Cal Football: Center Michael Saffell on the Bears' Offense -- `It's Our Turn'
It’s as if Michael Saffell knew the question was coming. And he was ready.
After two seasons where the defense did most of the heavy lifting, is it the Cal offense’s turn to step up and help carry the Golden Bears?
“We don’t want to hear that!” Cal’s senior center said with obvious mock outrage during a Zoom interview after the Bears’ first practice of their delayed training camp on Friday.
“It’s always been our turn! C’mon! I’m the limelight of this team . . . I’m just kidding. That’s Chase Garbers. That’s my roommate.”
Kidding aside, Saffell and the Cal offense believe they are ready to shoulder greater responsibility this fall. For two years, on most Saturdays, it was the defense that determined wins and losses.
But tackling machine Evan Weaver is gone. So are safeties Ashtyn Davis and Jaylinn Hawkins. All three were selected in last spring’s NFL draft.
On the other side, every player who started on offense in the Bears’ win over Illinois in the RedBox Bowl is back and healthy.
“We’ve got high expectations, especially with the talent that we are returning and the experience,” Saffell said. “But expectations are expectations and you can write down all the goals that you want and at some point we’re going to have to roll the ball out against a solid Pac-12 defense.
“And we’re going to play a number of this them year.”
The first of those will arrive at Memorial Stadium in the season opener. Washington visits on Nov. 7 and the Cal scored averaged just 16 points against the Huskies the past two seasons, even while winning both games.
Saffell, who has started 19 games the past two seasons while also battling injuries, embraces the chance for the offense to be in the “limelight,” to be the headliner.
“Man, I hope so. I hope it’s our turn,” he said. “We’ve been working our tail off for four years, trying to be that unit. We are experienced as ever. We need to stay healthy as a team — I need to stay healthy. I think our strength staff has done a great job of putting us in position to do that.”
The offensive line also must contribute to keeping Garbers on his feet. The redshirt junior quarterback was 7-0 last year when he started and played more than half the game, but he also missed four games due to a collarbone injury and a concussion.
*** Saffell talks about how experience on the O-line creates an easy transition with new coordinator Bill Musgrave and line coach Angus McClure:
Saffell believes all the parts are ready to smoothly come together and build on the offense that averaged more than 27 points over the final five games last season.
“The confidence on offense — especially coming off the momentum we have from last year — we had flashes of it but we couldn’t stay healthy across the board,” Saffell said. “If we can do that this year and the stars can align, man, we’re going to have a pretty special offense.”
The Cal defense, despite its losses at graduation and the recent exit of defensive end Luc Bequette as a grad transfer to Boston College, will not drop off to pre-Justin Wilcox era levels.
“I think in the Coach Wilcox era, it’s been boiling down to have a year like this where we come back healthy, we have experience on both sides of the ball, the schemes are in, and there’s little adjustments to be made. We’ve just got to go play,” Saffell suggested.
“That’s definitely this year for us. Now, that doesn’t translate automatically to wins. We’re going to have to play with high effort and energy like I know we’re capable of doing.
“But the leadership we have on this team and the experience, I mean, it speaks for itself. . . . I think everyone feels it that it could be definitely a special year.”
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Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
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