8 Questions Heading into Cal's First Day of Preseason Football Practice
Cal begins preseason football practice on Friday (August 6), and here are eight questions that need to be answered before the Bears play their first regular-season game on Sept. 4 against Nevada in Berkeley:
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---Will there be any COVID-related practice restrictions at any stage of fall camp?
Justin Wilcox said last month that practices will return to normal this year, with no restrictions based on virus-related protocols. However, that was before Alameda County and several other Bay Area counties re-instituted mask mandates indoors due the rise in COVID cases from the Delta variant. If there is a spike in COVD cases in the next month or so, we assume Cal might have to impose practice restrictions again.
As of Wednesday, there are still no restrictions on Cal's outdoor practice activities, but players will wear masks when they go indoors.
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---Who will be the Bears’ No. 2 quarterback?
Chase Garbers is the clear No. 1 quarterback, which might make the backup spot seem unimportant. But five Pac-12 teams (Utah, Stanford, Oregon State, UCLA and Arizona) had their starter miss games in 2020, and Cal’s 2019 season took a major hit when Garbers missed four games entirely and more than a half of two others because of injuries.
In short, the backup spot is critical.
Sophomore Zach Johnson came out of spring ball as the Bears’ No. 2 quarterback, but Cal coaches still felt the need to bring in graduate transfer Ryan Glover during the summer. And you don’t bring in a player for one season unless you think he has a chance to play. Glover, who played previously at Western Carolina and Penn, and Johnson figure to battle for the No. 2 spot, while incoming freshman Kai Millner could sneak into that competition if he wows coaches in camp.
Ryan Glover. Photo by Ken Ruinard, The Greenville News staff via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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---Can Cal finally have a productive offense?
Bill Musgrave was brought in as Cal’s offensive coordinator for two reasons.
1. Develop Chase Garbers into a top-flight quarterback.
2. Create an offense that can score enough points to win games.
Scoring points has been a problem ever since Justin Wilcox became head coach. In his first season (2017), Cal was 10th in the Pac-12 in scoring and 11th in total offense, and the Bears finished last in the conference in both categories in 2018 and again in 2019. Last year, in Musgrave’s first season at Cal, the Bears only inched up to No. 11 in both scoring offense and total offense (ahead of only Arizona), and Garbers regressed a little from his promising 2019 season.
The problems created by COVID-19 -- practice restrictions and a season shortened to four games -- provided excuses for the lack of progress on offense last year, but Musgrave’s pro-style offense needs to show improvement in 2021.
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---Who will man the offensive line?
The retirement of center Mike Saffell for medical reasons has created a scramble to determine starting spots on the offensive line.
Will Craig seems set at one offensive tackle spot, McKade Mettauer returns as a starter at guard, and sixth-year senior Valentino Daltoso is a good bet to start somewhere along the line, probably tackle.
But the center spot is up in the air. Matt Cindric, Brian Driscoll and Ben Coleman are all potential starters at center or guard, and Gentle Williams has an outside chance to be starter at tackle.
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---Will Kuony Deng’s move to outside linebacker be a boon to the defense?
Deng was a starter at inside linebacker last year, although he spent some time on the edge too. Now with Deng spending virtually all of his time on the outside, where his 6-foot-6 frame seems better suited, Cal has two dynamic outside linebackers in Deng and Cameron Goode.
Do the Bears have adequate talent at the two inside linebacker spots to make it work? Cal relies on its inside backers to make a majority of the tackles on run plays, and the Bears figure to have Evan Tattersall and sophomore Mo Iosefa occupy those two spots. Cal needs stars at the inside linebacker spots to have a successful defense, players like Evan Weaver and Jordan Kunaszyk.
Deng looked like a rising star in 2019, but did not quite meet expectations in 2020.
Kuony Deng. Photo by Kevin Kuo, USA TODAY Sports
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---Which freshmen will make significant contributions in 2021?
Only time will tell, but the best guess is that tight end Jermaine Terry and wide receiver Michael Sturdivant will make an impression this season as true freshmen. Cal has depth at both tight end and wide receiver, but the Bears are still searching for that game-breaking receiver that has been noticeably absent since Wilcox arrived. If either Terry or Sturdivant becomes that big-play guy, he will play.
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---Who will be Cal’s nose guard?
The return of Luc Bequette, after he spent the 2020 season at Boston College, immediately improves Cal’s three-man defensive line. But the absence of Brett Johnson, probably out for the season because car-accident injury, and the departure of Zeandae Johnson to the NFL leave a major void.
JH Tevis returns as a starting defensive end, but the Bears will look at a host of young players to occupy the critical nose guard spot. Bequette has played that position in the past, but he is better suited to defensive end where he has more room to make plays.
We are assuming Bequette will get clearance from the NCAA to play for Cal in the season opener, but there has been no official announcement on that yet.
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---Who will be Cal’s starting running back?
The assumption is that the starter will be Christopher Brooks (formerly Christopher Brown Jr.), who was the Bears’ No. 1 back the past two seasons. But he has missed so much time with injuries, the Bears could start games with Marcel Dancy or Damien Moore, who ended up being the Bears’ leading rusher last season.
Cal will no doubt use three or four running backs over the course of a game, but it remains uncertain who will get the carries at the start of the game and at the end of the game.
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Cover photo of Ryan Glover by Ken Ruinard, The Greenville News staff via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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