Cal Prepares for Saturday's Full-Pads Game-Situation Scrimmage

Several defensive backs have impressed defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon with their development

Cal coaches will get another good look at what they have when the Bears put on full pads Saturday and participate in a number of game-like situations.

"It will be similar to last Saturday," Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said Friday in the video atop the story. "There will be situation where we go live. What we want to see is the development of the technique and fundamentals, and we've really been stressing on how to finish plays."

Those of us on the outside will focus primarily on the quarterbacks, as the Bears try to decide on a backup to Chase Garbers. But that decision is unlikely to come until the fall.

Coaches would like to start designating roles to players, and that is particularly important for players who may play multiple positions.  Sirmon singled out Collin Gamble and Miles Williams as two players who had limited playing time in 2020 who were impressive in practice this week.

Gamble, a defensive back who played in three of Cal's four games in 2020 as a true freshman, is getting work at both cornerback and nickel back, and Williams may see his playing time in safety increase based on his recent play in the spring. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2019 and played in two games in 2020.

Neither Gamble nor Williams posted any statistics in 2020, but that may change in 2021.

"He's playing inside a little bit and outside a little bit," Sirmon said of Gamble. "Today [Friday] he showed up again, made a play. Miles Williams, I've been pleased with his progress. He's a player that comes with good energy. He's very vocal on the back end. He's another guy, a younger guy that we've been pleased with an seen his progress."

Coaches will also continue to look at the newcomers who graduated from high school in December and enrolled early in January of this year.  

One other key January enrollee is safety Raymond Woodie III, who transferred from Florida State and is participating in Cal's spring practice.

While running down the development of the early entrollees in the video below, Sirmon had some things to say about Woodie, who figures prominently in Cal's plans.

"He's a very bright player, he's got good tools," Sirmon said. "There is a little bit of a learning curve. It's almost easier sometimes coming from a blank slate than what he was trained in. So there's some carryover from what he was doing at Florida State, and there are some things that you have to untrain yourself to what you have been trained to do. But he's coming along really well. But he's coming along really well and he's showing up every day. He's a hard worker and he fits in really well in the back end."

Damien Moore was Cal's leading rusher in 2020 as a true freshman, and he said on Friday that the running backs' goal in Saturday's game-like situations is to get into the end zone.

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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