Cal Football: Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital Excited For Sunday Scrimmage

Cal offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, who arrives at Memorial Stadium at 4:30 a.m., is particularly excited about showing up to work on Sunday.

The Bears will hold their first full-fledged scrimmage of fall camp on Sunday, and Spavital is eager to glean some clarity on the three-man battle for the starting quarterback position.

“I can’t wait for the scrimmage because this QB competition is very close right now,” Spavital said. “Really my challenge with those guys right now is to try to separate themselves. I need some clear evidence that there’s a frontrunner for this position.

“And I think on Sunday when you get referees and as realistic as we can make it, I think we’re going to get pretty quality evaluations. I’m excited for an opportunity from an offensive standpoint.”

Sam Jackson V, a redshirt sophomore transfer from TCU, emerged from spring ball as the starter. But sophomore Fernando Mendoza, the team’s only returning quarterback from 2022, has made huge strides, forcing his way into the discussion. And junior Ben Finley, a summer arrival from North Carolina State, has demonstrated he has the most experience of the three.

“One day you think one guy and then it goes the other direction and then to the third quarterback the day after that,” said Spavital, in his first season in his second go-round at Cal.

Asked about the outside perception that the “competition” perhaps wasn’t real, that Jackson is destined to be the starter, Spavital was clear.

“That’s not the case,” he said, “It’s a three-man race right now. That’s not coach-speak. It’s pretty close out there when you watch them.”

Spavital talks in the video above about how he goes about evaluating the quarterbacks, stressing the importance of consistency.

“That’s still what I’m looking for,” he said. “It’s also the scenarios of the game. When you’re in four-down territory, what decisions are you making? Are you taking easy, efficient plays to get to a manageable fourth-down call?”

Spavital said the current plan is to go live with tackling at times during the scrimmage, although that certainly could change out of an abundance of caution related to potential injuries.

The Bears will hold a second scrimmage a week from Saturday, and Spavital said he wants to have a starter determined in advance of the Sept. 2 opener at North Texas.

“But right now, if we were going into a game, we’d have to (play more than one) because it’s so close,” he said.

Spavital talks in the video below about a couple wide receivers who have thrust themselves into the picture:

In the video below, he talks about the competition for the No. 2 running back spot behind starter Jaydn Ott:

In the video below, Spavital addresses progress on the offense line and, in the second one, says that transfer O-linemen Barrett Miller of Stanford and Matthew Wykoff of Texas A&M are pushing hard for starting assignments:

Finally, Spavital discusses the Bears’ tight end position in the video below:

Cover photo of Cal offensive coordinator Jake Spavital

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo