Cal Football: Bears Looking For the New Normal During Spring Workouts
Normal is a relative term these days.
No one feels entirely normal in 2021 because we all are still feeling a bit beat up by 2020.
But things are inching toward normal at Memorial Stadium, where Cal prepares to hold its fifth spring football practice on Wednesday.
“Why our energy is so great is it’s probably as normal as they’ve felt because they’re out there playing football,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said.
Wilcox has talked about how this is the largest group of players he’s had for spring workouts. The Bears no longer must shuttle a portion of the team to an adjacent practice field. They’re all together.
“There’s still protocol we have to follow in terms of testing, outdoor meetings, things like that. So that’s not quite back to normal,” Wilcox said. “But having the entire team on the field, getting to play 11 on 11, and having more depth so we can get repititions. That’s probably where it feels more normal to everybody. It also brings a level of excitement we haven’t had in a bit.
"It’s been really enjoyable. Getting a lot of good work in, and still got plenty left to work on.”
The football weight room opened up — with some restrictions — more than a month ago. But not everything is back to pre-pandemic mode.
Asked if players have any access to their locker room, Wilcox said, “Not yet.”
“The weight room is the only thing we’re doing inside, which is great. We’ll take what we can get,” he said. “Still not able to get into the locker room or the cafeteria yet. We’ll see where that goes here in the near future.”
Overall, Wilcox stressed that the veteran nature of this team assures that practices, while enjoyable, are all business.
“It’s a mature group of guys. We’ve got some older guys — 10 super-seniors, guys who chose to come back. They want more from their college football experience. They’re excited to be on our team,” Wilcox told the Pac-12 Network on Tuesday. “If the first 3-4 days of spring practice are any indication, the enthusiasm is unbelievable. I expect that to continue.”
Here’s more from Wilcox’s Zoom session with reporters on Monday:
— Wilcox said Kuony Deng, who played inside linebacker his first two seasons at Cal, isn’t being move to the outside as much as he’s getting practice time there so he can play both spots.
But he stressed this is not a reaction to feedback from the NFL, which seems to view the 6-foot-6 Deng as a more natural prospect at outside linebacker. Think Ted Hendricks.
"Yeah, we don't ask the NFL what we should do with our players," Wilcox said. "I think Kuony has a lot of tools and I think he can do some great things outside. We also have developed as a roster and it just made sense at this time and place, for his benefit and also for us.
"I think it will help that he's done both and he's gonna both on tape. He's a guy that can do a lot of different things. But it's not like we sat around taking calls from scouts and having them ask us if we can move him."
Here’s his full response to my question on that topic:
— Asked if anyone is emerging in the early competition to fill the vacancy at left tackle after Jake Curhan’s exit, Wilcox said lots of O-linemen have impressed so far. But he stopped well short of sounding like that position is filled.
Among the 10 offensive linemen on Cal's two-deep prior to the team's final scheduled game last fall, nine are back for the 2021 season. There is depth, experience and flexibility. And there is absolutely no rush to decide starters, especially when players are being shuffled and given the chance to work in different combinations during spring ball.
Here’s more on the left tackle job and the offensive line:
