kevin, appreciate your salient points re: the dialpad deal
we're 100% in agreement that dialpad ceo/founder berkeley grad craig walker (scottsdale resident, just opened a tempe dialpad office) is a ROCKSTAR with his support of cal football!!
and props to you in ensuring the football first allocation of this sponsorship, the endless efforts of jay & jenny to undermine bears football & men's basketball got no limits!!
One of the coolest parts of this partnership is how naturally @Dialpad and our AI fit with Cal's own push into innovation and AI. It dovetails perfectly with Jeremy's incredible work at The House Fund — backing and investing in Cal founders who are building the next generation of… https://t.co/ncBGWOdXb6
2026 junior amateur at saucon valley: 1st round update
https://instagr.am/p/Da8u2krlOOe ^ charlie woods shot a 76 in his opening round, the current field of 264 will be trimmed after 36 holes on both the old & grace courses to a field of 64 for match play with the winner receiving a spot in the 2026 & 2027 us amateurs & an invitation to the 2027 us open at pebble beach!!
xihuan chang (68, 2 under par, tied for 8th): x played a pga level 4 birdie round on the grace, chang gotta lotta experience in both the us junior & us amateur and no stage in the game of golf is too big for our relentless cali bear competitor!!
callixte alzas (73, 3 over par, tied for 77th): still in close contention for the field of 64 match play despite an uneven round on the grace, the incoming parisian is internationally battle tested with a quarterfinal finish in the british amateur & a member of the europe junior ryder cup team in new york last fall, callixte est magnifique!!
graham christopher (74, 3 over par, tied for 77th): the incoming freshman from westlake village got into the tourney as a 1st alternate after shooting an en fuego 5 under par 65 in local qualifying at franklin bridge in tennessee, solid opening round for graham!!
byuchang yoon (75, 5 over par, tied for 121st): the 17 year old tremendous upside yongin-si south korean native (attends the img academy in florida) still got a chance tomorrow, yoon is a 2027 cal commit with an unlimited future!!
https://instagr.am/p/B1jTGCmIhlB ^ sadly eleonora despite an ELITE ponytail game wuz disqualified by the usga because of her age, sex, taking multiple mulligans during the round, bumping the ball into better lies & some bull**** dress code infraction or something!!
right now the cali golden bears got 4 brother duos:
niles & charles "spida man" davis, los angeles lucky & miles schirmer, la verne cooper & gunna perry, scottsdale bastian & meyer swinney, edina
real talk: brahs attending the same school make it a million more times easy (and less costly) for moms & the fam to get to ur fall game days without splitting up tryna to make the travel logistics work
the bears staff is targeting elite SPEED linebacker 6'2" 210 lbs taualli purcell (brother of early playing time true freshman tight end taimane) from kamehameha high school in hawaii
^ somerville & rolo need to line up the bears behind center (**** the pistol) in 2026 short yardage situations
https://instagr.am/p/DS0rfvIDHbe shocky walked a brisk 18 holes this morning with his biz mentor (schulzie got highly cherished mentors/friends for various aspects of his life, if u think u know everything ur a ******* dumb azz) jj at desert highlands (just reopened after a fabulous restoration which pulled out all the non indigenous to the desert trees, expanded green surfaces to their original sizes & switched from bermuda to bent greens (the putting surfaces are immaculate)
anyways on the way outta the clubhouse after a quick healthy lunch shocky bumped into nfl half of fame defensive coordinator (gotta home with macaroni grill architecture to the right of the par 5 11th tee box) marv lewis again & the monster asked him if there's every any good reason for a college offensive coordinator to dial up short yardages situations from the shotgun
marv tole me that if ur qb1 is pro style (like jks) & not a dangerous run/read threat with his legs (like kylar murray), it makes NO SENSE to not be under center in short yardage situations!!
lewis also confirmed to me (just like jeff tedford has done to me) that the fastest way to get the ball in the hands of ELITE running backs with SPEED like rb1 adam mohammed & rb1/2 carter vargas on the edges in open space is ******* PITCHOUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UPDATE: after a decade of failing to pound the ball for a yard or two in critical situations which wuz a function of undersized offensive lines & tryna run the ball outta the pistol (the bears wuz 133rd outta 134 fbs teams last season in rushing the ball), offensive coordinator jordan somerville's pro style NFL schemes will feature heisman candidate jaron keawe sagapolutele taking snaps from directly behind center in often heavy 2 tight end formations & will once again feature PITCHOUTS to allow adam & carter to make plays on the edges in wide open space!!
do u got ur tix(s) to the uc championship game on saturday september 5th with a 7:30 pm kickoff at memorial stadium??
https://instagr.am/p/DLUn369tSk5 ^ shout out note of appreciation to fellow haas biz school berkeley grad frenchman joel stalter (former dp tour player) bringing the cal coaching staff to the recruiting table with future euro ryder cupper callixte alzas
the university of california, berkeley=#1 ranked public university in the WORLD (including shocky's beloved world top 25 morfontaine, voila!!)
callixte alzas (70, tied for 29th): shot a drama free 1 under par round with a birdie on his final hole, callixte is advancing to tomorrow's field of 64 match play, tres bon mon ami!!
xihuan chang (76, tied for 39th): all the scores get erased as chang advances into match play for our determined soon to be sophomore, CONGRATS x!!
graham christopher (73, missed cut): 2 very consistent rounds of golf on a championship set up, portends well for the future for the 4.0 gpa incoming freshman this summer (who needs to live in the weight room & continue to improve his ball/club speed)
byunchang yoon (76, missed cut): the 2027 cal commit gotta lotta invaluable experience playing on one of the game's largest stages, yoon is gonna be eligible for next year's junior amateur & nobody would be surprised at all if he don't make a deep run then in the national championship
2026 pacific coast amateur: 1st round update
sihao cong (63, tied for 1st): coming off a spectacular late charge to advance in us amateur qualifying, the always smiling cong show opened with an eagle 3 & then added 5 more birds (and no bogies) on a clean scorecard at poppy ridge!!
charlie bundy (70, tied for 54th): slow start to the round but then the haas biz major played the final 11 holes 4 under par
michael weaver (69, tied for 40th): finishing with an eagle 3 on the par 5 18th hole always makes dinner taste better
meanwhile current bears sihao cong, trevor cox & ziqin zhou (the shockster predicts z will be the nation's top collegiate golfer next season) are getting their games & fitness (could be very warm in philly with the possibility of a lotta rounds *36+ hole days in a compressed time space) ready for the 2026 us amateur next month august 10-16th at one of the true cathedrals of golf merion golf club
and yeah last week max homa, michael kim & collin morikawa competed at the 2026 british open
do u really need the monster to break it down for u??
https://instagr.am/p/DXYP9Wrj3Xy cal is a golf school (that just happens to have the #1 qb1 in college football & a head football coach that don't know **** about maps or something)!!
Cal DL Derek Wilkins reportedly STRUGGLES with the idea of Time Dilation in relativity.
“The concept that time slows down as you approach the speed of light fundamentally challenges our very understanding of how time flows”, said the redshirt senior in recent media availability. pic.twitter.com/z2ScAIfOLg
2026 us junior amateur at saucon valley: field of 64 match play
https://instagr.am/p/DbGc3gtsWTa callixte alzas (5&4 WINNER over stephen eastman): our future ours dore boatraced (callixte, that means profondement vaincu) his unc charlotte signee opponent like javert dealing with those that have broken the law!!
alzas will tee it up next tomorrow morning in the field of 32, winners of those matches will then play a field of 16 match in the afternoon on the old
^ marius fell in love with the wrong girl cosette, the curvy brunette yoga female1 (cbyf1) eponine is always the move mon ami
xihuan chang (1 up WINNER over bodie brumlow): chang closed out the hard fought match over the georgia bulldogs commit with an ice in his veins clutch par 4 on the tricky as **** 350 yard 18th hole on the old course!!
the shockster watched x for 18 holes at tuscon national earlier this year & wuz impressed by his low key fiery demeanor (mini fist pumps when draining putts), commitment to the process (goes thru his routine even on 1 foot putts) & our shared ocd tendencies (chang changes his glove out after every shot, trust me shocky got his own **** going on too with his 2 perrier bottles, etc.) as much as his 2 under round, afterwards schulzy fist bumped his brah & tole him it wuz "truly an honor" to walk with him!!
cal sports is way ******* better in person up close & in the moment, do u got ur tix(s) to the uc championship no holds winner takes all (the loser is ******) BLOODY battle at the barricade on saturday september 5, 2026 at 7:30 pm at ur memorial stadium under the mystic bay area fall lights??
I used to have a manager who didn't give 5/5 scores on his first round of team evaluations because he didn't think it incentivized future growth. I am choosing to apply that logic with Jaron here https://t.co/CkUBktQUKV
jaron, not gonna lie to u, this is arguably the dumbest ******* football prognostication of the year considering those with NFL sources (such as those with NFL organizations as clients/golf buddies) believe u will be potentially the #1 OVERALL (kinda like my fellow stinson beach high school grad jared goff) pick in the 2028 draft!!
the monster also gets a lotta criticism too but unless it's from a cbyf1 he really don't give 2 ****s
https://instagr.am/p/DHov1KFvJG7 in the immortal words of noted philosopher & king of the volcanoes famika anae "let's ******* go!!!!!!!!!"
cal poly-berkeley=the 9th island (and a home away from home, just ask moana)
callixte alzas (lost 1 up to dawson lew): down 3 holes thru 13, alzas mounted a late round charge with birdies on the par 4 16th & 17th holes but couldn't birdie the 18th hole to force a sudden death playoff against the north carolina commit but the reality is that callixte est magnifique!!
xihuan chang (lost 4&3 to dylan boenning): after a slow start on the 1st 5 holes which resulted in a 4 down deficit, chang played the rest of the round 4 under par but ran outta holes against the scottsdale/washington state player (the monster has hosted 4.0+ gpa at brophy dylan in flagstaff), x's best WORLD class golf is all in front of him!!
2026 land of 10,000 lakes (and mosquitoes, sorry swinneys but this is the truth): 1st round update
michael kim (69, tied for 43rd): with much denser rough this year at tpc ugly azz housing & scoring higher than usual, michael drove the ball well (10 outta 14 fairways) & will hopefully drain a few more putts mañana (only 64 feet in putts) to make a major move up the leaderboard
max homa (72, 103rd): when u dress like a sun city del webb retirement community club pro guy with elastic waisted pants & ur caddie looks like a minor league single a hitting coach outta rehab this **** happens (ok, hitting only 7 outta 14 fairways no es bueno tambien)
collin morikawa (not playing this week, 82 poopy azz diapers cleaned/changed!!): ****, wash ur hands (including under the fingernails) morikawa
2026 pacific amateur at poppy ridge: 3rd round update
sihao cong (68, tied for 3rd): explosive 6 birdie round gets the cong show to 8 under par & within a striking distance 3 strokes of the leader heading into the final round mañana, let's go sihao!!
charlie bundy (66, tied for 21st): my fellow haas biz major rolled in 5 birdies to shoot up the leaderboard, charlie (who would benefit from a couple of more lbs) is dangerous on firm & fast not overly long courses like poppy ridge & pasatiempo
michael weaver (68, tied for 26th): played the first 2 holes in 3 under par & rattled off 3 birds in a row to finish the round (but some bad **** in the middle) which is pretty good for the haas biz ad grad who gotta a grown up finance job (and can't play golf 24/7/365)
the following is a reprint from cal's monster class back in the day:
visited this morning the recently opened nicklaus design group ferry point golf course just outside of nyc with panoramic views of the manhattan skyline
https://instagr.am/p/C7dS0GksHlA arrive from my upper east side central park hotel by cab at the clubhouse around 7:30 am to stretch & warm up at the practice facility
upon arrival the head golf professional tells me that ferry point's developer donald trump heard that as a golf digest & golf magazine rankings panelist that i had an 8:10 tee time and would i like to play with the donald at 8:20 am instead?
so i say sure, no big deal, let's do this
so we make the introductions on the practice green & the 1st thing i notice is that trump has the weirdest color hair ever (kinda yellow orange) & that he has total man boobs along with an oversized obnoxious red cap
i walk & carry my lightweight leather mackzenie bag while the donald drives a golf cart literally to within 6 inches of every green...just as annoyingly, we then proceed to play thru every group on the golf course in front of us (why does he do this, why not just take the 1st tee time?)...it's funny to watch people's reactions as he dictates the playing thru, some golfers are understandably agitated while others want a selfie with him on their phones, he very clearly enjoys all the drama he's created
so he tells us while we wait for the short par 4 8th green to clear that he thinks ferry point is one of the greatest golf courses in the united states (it isn't, there are at least two dozen courses on long island & the hamptons that are significantly better) & that he's qualified to make that statement because of his extensive travels around the globe playing golf, that nobody knows golf architecture better than him & that includes actual golf architects
so in front of his 2 buddies & his cart caddie i tell the donald that actually i'm one of the 13 guys (and the youngest) to have played the world top 100 courses & stare him down...total silence, one of his buddies who is the chairman of macys starts to laugh & donald play punches my shoulder kinda hard, he's been pwned...whatever
dude is an interesting guy but playing golf with him is not really a celebration of the game but more like riding a roller coaster
you're fired, shocky#
UPDATE: the potential next prez of the united states of america lives (commutes to sacramento) with his family just minutes from my alma mater stinson beach high school & loves the uc system's flagship university's football program!!
and yeah to gavin's credit he's never ******* punched the shockster like donald!!
Michael Kim shoots an unbelievable 59 to take the lead in the 3M Open at 14 under. Max (at +1) has yet to start his 2nd round. Projected cut line is currently at -2, so Max has work to do.
michael, **** the green jackets & all that other stupid ****, this MONSTER song (exclusively reserved for cali bear golfing EXCELLENCE) is dedicated to u brah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike's 59 is a wakeup call for golf fans for forgot (or never knew) that he was the number uno college golfer in 2013. I look forward to a possible shoot-out with Scotty on Sunday.
swany, 100% agreed that it should be highlighted that michael wuz the #1 national player of the year on the most dominant team (michael kim, max homa, brandon hagy, michael weaver & joel stalter) in the history of collegiate golf (won more tournaments that season than any program evah often by boat racing the field but inexplicably lost to illinois in the ncca quarterfinals)
as the person who these days watches michael in person at tournaments more than anybody on planet earth (other than his ideal fit transformative caddie danny stout) today's 59 & his ascent to his current official golf ranking of #57 is not surprising to me at all...no cap, michael has evolved from a cut fade in college to a sean foley mentored powerful draw in 2026!!
kim wuz lightly recruited outta torrey pines high school due to weighing around 120 lbs but built his body up during his freshman year in berkeley en route to becoming the best player in the nation by the end of his junior year
but the real S&C WORK has come in the last 18 months when kim has gained 10+ lbs of pure muscle (now 170+lbs) thru SPEED training...it should be noted that morikawa (now 170+ lbs too) gained 10+ lbs last offseason before his victory at pebble beach & that homa is an absolute work out warrior in scottsdale (just like other north scottsdale pros jon rahm, tony finau, wyndham clark, jake knapp, michael brennan, david puig, josele ballester, etc that absolutely pulverize the golf ball) in a game that has evolved to reward ELITE ball/club SPEED!!
schulzy honestly believes rising junior ziqinzhou (who defeated this season's 2026 pga tour university winner ben james of virginia for the acc individual championship) got all the skillz (both mentally and physically plus work ethic) to be the nation's #1 ranked player this upcoming season...z is the only bear in the program that is not currently undersized but will need to embrace a yoga/meditation practice to mitigate his back issues (real talk: both kim & morikawa also got back issues which is in part a function of relentless s&c work)
make no mistake about it, this is truly the GOLDEN ERA for cali golf!!
Front nine:
- Hole 3 was a great way to start. That’s not the most comfortable tee shot with wind R to L and bunkers left. I worked on a low cut tee shot to hit after rd 1 because I struggled with that wind on Thursday. I hit it perfect off the tee, and hit a nice PW to 12 ft.… pic.twitter.com/Y2xskHyewa
-10, 7wd in the fairway and 9i from 134 into the wind. I took 15 yds off of my stock and it was exactly the swing I wanted to make. I ended up hitting a lot of shots 15, 20 yds off my stock number today because of into the wind. After this birdie, I checked the par… pic.twitter.com/hx9h7ulSuu
^ it is very possible that in the very near future michael will have more social media followers than anybody (other than you tuber deshambles) in the game of golf due to his authentic storytelling re: life on the pga tour as a disciple of cal's monster class back in the day
Great to see three of the newest @CalFootbal Bears, repping Cal at @theACC Media Day this month. Dialpad is proud to be the AI platform for fan experience across all of @CalAthletics.
2026 100,000 lakes & pale white people tournament: 2nd round update
https://instagr.am/p/DbL4XnbDx7w michael kim (59, 1st place): thx to the favorable weather thursday afternoon/friday morning draw coupled with ELITE play michael has parachuted to a 3 stroke lead & all the headwinds of the cali golden bears worldwide fanbase heading into the weekend, let's ******* go, michael!!
max homa (74, missed cut): max, you've traveled more miles on airplanes the last couple of weeks than anybody on planet earth (that wuz a physically & mentally exhausted hangry dude out on the golf course today), glad ur coming HOME to scottsdale (and not playing next week in detroit) for a well deserved timeout with the fam (plus ellis needs to check in with his maricopa county probation officer or something)!!
2026 pacific coast amateur: 4th round update
sihao cong (70, tied for 5th): cong show, luv seeing the fight to the end (birdie on the 18th hole today), ur peaking at the right time for the us amateur (joining teammates trevor cox & ziqin zhou) on august 10-16th at merion!!
michael weaver (71, tied for 29th): weave is no doubt proud of his old teammate mr 59!!
charlie bundy (74, tied for 41st): with high gpa berridge outta eligibility, bundy is now the smartest bear in the program, the haas biz major knows what he has to do to take his game to the next level
^ why the **** is andrew mcgraw singing on stage wearing a dodgers lid in new york city instead of getting **** ready for the 2026 berkeley bears football season (this is very confusing)??
michael kim (70, tied for 6th): michael hit the ball well (11 outta 14 fairways & 15 of 18 greens in regulation) but wuz tentative (lesson learned, playing in the final group is a different deal from a feels stadndpoint) with his holing putt speed not aggressive enuf which resulted in only 47 feet in putts drained (after a free wheeling 145 feet yesterday during the 59) but that's golf sometimes & mañana (great pairing tomorrow with billy ho) es un dia nuevo!!
https://instagr.am/p/DXaRPvnDfYN yeah there's been a lotta EPIC storming the field/court/18th green FUN celebrations along the way but what are the worstest head coach QUOTES & heart breaking LOSSES in ur life??
the shockster's nomination for the biggest dip**** head coach QUOTE wuz justin wilcox's pre season insights that after months of analytic evaluation that if the bears scored at least 1 touchdown a quarter (basically 28+ points) then the odds wuz good that if would be a successful winning season
that revealing quote brought clarity re: the wilcox very private veneer (justin is doing the hang these days at his waterfront home that is only accessible by a boat a couple of doors down from the coeur d'alene resort in idaho that we wuz NOT competing for championships (only mediocrity)
^ tryna hide ur inner/outer beauty is not gonna work in 24/7/365 relationships (much better to be urself, a FUN outlook & a smokeshow PONYTAIL is all u need), both of my daughters shay & taylor wear minimal make up
my final straw with wilcox wuz the la bowl on a smoggy december nite (with unreal poor air quality) at the sci-fi stadium in becky g's old hood when the head coach started playing the 2nd & 3rd string players in the 2nd quarter when it wuz revealed that he viewed this bowl game as an exhibition/end of season reward deal for the program (the only highlight wuz doms doing 2:00 am ibiza nightclub sexy as **** dirty dancing on the jumbotron) while unlv treated it like a national television audience ******* super bowl or something
the back up selection for the most dumb azz QUOTE wuz documented (divorce court proceeding) terrible human being wyking jones (outta hoops, now tryna sell real estate in vegas) stating his bears wuz gonna run a full court "nightmare" press with length like louisville despite the fact that anybody with a montera middle school level bb iq could tell u the roster wuz full of borderline d1 athletes
the monster's nomination for the worst LOSS wuz the ncca 1st round tournament loss to them hawaii rainbows in freezing azz spokane when the bears wuz down 2 future nba ballers (t-wall injured after ******* around in the basketball house & the stressed out bird with his then undiagnosed mental health issues dnp) which resulted in the mcdonalds all american duo of jaylen & young ivee tryna do too much which resulted in turnovers (multiple charging calls) & poor shot selections and the end of de facto general manager schulzy's quest for a men's basketball national championship in berkeley
the back up selection is the #1 ranked 2013 men's golf team inexplicable 3&2 LOSS to illinois in the ncca quaterfinals, even now in conversation at lunch at the chandler cheesecake factory with hall of fame coach steve desimone (everybody loves des) that shocking upset cannot be fully comprehended re: the most DOMINATING team in the history of college golf
and yeah a potential LOSS in the upcoming september 5, 2026 uc championship 7:30 pm kickoff battle under the lights at memorial stadium with mystic bay area nightfall would be right up there too, do u got ur tix(s) for the most important season opener in the history of berkeley bears football (the loser of this game is ****** & the winner is gonna be soaring with intergalactic program headwinds)??
michael kim (69, tied for 10th): despite a couple early round shots lost to the left, michael battled back like EL JEFE to play the last 7 holes 4 under par & post a top 10 finish!!
Thoughts from 3M:
-What an interesting week haha. 59 plus some solid golf but also some misses.
-I gave pretty detailed thoughts about my 59, so I won’t go into that much detail here. Still a bit surreal. 1 out of 15… That’s a pretty cool club to be a part of.
kim is now #61 (up from #65) in the fed ex standings (top 70 qualify for the 1st playoff event, top 50 qualify for the 2nd playoff event & top 30 qualify for the tour championship at east lake)...michael is signed up for detroit this upcoming week while max & collin both take a vacay week
good luck to ziqin zhou in competing in the western amateur at the low key gem beverly which is the most underrated course in chicagoland (torture track butler national is the most overrated) due to it being on the "wrong" (southside) side of the tracks in his final tune up before joining teammates trevor cox & sihao cong at merion for the 2026 us amateur
https://instagr.am/p/DbLTPnYjE-y r u a BOSS man/lady that controls ur destiny (a high gpa leading to a berkeley, stanford & ivy league degree will OPEN a lotta doors in life)??#
"Hi my name is Mason "Not So" Mini and I got soft hands, a good GPA like Shocky and I'm from Pacifica which got the greatest ******* Taco Bell on planet earth!!"
ryan longwell is lobbying coach zach attack to bring in a "left footed kicker1 with a big leg from stinson beach high school" to perpetuate the recent legacies of dario "two iron trajectory" longhetto & ryan "amped up" coe!!
not so fun fact: all american/nfl prospect mateen bhaghani is gonna be bringing his collin morikawa ice in his veins laser precision to memorial stadium on saturday september 5, 2026, our u gonna lose ur **** if the uc championship game is decided by a last minute field goal??
— Golden Bear Report (On3 | Rivals) (@CalBearsOn3) July 27, 2026
1) inside linebackers: good news to hear that coach lup thinks highly of alaska native aaron hampton because all the guys including portal transfers (all from powerhouse football factories) tristan jernigan, aj tuitele & kamar mothudi are UNPROVEN as starters, replacing the inside steady play of cade & luke is gonna be critical to a MONSTER victories season with the uc championship game now within our sites
2) defensive line: great news is that the 2027 high school commitment class gotta lotta immediate impact starters/playing rotation standouts with potential NFL upside but the d-line right now is a concern from both starter productivity (star power) & reliable depth
3) left tackle: let's be real here last season last season the bears got the WORST tackles in the p4, guys that that lacked the strength to impose their will in the run game & lacked the mobility in open space to nullify apex predator edge rushers in the pass game...stud jimothy lewis solves the problem in guarding the jks blindside at right tackle but the ongoing battle between frederick williams iii & jacob arop at left tackle will determine if the bears are finally gonna operate (potentially drop 50) behind a cal's MONSTER offensive line
https://instagr.am/p/DbGfauUH9BJ 4) kicking game: punter angus davies is gonna be the solution to solving the erratic/inconsistent play at this position but it remains to be seen if kickers chase meyer or towns mcough are gonna be ready to star on broadway in a potentially EPIC season in berkeley
One of the most underrated teams heading into the 2026 season is Cal 🐻
The Golden Bears have been largely off-the-radar for most of the offseason and are disrespectfully rated 62nd by the ESPN FPI heading into this fall.
real talk: if none of this **** works out the shockster (who intends to watch all 13 games in person) is probably gonna move to ******* alaska (finding a buc-ee's & new yoga studio could be problematic) or something!!
— Golden Bear Report (On3 | Rivals) (@CalBearsOn3) July 27, 2026
1) inside linebackers: good news to hear that coach lup thinks highly of alaska native aaron hampton because all the guys including portal transfers (all from powerhouse football factories) tristan jernigan, aj tuitele & kamar mothudi are UNPROVEN as starters, replacing the inside steady play of cade & luke is gonna be critical to a MONSTER victories season with the uc championship game now within our sites
2) defensive line: great news is that the 2027 high school commitment class gotta lotta immediate impact starters/playing rotation standouts with potential NFL upside but the d-line right now is a concern from both starter productivity (star power) & reliable depth
3) left tackle: let's be real here last season last season the bears got the WORST tackles in the p4, guys that that lacked the strength to impose their will in the run game & lacked the mobility in open space to nullify apex predator edge rushers in the pass game...stud jimothy lewis solves the problem in guarding the jks blindside at right tackle but the ongoing battle between frederick williams iii & jacob arop at left tackle will determine if the bears are finally gonna operate (potentially drop 50) behind a cal's MONSTER offensive line
https://instagr.am/p/DbGfauUH9BJ 4) kicking game: punter angus davies is gonna be the solution to solving the erratic/inconsistent play at this position but it remains to be seen if kickers chase meyer or towns mcough are gonna be ready to star on broadway in a potentially EPIC season in berkeley
One of the most underrated teams heading into the 2026 season is Cal 🐻
The Golden Bears have been largely off-the-radar for most of the offseason and are disrespectfully rated 62nd by the ESPN FPI heading into this fall.
real talk: if none of this **** works out the shockster (who intends to watch all 13 games in person) is probably gonna move to ******* alaska (finding a buc-ee's & new yoga studio could be problematic) or something!!
Great list Shocks! I agree on all 3 of those. Another big concern I have is how the coaching will look this upcoming season. Motivating players and making sure they are prepared (not Wilcox strong point) will definitely be better but with 2 young fresh coordinators that are relatively green, they need to hit the ground running.
jb, argreed re: there's no soft landing for hutchings & somerville with the uc championship in game 1 but honestly they've both worked in the NFL (which is like a harvard mba for coaching)so that should mitigate any worries re: this issue, keep in mind under the wilcox era justin never hired then current NFL guys tho he did bring in multiple guys with drinking/mental health issues
as long as jaron is standing on 4 paws (which will largely be a function of the play of the o-line), really think we're in for an EPIC 2026 season!!
— Golden Bear Report (On3 | Rivals) (@CalBearsOn3) July 27, 2026
1) inside linebackers: good news to hear that coach lup thinks highly of alaska native aaron hampton because all the guys including portal transfers (all from powerhouse football factories) tristan jernigan, aj tuitele & kamar mothudi are UNPROVEN as starters, replacing the inside steady play of cade & luke is gonna be critical to a MONSTER victories season with the uc championship game now within our sites
2) defensive line: great news is that the 2027 high school commitment class gotta lotta immediate impact starters/playing rotation standouts with potential NFL upside but the d-line right now is a concern from both starter productivity (star power) & reliable depth
3) left tackle: let's be real here last season last season the bears got the WORST tackles in the p4, guys that that lacked the strength to impose their will in the run game & lacked the mobility in open space to nullify apex predator edge rushers in the pass game...stud jimothy lewis solves the problem in guarding the jks blindside at right tackle but the ongoing battle between frederick williams iii & jacob arop at left tackle will determine if the bears are finally gonna operate (potentially drop 50) behind a cal's MONSTER offensive line
https://instagr.am/p/DbGfauUH9BJ 4) kicking game: punter angus davies is gonna be the solution to solving the erratic/inconsistent play at this position but it remains to be seen if kickers chase meyer or towns mcough are gonna be ready to star on broadway in a potentially EPIC season in berkeley
One of the most underrated teams heading into the 2026 season is Cal 🐻
The Golden Bears have been largely off-the-radar for most of the offseason and are disrespectfully rated 62nd by the ESPN FPI heading into this fall.
real talk: if none of this **** works out the shockster (who intends to watch all 13 games in person) is probably gonna move to ******* alaska (finding a buc-ee's & new yoga studio could be problematic) or something!!
Great list Shocks! I agree on all 3 of those. Another big concern I have is how the coaching will look this upcoming season. Motivating players and making sure they are prepared (not Wilcox strong point) will definitely be better but with 2 young fresh coordinators that are relatively green, they need to hit the ground running.
Good list, but:
Cade & Luke playing steady ball? Both are extremely athletic, and made some big plays. But a good portion of the big plays against Cal last year were because they were playing selfish hero ball, were out of position, and got burned. A film review of some loses, like VA Tech are telling. They played undisciplined defense, and the offensive coordinators from other teams knew it and bated them. With Cade is was sometime with coaching permission "to make plays" when the defense was being pushed around, but Luke got benched a lot during games. I think some of this was about the coaching and missing Sirmon who is a great position coach, and one big add is that seasoned and respected Bob Gregory now controls linebackers. It will be interesting to see how Cade and Luke play with their new teams (I think Cade will be all Big 12, where Luke needs to mature on the mental side). The guy to look out for now is AJ Tuitele, who looked like the best linebacker overall in spring practice. Sorta a smaller version of one of my favorite Bears, Evan Weaver
alex, good to hear aj is showing out for a room losing 188 tackles from last season's starters, my take re: the virginia tech ****show is that the bears wuz playing with 10 defenders (zeke wut literally playing non contact flag football on the edges in run game support) & that instead of incessantly yelling at the staff on the sideline the entire 2nd half because cade & luke wuz running into the wrong fits/gaps that wilcox should've benched masses in favor of aaron hampton as a qb1 spy to counterattack the all nite long keepers
