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Justin Wilcox Discusses QB Zach Johnson, Orin Patu, RBs in Cal Scrimmage

Johnson seems to be getting a hard look at the backup quarterback position
Jake Curtis|
Justin Wilcox Discusses QB Zach Johnson, Orin Patu, RBs in Cal Scrimmage
Justin Wilcox Discusses QB Zach Johnson, Orin Patu, RBs in Cal Scrimmage

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox provided an assessment of Cal's Saturday scrimmage during his media availability on Monday, giving us a slightly better feel for what took place in that full-pads game simulation.

The most interesting numbers were produced by quarterback Zach Johnson, who will be a sophomore in 2021, and, if you read between the lines, he seems to have the inside track on the backup quarterback spot behind Chase Garbers, although that competition is far from over.

Johnson went 14-for-16 with five touchdown passes and no interceptions in the various periods on Saturday, but it's unclear whether he did any of that behind a first-team offense or against a first-team defense. Asked whether Johnson was working against the second-team defense, Wilcox answered this way:

"You could come out to practice and you might see it one way one day and another way the next so one day. At times he is and at times he's not."

He did say Johnson has shown considerable improvement during the spring.

"He took a pretty good leap from the Wednesday prior," Wilcox said. "I thought he was pretty efficient running the offense."

Wilcox called Johnson "a sharp guy" and said he acts like a quarterback in the huddle.

The Bears coaches seem to be taking a hard look at Johnson as suggested by the fact that he threw more passes than anyone else at the scrimmage other than Garbers. 

Garbers was just 7-for-17 for 35 yards with an interception on Saturday, but Wilcox said it would be a mistake to read too much into that, as noted in this video:

A number of running backs were impressive on Saturday, and Wilcox named a series of players at that position who showed flashes on Saturday.

"And they're all a little bit different," said Wilcox in the video below.

On the defensive side, a player who produced impressive numbers was Orin Patu, who has two sacks and is competing for playing time at outside linebacker.

"Orin is playing his best football yet," Wilcox said in the video below.

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Monday practice action

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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