potential transfer portal defections:
jack plummer's dad told me in boulder that his son's original plan was to play for cal for one season but that they realize he's not on the nfl's radar right now & that jack thinks highly of the skill players talent levels, fully expect him to return to berkeley next season as part of the 2nd year of the non academically challenging cert program...kai milner is focused on earning a spot in the haas/spieker biz school which is worth millions of dollars, maybe even tens of millions of dollars over a lifetime, plus he got great hair...and yeah my boy (yeah shocks is a baby daddy) 6'5" fernando mendoza is just like me, we both gotta lotta to talk about & we both make mistakes going 100% full speed with no fear (u should've heard my epic fail 1st substitute teacher class end namaste ramblings)
j-mike's uncle told me on the arizona gameday in berkeley that his nephew loves coach toler (as do all the wide receivers) & that he immediately apologized to coach wilcox for "messing up" with the touchdown celebration penalty in south bend, great respectful young man
the program's #1 priority this offseason will be to retain jaydn ott, check out my post yesterday re: the fragile nature of the running back room & coach thompson's challenges in dealing with this fluid situation
in that the fate of the 2023 season will be determined by cal's monster offensive line, the retention of both ben coleman & matthew cindric is also critical...ben's dad got 100+ starts in the nfl, he's gonna give his son realistic feedback...in speaking with matt's dad in boulder, he's probably 50/50 on returning for year 2 of his masters in education degree
key upcoming dates for the program:
november 13th thru november 21st coach wilcox conversations with players re: their 2023 plans, some scholly seniors will be offered the opportunity to return & some will be graduating with their berkeley degrees & playing their final season(s) of eligibility at other schools or retiring from football/entering the real world
november 19th: the big game vs stanford in berkeley
november 22nd: the release of the list of current players that will be walking as departing seniors for the ucla game
november 25th: ucla game in berkeley
november 28th: billy m's "retirement" announced at 10:42 am
december 3rd-4th: the final push to close out the 2023 class with multiple official visitors, the staff currently got 10 public schollys committed to players for the 2023 season...mr x, cal's silent commitment, likely announces his commitment once it's confirmed that his positional scholly is open via the departing seniors announcement...several offensive line prospects will be in berkeley for huge official visits, rightsizing the room from this season's 14 schollys to 16 schollys for 2023 is a priority
december 5th-january 18th: college free agency
outlook for the 2023 season:
this program got more overall talent that the current record reflects & i remain fully supportive of coach wilcox...with 10 potential returning staters (other than the rock solid daniel scott) the defense will take a major step forward if a healthy brett johnson returns & somehow an apex predator edge defender emerges (this hasn't happened yet)...and literally every player int the offensive 2 deep depth chart could also potential return too...michael luckhurst is gonna be a future nfl kicker & will add long range field goals that were missed in close losses both in south bend & boulder this season...elite kickers are worth a win or two
but the reality is that the 2023 season really hinges on the play of cal's monster offensive line & more specifically the tackles...with this year's sometimes painful learning experience for huge upside potential future nfl talent sioape vatikanai, cindo hopefully returning for a 6th season in berkleey, ben coleman playing guard rather than out of position in space at tackle which exposed his lack of mobility, brian driscoll's attitude moving from la jolla to national city this offseason & interlachen's bastian swinney finally healthy the interior line should be a strength next season...and the right incoming true freshman could even compete for a starting position like vats did this season, nothing is in stone
the tackles are another story & the 2023 trajectory depends upon them not operating like the new york city subway turnstiles at rush hour...tj session gotta move his feet faster with quick twitch reflexes & brayden rhome cannot play again at an undersized 285 lbs, huge upside jackson brown & intriguing trent ramsey will be given every opportunity during the spring to compete for the 2 wide open tackle jobs & the very athletic nick morrow gotta build his 6'8" frame over 300+ lbs
and yeah in a perfect ******* world, an impact tackle transfer will arrive this spring in berkeley
coach johnson needs to significantly step up his game & design better customized programs for the granite statutes in the o-line room that develops greater bend/flexibility/range of high twitch mobility, and yeah yoga/meditation practices should be part of the solution...what brian is doing right now is not working, we're gonna find out how adaptive is our s&c coach, right?
in a perfect world:
shocky would get a cypress point members bag tag & andrew mcgaw would replace moving shell con game jimmy k as cal's athletic director