat the LB to the outside for a touchdown.  Furthermore, the RDE knows that even if he pursues the RB and the QB reads the RDE properly and keeps the ball and runs to the spot area that the RDE vacated, the RDE is probably fast enough to change directions and run down the slow QB (as long as the RDE doesn’t commit too much to the RB fake).  Thus, the QB’s lack of footspeed has put the RDE back into the play. 

Just imagine if you’re the RDE and Longshore is the QB.  Would you bite on the RB or sit tight to prevent the QB keeper?  Personally, I’d bite on the RB and take my chances that Longshore wouldn’t be able to out-run the LB behind me, and furthermore I might be able to actually run down Longshore despite biting on the RB fake.  But imagine if the QB was Dennis Dixon.  If you bite on the RB, there is a very good chance Dennis Dixon beats the LB into the endzone.  If you sit tight and prevent Dixon from taking the ball outside, then Dixon hands it off to the RB who has a good chance of getting into the endzone because you’ve taken yourself out of the play by covering a "ballcarrier" (the QB) who doesn’t even have the ball. 

So this is what Dunbar brought to Cal.  Lots of new formations, plays, and these two running plays from shotgun.  As we’ll see in Part III of this four part analysis, Tedford kept much of what Dunbar installed in 2006 and carried it over into 2007 (The Tedford Year). 

Part III to come in a few days… 

So after all the smoke has cleared, our Golden Bears are now scattered to the winds.  Of course, some more players will be picked up as undrafted free agents (Robert Jordan, Andrew Larson, et al) later this week, but for now, let’s focus on what’s been said in the local papers about each of our former players.

DeSean Jackson:

• The Trenton Times writes that THA1 indeed has a chip on his shoulder, but is happy to have landed in Philadelphia because they were high on his list.  The primary concern cited is his (lack of) size, something that has been dissected to death both here and elsewhere, though the article also mentions that one NFC team took him off their draft board entirely due to character concerns.  Now that seems a bit harsh.
• Another article from the Trenton Times which says that THA1 comes with great speed, no size, and questionable character.  He also figures to take time to develop as a receiver.
• The Philadelphia Daily News calls THA1 a playmaker, and THA1 is also quoted as saying he’s 175 pounds right now but would like to get to 180.  It also includes a gushing quote from Jerry Rice saying he has all the talent in the world to do whatever he wants to do.  He’s also expected to handle kick return duties as well.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer’s draft roundup says that we can expect THA1 to handle punt return duties and perhaps see some time as the third receiver, although there remains speculation that because Lito Sheppard is still on the team roster, he may be packaged with a high pick next year to get a receiver such as Roy Williams which would push THA1 even further down the depth chart.
• And finally, the question that needs to be answered - what does Donovan think about all this?

Craig Stevens:

• The Tennessean reports that Craig Stevens has enjoyed a much better return to the state, in light of the last time he and the rest of our Golden Bears went to visit.  He projects into the role that Ben Hartsock had with the Titans, and will be regarded as more of a blocking tight end that a receiving tight end.  Which is good, because that’s what he probably should be doing.

Thomas DeCoud:

• The Atlanta-Journal Constitution says that new Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff knows his safeties, and that DeCoud must have the qualities that he likes.  He could end up being the top backup at both safety spots.
• What did those in Atlanta learn from the draft?  Jimmy Williams better watch out, or DeCoud could end up being the top backup at strong safety instead.

Lavelle Hawkins:

• You might have heard that Pacman Jones was traded to the Cowboys for a fourth round pick…you may have also heard that Hawk went to the Titans with a fourth round pick.  So yes, Hawk was taken with the pick they received for Pacman.  He talks about the fact that he’ll likely be remembered for that, or at least that he’ll initially be known that way, and realizes that will put some additional pressure on him.  He also went to high school with current Titans and former Arizona Wildcat RB Chris Henry.

Mike Gibson:

• Philly.com likes his phyiscal frame, but not his leg strength.  It’s expected that he’ll reside on the practice squad for a while and work out along the interior line, rather than tackle.

Justin Forsett:

• The Seattle Post-Intelligencer spent three lines on Forsett.
• The Seattle Times spent one.  Clearly, the Emerald City is excited.

Look at it this way - it can’t be any harder catching passes from Vince Young than it was catching passes from Joe Ayoob.  BOOYA~

EDIT: The Hawk is going to be joining good old Hands of Stone in the Music City. Mike Heimerdinger loves him some Golden Bears!

While watching the NFL draft unfold last year and seeing all the puzzled looks on Mel Kiper’s face as he talked about how teams were reaching (according to…who?  A non-GM such as yourself?), I decided it might be instructive to study exactly how accurate the mock drafts are, especially since the guys making them purportedly have some inside information.  Of course, it may just be all smokescreens, but shouldn’t they be able to see through that?

Apparently not.  I compared the final mock drafts put up this year by the ESPN group of Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, Matt Mosley’s Hashmarks blog, ESPN Sportsnation, the SI.com contingent of Peter King, Don Banks, Dr. Z, local beatwriters via SI.com, and then the CBS Sportsline crew of Pete Prisco, Clark Judge, Charley Casserly, and Vic Carucci.

Some results:

• Mel Kiper completely whiffed on eight first rounders, meaning there were eight actual first round picks that he didn’t have going in the first at all.  The first one of those chosen was Gosder Cherilus at 17.  Hashmarks and Dr. Z whiffed on Jerod Mayo though, at tenth overall.  No one else whiffed on as many first rounders as Mel, with Charley Casserly doing the best by missing five.  Vic Carucci and the beatwriters coalition at SI.com missed six, and everyone else missed 7.
• Clark Judge was off by the lowest average amount on his picks - his picks were off by an average of 5.10 spots, and the beatwriters and Charley Casserly were off by 5.55 and 5.58, repsectively.  King was off by 9.39.
• Kiper came in with the most picks nailed right on, at 9.  The local beatwriters finished the worst at 4, and Peter King had 5.  Sometimes the more you think you know, the less you actually do.
• Dr. Z was the only prognosticator to pick even as many as the first four picks correctly.  Everyone except ESPN Sportsnation picked at least the first two picks correctly.  The collective wisdom of the masses is a load of BS.
• Still, those were the only top 10 picks that Dr. Z hit on.  Todd McShay got the most top 10 picks correct, with 6.
• Peter King had Chad Henne going at 20; he went at 59.  It took the longest for each of his projected first round picks to be selected, while Dr. Z’s first round picks were all taken when Malcolm Kelly went 51st, making for the shortest time for each of his projected first round picks to be selected.
• Everyone had Devin Thomas to the Bills at 11.  WHOOPS!~
• Everyone had Phillip Merling somewhere in the first.  That would merit a WHOOPS!~, but at least he was the first pick of the second round.
• No one had Joe Flacco, Sam Baker, Chris Johnson, or Duane Brown in the first.  And while we’re talking about Joe Flacco, honestly, how good can the guy be if the he himself came to the conclusion that he couldn’t beat out Tyler Palko?  We’re talking about Tyler Palko here.  Reading all these glowing reports about his arm strength makes me think of everything that led to Boller landing in Baltimore.  Which would be ironic, if only it weren’t just sad.
• Finally, ten of twelve mocks had THA1 going in the first.  Go Bears.  And Eagles!

Discussions with the athletics department have gone well.  They are reasonable people and have given us key clarifications on what photos can and cannot be up.  I have re-uploaded the Spring Game Photos posts in an edited format (Post I, II, and III).  What’s most important is that we still have those sweet shots of Tedford in shorts.  See Post II for those bad boys.  There’s no stopping those from getting out!  Go Bears!

In order to get you prepared for this weekend’s NFL draft, I went around and found as much information as I could on our draft-eligible Bears.  Links to each player’s draft profile, with projection from SI.com, grade out of 99 from ESPN.com, and Wonderlic score from CBS Sportsline below.  Take the Wonderlic scores as reported on Sportsline with a grain of salt, since I can’t find them reported anywhere else - and they seem high in some instances.  Not sure if the "X/Y" format means they got X right out of Y answered, but some scores for other non-Cal players are in X/Y/Z format, so who knows.

THA1:

• SI.com - undrafted free agent (gotta be mixed up with Robert Jordan)
• ESPN.com - 90/99
• NFL.com
• Sportsline.com - no Wonderlic score listed

Craig Stevens:

• SI.com - middle third round
• ESPN.com - 61/99
• NFL.com
• Sportsline.com - no Wonderlic listed

Thomas DeCoud:

• SI.com - middle third round
• ESPN.com - 71/99
• NFL.com
• Sportsline.com - 24/36

Lavelle Hawkins:

• SI.com - late second round
• ESPN.com - 78/99
• NFL.com
• Sportsline.com - 17/23
  

Justin Forsett:

• SI.com - late fourth round
• ESPN.com - 57/99
• NFL.com 
• Sportsline.com - 21/35

Mike Gibson:

• SI.com - late sixth round
• ESPN.com - 30/99
• NFL.com
• Sportsline.com - 15/49

Andrew Larson:

• SI.com - late sixth round
• ESPN.com - 33/99
• NFL.com 
• Sportsline.com - no Wonderlic (not invited to Combine)

Robert Jordan:

SI.com - late first round (see THA1)

Brandon Hampton:

SI.com - undrafted free agent

Matthew Malele:

SI.com - undrafted free agent

And here we have some final links to get you ready, such as: 

• Stewart Mandel on THA1 being overrated relative to his college production, which I won’t argue with.
• Riley coming back strong after the Oregon State game, and his prospects for this season.
• Justin Forsett’s final draft diary before the actual draft.

March Madness is over, as is Cal’s part in the annual coaching carousel, but there’s still plenty of action going on down regarding our men’s basketball program.  Let’s take a look.

Yesterday, Cal officially announced the completion of Mike Montgomery’s staff.  As expected, his son John will be joining the staff as director of basketball operations.  While that certainly confirms Montgomery’s past statements regarding his desire to work with his son, I think it should temper some speculation/fears that Montgomery is setting up his son to succeed him as coach.  While that has certainly happened at other places, with varying degrees of success (a good summary can be found at Blue and Gold Sports), the fact is, John’s only been coaching basketball for a year, and the elder Montgomery would have to coach for a good while yet before he (or anyone else) would be comfortable handing the whole program over to his son.

The one holdover from Braun’s staff is Gregg Gottlieb.  I like this choice.  Monty keeps someone who has some familiarity with the current program and players, but who is not too entrenched with Braun and his way of doing things (last year was his first with the Bears).  His bio touts his recruiting ability, including his stint as recruiting coordinator at San Diego State, where he presided over four consecutive nationally-ranked recruiting classes.  If, as has been suggested, Mike Montgomery truly does have a distaste for recruiting, he’ll need to employ talented and energetic recruiters to help him out, and Gregg certainly sounds like he fits the bill.  Also, his brother Doug is an analyst for ESPN, so that can only help with national exposure.

Welcome back, Gregg!

The big name among Monty’s assistants is Jay John, and my first reaction was ‘Damn, we got the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?  That’s big time!’  Of course, Cal did not actually hire John Jay, who was dead long before basketball was invented; I was misled by Google, which apparently did not take word order into account.  In reality, Jay John was previously the head coach at Oregon State.  Your first reaction might be, ‘Wait, didn’t the Beavers just finish the first winless conference campaign in Pac-10 history?  Why would we hire this guy?  Isn’t he terrible?’  Well, no.  Before this season’s disaster (much of which occurred after John was fired), the Beavers had been mostly not too bad; in fact, given their recent history, John had actually brought some modicum of success to a program that was starved for anything to cheer about.  His own website trumpets these accomplishments (admittedly, they don’t mention much about the last couple years):

1. The first winning season for in 15 years
2. The most conference wins, and best conference finish, in 12 seasons
3. The first true post-season appearance in 15 years – NIT
4. The first post-season victory in 16 years – Pac-10 Tournament win over UCLA
5. The most wins over a three year period since 1991-92
6. The fifth largest attendance increase in NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball
7. Five graduating seniors in June 2005

Besides this, John has extensive Pac-10 experience (12 years as an assistant or head coach), including 2 stints at Oregon and 4 years on Lute Olson’s staff in Arizona, including the 2001 season in which the Wildcats made the National Title game.  He’s a very good coach, and if his first stint as a head coach didn’t go so well, I would argue that very few coaches would be able to succeed at Oregon State.  In my opinion, the biggest problem regarding Oregon State basketball is that Gary Payton ran out of college eligibility in 1990.

Jay John brings with him to Cal an intimate knowledge of how to defeat Oregon State.

The final assistant is one that I’m almost positive you’ve never heard of:  Travis DeCuire.  Who?  Well, here’s the connection.  Mike Montgomery used to coach at Montana, and one of his star players there was Blaine Taylor.  Taylor was later an assistant to Monty at Stanford before heading back to Montana to become the head coach there.  One of Taylor’s star players at Montana was DeCuire, who until recently was one of Taylor’s assistants at Old Dominion.  See?  Sometimes, who you know is just as important as what you know.  That’s not to say that DeCuire isn’t right for the job, or got it over more qualified candidates.  I couldn’t speak to his abilities.  He played and coached under a guy who played and coached under Montgomery, so I imagine he shares many of the same basketball philosophies, and will be particularly suited to teaching Montgomery’s brand of basketball.

I sure am glad this is in print only and I don’t have to try and pronounce Travis DeCuire’s name.

Of course, Montgomery hasn’t been spending all his time recruiting assistant coaches; he’s also had to re-recruit the current players, getting them on board with his program.  Often, after a coaching change, a couple players transfer, as the old coach was a main reason they chose to come to that school, and they may not fit in as well with the new coach’s system.

Well, so far, so good.  No transfers have been announced yet; the only potential loss to the roster is Ryan Anderson, who is currently testing the NBA waters.  Personally, I think he comes back, based solely on how many talented underclassmen are entering the draft.  I don’t think he’s guaranteed a to be a first round pick, and I think that alone pushes him back to school.

However, the Bears did lose one recruit.  PG Garrett Sim, recently named the Oregon state player of the year, has asked for and been granted his release from his letter of intent, and has since signed with Oregon.  Yeah, OK, that stings a little, especially seeing as how Cal could really use a solid point guard.  Even if you’re happy with Randle and Knezevic at the point (and they’ll both need to improve before I’ll make that statement), you don’t want to let them get to their senior years before bringing in some depth.

If you missed this enlightening interview with Mike Montgomery, you missed a surprisingly candid evaluation of the state of Cal basketball.  Regarding the now-open scholarship:

Q. You have one scholarship available now that recruit Garrett Sim has gotten a release from his letter-of-intent. Will you use it or save it for next year?

A. Oh no, we need to find somebody at that position.

In other words, don’t look for him to spend it on a project from China.

It’s a good interview, and you should read the whole thing.  Monty’s not afraid to call ‘em like he sees ‘em.  Case in point:

Q. From your chair as a TV analyst, what other players on this roster intrigued you and why?

A. I don’t think they have 12 players who are ready to compete at the highest level, but I think they’ve got a pretty good nucleus. I think Theo Robertson is going to be a major factor for us. I like everything about him so far. Patrick Christopher has made major improvement. We need to get Jerome (Randle) calmed down a little bit and let him utilize his skills, because he’s a very skilled kid. Instead of making three moves, just make the one and make the play.

That sounds pretty spot on.  Of course, the best part of the interview came at the end:

Q. OK, the great mascot debate: Oski or the Stanford Tree?

Oh, snap!  It’s on now!  This rivalry just got kicked up a notch!

There have been some questions as to why we took down the Spring Game photos from the other day.  We have been specifically contacted by the athletics department regarding these photos.  We are currently discussing with them what is and is not appropriate to go up online.  While these discussions continue, we have taken down all Spring Game photos as a show of good faith.  Even ones that show individual drills or plays post-snap.

Of course, we bleed as much blue as the next guy.  And, to an equal extent, gold.  We would never want to harm Cal football in any way, shape, or form.  While we want you guys to enjoy the photos as much as we do, if the athletics department requests that they stay down, then, of course, out of respect, they will stay down.  As previously mentioned, while discussions are ongoing, they stay down.

However, HydroTech’s analyses will continue with screen shots from prior televised games.  And we will have reports of practices that we have attended and any practices we might attend in the future.  Of course, these reports will *continue* to not contain ANY information about plays or formations.  Hopefully, this answers some of your questions. 

Continuing on with part two of a four part analysis examining how Tedford’s offense has changed since his first year. 

Part I: Tedford’s Evolution of the Offense: The Tedford/Cortez Years

In 2006, Tedford brought in spread genius Mike Dunbar.  If I recall correctly, I believe Tedford reported that he wanted a "hybrid" offense.  One that could run both "pro-style" formations and plays as well as spread plays.  And for those of us that didn’t have press passes or insider access to practices in 2006, I don’t think any of us quite knew what to expect come Cal’s first possession against Tennessee in Neyland Stadium.  Well, it didn’t take long to see all the new formations that Dunbar had brought and implented into the Cal offense. 

The following are pictures of the many formations and a few plays which Dunbar added to the Cal Football playbook.  Please bear with me, there’s a lot to show.  We shall merely focus on the new shotgun plays which were so frequently used in 2006 and 2007. 

Below is what would become Dunbar’s (and later Tedford’s too) favorite personnel and formation set.  Below, the offense is using an "11 personnel" set - meaning 3 WRs, 1 RB, and 1 TE.  Aside from the "base" personnel set (2 WRs, 1 TE, 2 backs), the 11 personnel set would be Cal’s most common personnel set not only in 2006 but also in 2007.  The 11 personnel set essentially subs out the fullback for a 3rd WR.  The frequent use of the 11 personnel set in 2006 and 2007 was to get WRs Desean "Tha1" Jackson, Lavelle "The Hawk" Hawkins, and Robert "Rojo" Jordan on the field at the same time.  The most common formation for the 11 personnel set is as seen below - from shotgun, with 2 WRs to the side of the TE.  A few variants on this formation would place 2 WRs to the opposite side of the TE, or move the RB into the "strong" or "weak" position (to the side of the TE, or to the opposite side of the TE, respectively).  In the formation below, the RB is in the "strong" position (to the side of the TE).  Desean Jackson is at split end (the WR spot on the opposite side of the TE and on the line of scrimmage).  Placing Jackson away from the other receivers and tight end forces the defense to either shift coverage towards the majority of receivers to tighten up coverage and leave Jackson with looser coverage, or to shift the defense towards Jackson to tighten coverage and leave the majority of receivers with looser coverage.

Below is another variant of the 11 personnel set where the WRs are in a "trips" formation - meaning they are all to one side of the offense.  Putting all the WRs to one side can flood a defensive zone and also cause matchup problems for the defense.  Sometimes the trips formation will be on the same side as the and sometimes to the other side.  In the picture below, the trips formation is to the side of the TE.  Because the rules require that 7 players be on the line of scrimmage (LOS), a WR must be on the LOS.  Because the WR is on the LOS, he covers up the TE and the TE is an ineligible receiver.  In the picture below, the 3 WRs, the RB, and the QB are eligible receivers.  Had the trips formation been to the opposite side of the TE, then everyone except the 5 OLmen would be eligible receivers. 

Another formation that Dunbar installed and became fairly frequent in 2006 (and subsequently in the Tedford Year of 2007) was the bunch formation (see picture below).  The bunch formation places three receivers (not necessarily all WRs) in a small tight formation - usually a triangle shaped formation pointing towards the defense.  In the picture below, the "bunch" is to the left of the offense.  I believe the bunch contains TE Stevens at the point of the bunch, and WRs Hawkins and Jordan forming the other two points in the back.  Sometimes the coaches would vary the personnel in the bunch by using all WRs, or using a fullback instead of a WR. 

Putting the receivers in a bunch can make it very hard for the defense to cover the receivers in the back of the bunch because the receivers more towards the defense (the ones on the LOS) usually clear out the defense.  Also, putting the receivers in a bunch can cause coverage problems for the defense if they are in man-to-man coverage as since the receivers can easily "pick" the defenders (note: "picking" in the basketball sense is illegal in football although the term is used to loosely describe a WR purposely getting in the way of a defender in an attempt to free a fellow receiver).  Additionally, in the picture below the coaches are playing WR Desean Jackson at split end (WR on the LOS) away from the bunch to make the defense to choose between shifting towards the bunch or shifting coverage towards Jackson.  Essentially the defense must choose whether to shift coverage away from one of the best WRs in the country or shift coverage away from the majority of receivers on the other side of the field.

On rare occasions, Dunbar would use 4 WR sets or split 4 receivers out wide (not necessarily all WRs).  In the example below, the offense has four receivers split out wide but they are not all WRs.  I believe the middle receiver in the trips is TE Stevens.  Very rarely would Dunbar ever use 4 WRs in 4 WR sets.  Instead, he would often use a 4 WR formation but split a TE or FB out as a WR instead.  Doing this can bring extra blocking power to the outside, put a more powerful tackle-shedder against smaller DBs, and just confuse the defense since defensive alignment is often dictated and predicated on the location of the TE at the end of the offensive line (and not split out wide like a WR).

I suppose the ultimate "spread" play is one that really spreads out the defense.  Well, there’s little else that can do that if not nothing at all than a 5 WR set.  Below is an example of a 5 WR set.  The 5th WR is barely visible at the bottom of the screen and is somewhat hidden behind the ESPN game ticker.  I put a blue dot to the right of the Cal WR.  I am unable to tell if all 5 receivers are actually WRs or a mix of players (such as WRs, TE(s), and/or FB).  Nevertheless, it’s still a 5 WR formation often called by many teams as an "empty" formation or set because the backfield is empty (other than the QB).  Actually, I think it’s doubtful that all 5 receivers are WRs.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dunbar or Tedford ever put 5 WRs out on the field.  The max I’ve seen is 4 WRs and that itself is very rare.  I think during the Dunbar Year (2006) and the Tedford Year (2007), only maybe 5-7 plays actually had 4 WRs on the field at once - it’s a very rare occurrence.  Actually, I think that the receivers in the picture below are 11 personnel (3 WRs, 1 TE, and 1 RB). 

Finally, one of the more cutting-edge wrinkles that Dunbar brought to Cal was the use of the "wildcat" formation.  The wildcat formation was a name coined from Arkansas’ use of runningback Darren McFadden at the QB position (video link with explanation and analysis).  Just like Arkansas, Dunar would put the RB in shotgun and send the QB out wide (in the picture below, Marshawn Lynch is in shotgun and Longshore is at the top of the picture).  Doing this puts the defense into the box to defend the run - or shall I saw defend against Marshawn Lynch.  But as we’ve seen in the past, Marshawn Lynch can pass the ball plenty well so his ability to fake the run and pass, or roll out and pass is a possibility too.  As you can see in the picture below, Texas A&M has 8 defenders in the box and man coverage against the two WRs and Longshore.  In the maybe 4 times that Cal has ever used the Wildcat formation, we’ve always run the ball.  But maybe some day we’ll see a RB throw up a jump ball for the 6′5" Longshore if he’s covered by a shorter cornerback. 

Dunbar added a lot to the Cal offense.  What I covered is probably not even a third of the formations that Dunbar brought in (the other formations are slight variants of the ones above both in terms of formations and personnel within the formation).  Because this post was getting very large, I decided to split the Dunbar Year post into two parts.  So in a few days I’ll post part II which includes the famous "zone read" run play that Vince Young of Texas and Dennis Dixon of Oregon ran so well.