Cal Has a New Place-Kicker, but Starting Quarterback Undetermined
Which player will start at quarterback for Cal against Arizona State on Saturday remains up in the air as of Tuesday, but the Bears will have a different place-kicker against the Sun Devils.
Either Sam Jackson V or Ben Finley will be Cal’s quarterback on Saturday, with redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza ready if needed.
“We’re only going to be as good as our quarterback play,” Cal offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said Tuesday.
An issue that has been decided is that Mateen Bhaghani is Cal’s new place-kicker.
Michael Luckhurst has been Cal’s place-kicker for the first four games, but he is just 3-for-9 on field goals, including 0-for-5 from beyond 39 yards, and he has missed three extra points, one of which was blocked. He missed two extra points on Saturday against Washington, and Bhaghani replaced Luckhurst for the final extra point against the Huskies and made his kick.
That was the first collegiate kick for Bhaghani, a true freshman from San Diego.
Luckhurst will continue to kick off, but Bhaghani will do the place-kicking.
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said Luckhurst’s “rhythm is off a bit right now.”
“There is so much rhythm involved and being in rhythm is key,” Wilcox said, “and being able to replicate that leg swing and that stroke regardless of the circumstance is everything. And I think [Bhaghani] has earned the right since he’s been here and earned the opportunity to go out there and kick PATs and field goals, and I feel good about him. He really had a good day [in practice Tuesday] and I would expect that to continue.”
The quarterback situation is less certain, although the competition apparently is between Finley and Jackson. Finley missed Tuesday’s practice with an injury that occurred during Saturday’s game against Washington, but Wilcox expected him to be back at practice Wednesday to continue his competition with Jackson for the starting assignment.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Mendoza, who competed with Jackson and Finley for the starting job in preseason, does not seem to be in contention to start this week, but Spavital did not eliminate him from contention at some point.
“He sees that there’s been inconsistent play [at quarterback],” Spavital said of Mendoza, “and he’s going to be ready for his opportunity to go and maybe he can run with it and take it over.”
Maybe that opportunity will come against Arizona State, but it presumably would not be as a starter.
“It’s hard to rep three quarterbacks in a game-week practice,” Wilcox said. “We are still evaluating that. [Mendoza] took a number of reps [Tuesday, with Finley sidelined]. I think Fernando has an upside as well.”
But it will be Jackson and Finley vying for the starting job this week. Jackson has completed 57.4% of his passes for 426 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions while rushing for 63 yards. The Bears are 2-0 in his two starts. Finley has completed 62% of his passes for 533 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions, and it was his three first-half interceptions against Washington that took Cal out of the game. He has run for 18 yards, and Cal is 0-2 in his two starts.
“We’ve got to be able to take care of the ball,” Spavital said, “and that’s really kind of the entire point. The detrimental side of this past week was the turnovers.”
So the evaluation continues at the most important position on the field.
“It’s a work in progress, I think we all know that,” Wilcox said. “Between Ben and Sam they each have about roughly two games under their belt for us to evaluate. We’ve got to get better at that position. Both of those guys at their best could be good players. We just have to get much more consistent at that position.”
Neither Finley nor Jackson has a lot of experience, but Jackson has far less playing time at quarterback than Finley. He did not play in any meaningful situations last season at TCU, and spent limited time at quarterback in high school. One theory suggests that Bears should stick with Jackson and live with his mistakes while he develops.
“I have confidence that Sam could be a good player, he just has to develop at that position,” Wilcox said. “He’s pretty young in that process, and we’ve got to work with him. We want to do what’s right for him, but ultimately we’ve got to do what we think is best for our team.”
Spavital was pleased with Jackson’s play against Washington, even though it came with the Bears hopelessly behind.
“Sam came in and looked really good,” Spavital said. “I thought Sam made a lot of progress from the Idaho game.”
There remains the possibility that Cal will use two quarterbacks by design against Arizona State. So far both quarterbacks have played in all four games, but in three of those games, the change was made because of an injury to the starter. And in every case the player who came in as a replacement performed better than the starter.
Spavital said Tuesday that he and Wilcox have talked quite a bit about playing both quarterbacks as part of the game plan.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions about that,” Spavital said.
So there are a lot of scenarios possible Saturday. Maybe Jackson will start. Maybe Finley will start. Maybe both will play as part of the game plan. Maybe Mendoza will get into the game for some reason and take over the job.
Injury Update
Wide receiver Taj Davis, who had five catches for 60 yards and a touchdown against Washington, is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, so he is questionable for Saturday's game.
Outside linebacker Xavier Carlton and wide receiver Trond Grizzell, both of whom were injured against Washington, are expected to play Saturday.
Running back Justin Williams-Thomas, a redshirt freshman transfer from Tennessee, returned to practice this week after missing all of spring ball and preseason fall camp with a leg injury.
Cover photo of Justin Wilcox by Joe Nicholson, USA TODAY Sports
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