Cal Football: Rain Can't Stop Spring Pratice No. 3 on Saturday

A steady rain and cool, clammy conditions did not interrupt Cal's third day of spring practice on Saturday. Co-defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon noted there was plenty of energy despite the lousy weather, but the execution took a bit of a hit.

Perhaps because of the wet conditions, play was not as sharp Saturday as it had been a day earlier. At this point, though, there is no reason for concern. Nobody got hurt, and another day of installation of the new offense mean things are progressing.

Defensive linemen got some knocks in between raindrops.

And you can't help but notice redshirt freshman safety Craig Woodson, who seems to make an eye-popping play on defense nearly every day. He grabbed another interception on Saturday in what has become a routine performance for him. Whether he will land a starting spot in 2020 remains to be seen, but he is a good bet to become a defensive star at some point.

Sirmon will call the defensive plays in games next fall, taking over the role that Tim DeRuyter performed last season. It seems like major change, although Sirmon tried to downplay the significance of the move, saying it will still be a joint effort.

"Nothing's really going to change," Sirmon said in the video above. "Now with Marcel [Yates, the secondary coach], we have four different defensive coordinators on the staff, so we're doing our best to collaborate like we have since Justin's been here."

Yes, four members of Cal's staff have been defensive coordinators at FBS schools. Sirmon was the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State in 2016, DeRuyter was the defensive coordinator at Cal the past three seasons and still carries the title of defensive coordinator, and Yates was a defensive coordinator at Boise State and was Arizona State's defensive coordinator last season before being dismissed eight games into the 2019 season. Cal head coach Justin Wilcox was a defensive coordinator at five colleges (Boise State, Tennessee, Washington, USC and Wisconsin) before being hired in Berkeley.

And the move to have Sirmon call the defensive plays should not be dismissed as insignificant.