Cal Football: Spring Roster Released; NG Siu Fuimaono Not On It
A few interesting notes were included Friday when Cal released its player roster for spring workouts.
(Click here to view the roster.)
First of all, nose guard Siulagisipai Fuimaono is not on the roster, and that is a blow, though not unexpected.
The 320-pound Fuimaono played in 12 games, including one start, in 2018 as a redshirt freshman, and he was expected to compete for the starting nose guard spot in 2019. But both he and fellow nose guard Aaron Maldonado were not available at the beginning of the 2019 season for undisclosed reasons. It forced Luc Bequette, a defensive end, to move to the nose guard spot in certain alignments, and forced true freshman Brett Johnson to play a little earlier than Cal might have wanted.
Madonado eventually made it back on the squad and played in seven games last season. But Fuimaono never returned to the roster. Now he is apparently off the team.
Also linebacker Joseph Ogunbanjo is not on the roster either, but that is not a surprise. He was arrested in December, and Cal released a statement then that Ogunbanjo was no longer on the team. He entered the transfer portal.
All three players who requested a sixth year of eligibility -- defensive end Zeandae Johnson, defensive end Luc Bequette, and offensive lineman Henry Bazakas -- are on the spring roster, which means their sixth year was granted by the NCAA. That waiver was seen merely as a formality as all three fulfilled the requirements to get a sixth season after each missed the major part of a preceding season with an injury.
Also, incoming freshman DeJuan Butler is still on track to enroll at Cal in June but is no longer a mid-year enrollee. Earlier he was expected to be on campus for spring ball, but that won’t be the case.
Eight early enrollees are expected to participate in Cal's spring ball.
Quarterback Spencer Brasch was one of a number of Cal players who received a redshirt for 2019 and will be considered freshmen in 2020. Brasch started the game against Utah, but he played in just two games. Players that participate in four games or fewer can be granted a redshirt under an NCAA rule enacted prior to the 2018 season.
You will note the coaching roster includes Bill Musgrave, Angus McClure and Aristotle Thompson, and not Beau Baldwin, Nick Edwards and Steve Greatwood. Also Erik Meyer is no longer the quality control person for the offense, a role now filled by Addison Ooms, who was Cal’s center in 2018.
Expectations for 2020 are high for Cal, as Justin Wilcox notes in the video above.
Cal spring workouts begin March 4 and conclude with the Spring Game on April 11.
