more good stuff kevin, would be a 1st in cal football history if all 5 starters weigh in at 315+ lbs which would facilitate pounding the ******* rock on 4th & 1 instead of throwing incomplete go routes

shocky is hearing it's possible that none of the returners will start this season including sioape vatikani (who has taken off plays throughout his berkeley days which is probably a reflection of the failed s&c program & his conditioning) & that +1 athletic right tackle fred williams might be the best positioned to start returning trench worker

Shocky1 said:

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more good stuff kevin, would be a 1st in cal football history if all 5 starters weigh in at 315+ lbs which would facilitate pounding the ******* rock on 4th & 1 instead of throwing incomplete go routes

shocky is hearing it's possible that none of the returners will start this season including sioape vatikani (who has taken off plays throughout his berkeley days which is probably a reflection of the failed s&c program & his conditioning) & that +1 athletic right tackle fred williams might be the best positioned to start returning trench worker

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I am 100% for real competition to start. If Vatikani is not better than the others oh well. I agree that Williams is a very impressive athlete for his size. And it will be interesting to watch the competition at all the OL spots.

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I agree with your point regarding offense first. But it is interesting to note that of the teams in the CFP many were very highly ranked on defense. The national champ Ohio ST was #1 in scoring defense . . .

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To clarify, it's of course, always going to be helpful to have a strong defense. Just as it is always going to be helpful to have strong special teams. But the point I was making is the days of marrying a stellar defense to a mediocre offense and winning the championship are over. Yes, Ohio State had the number one scoring defense, but they also had the number one rated offense. Texas clocked in with the number four offense, etc.

The running joke with Alabama during the 00's and early teens was you could literally slot anyone in as quarterback and it wouldn't matter. And those quarterbacks' tenure in the NFL proved that point. The entire Big10 spent decades proudly running "3 yards and a cloud of dust" offenses. All of that has ended. It's great to have a great defense but you have to have a great offense. No team can go all the way as defense first anymore. Cal seems to have finally gotten that memo.

Sebastabear said:

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I don't wish to speak ill of the departed (even if we are only talking professionally and not about mortality) but our S&C program has been a horror show for the past few years. I think we lost a dozen players in a single practice to hamstring injuries during fall camp last year. That just doesn't happen without some serious problems with your conditioning program. I think it is pretty obvious that Brian would have been let go last January had he not gotten ill. But he did and he was retained for whatever reason and another season was lost as a result. We had multiple players in their exit interviews comparing our strength and conditioning program very unfavorably to those at the programs they had left. A change was not just needed, it was desperate.

Early reports on Frank are very positive. But this is one of those areas where I want to see the results on the field. We will know when we know. But at this point it looks like we have made a massive upgrade.

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My son said last 2 years the strength and conditioning coaching was bad. Of course he played under Becton…He noticed the large discrepancy because Cal should out hussle and out work teams in Q4. It was called being in the deep end (When being in the 4th qtr).

100%, the s&c program has been the #1 issue limiting the upward trajectory of the cal football program since becton left for texas

would ideally like to see the bears start 5 315+ lbs athletic trench workers this fall

Maddening (but unsurprising given his history) that Wilcox let the S&C deficiencies continue for so long.

PtownBear1 said:

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Maddening (but unsurprising given his history) that Wilcox let the S&C deficiencies continue for so long.

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Insider said that the S&C coach has a medical issue and couldn't be fired before last season. That seems like a typiCal thing.

003, glad ur reading the monster but ur reading comprehension is slightly off, johnson's cancer diagnosis dates back to 2021

PtownBear1 said:

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Maddening (but unsurprising given his history) that Wilcox let the S&C deficiencies continue for so long.

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I am confused.
Over the JW years Time and again I read how Cal had made changes to the S&C coach and training and that we were going to see improvement in the S&C of the players. Only to hear later in the season that we were having S&C problems.

Was that all eyewash. Or was the problem not with the S&C coach or training but simply that we did not recruit sufficient number of high quality players to deal with the obvious problem that football is a rough sport and many players will suffer injuries regardless of how well they are conditioned

IMO Cal historically has had the latter problem
We would start the season with our better players on the field and by late in the season many/most of our better players were out with injuries

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I am confused.

Over the JW years Time and again I read how Cal had made changes to the S&C coach and training and that we were going to see improvement in the S&C of the players. Only to hear later in the season that we were having S&C problems.

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I don't think this is entirely accurate. Everyone likes Becton and was very sad to see him go. Texas just put a monster offer on the table for him. You may have seen some statements when Brian was brought in from people saying they hoped that his hire would improve S&C, but no one knew for sure. And no change at all took place last year or the year before that so I don't think anyone was running around talking about staffing changes that would make the team better.

But on your point that Cal needs higher caliber players to break out of our cycle of mediocrity, hallelujah! Believe me, I'm a firm believer in that point. What we've been working on for the last few years. But two things can be true at the same time; we can need to seek out better players and we can need better strength and conditioning. This is one of those situations.

Sebastabear said:

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I am confused.

Over the JW years Time and again I read how Cal had made changes to the S&C coach and training and that we were going to see improvement in the S&C of the players. Only to hear later in the season that we were having S&C problems.

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I don't think this is entirely accurate. Everyone likes Becton and was very sad to see him go. Texas just put a monster offer on the table for him. You may have seen some statements when Brian was brought in from people saying they hoped that his hire would improve S&C, but no one knew for sure. And no change at all took place last year or the year before that so I don't think anyone was running around talking about staffing changes that would make the team better.

But on your point that Cal needs higher caliber players to break out of our cycle of mediocrity, hallelujah! Believe me, I'm a firm believer in that point. What we've been working on for the last few years. But two things can be true at the same time; we can need to seek out better players and we can need better strength and conditioning. This is one of those situations.

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Thanks

Sebastabear said:

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I agree with your point regarding offense first. But it is interesting to note that of the teams in the CFP many were very highly ranked on defense. The national champ Ohio ST was #1 in scoring defense . . .

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To clarify, it's of course, always going to be helpful to have a strong defense. Just as it is always going to be helpful to have strong special teams. But the point I was making is the days of marrying a stellar defense to a mediocre offense and winning the championship are over. Yes, Ohio State had the number one scoring defense, but they also had the number one rated offense. Texas clocked in with the number four offense, etc.

The running joke with Alabama during the 00's and early teens was you could literally slot anyone in as quarterback and it wouldn't matter. And those quarterbacks' tenure in the NFL proved that point. The entire Big10 spent decades proudly running "3 yards and a cloud of dust" offenses. All of that has ended. It's great to have a great defense but you have to have a great offense. No team can go all the way as defense first anymore. Cal seems to have finally gotten that memo.

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I think there is some precision that is needed. I think the other thing we are seeing throughout college (and pro) football is that the offensive LINE is critical. You can have great QBs and WR but ultimately it is still a brutal game that is won (or lost) in the trenches. That isn't to say you can run counters all day like the redskins of riggens era and win - but it is to say that if your mobile QB is running for his life each and every play or you can't pick up 3 and 1 by playing smashmouth football you are not going to win enough to get to the CFBP

socaltownie said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

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I agree with your point regarding offense first. But it is interesting to note that of the teams in the CFP many were very highly ranked on defense. The national champ Ohio ST was #1 in scoring defense . . .

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To clarify, it's of course, always going to be helpful to have a strong defense. Just as it is always going to be helpful to have strong special teams. But the point I was making is the days of marrying a stellar defense to a mediocre offense and winning the championship are over. Yes, Ohio State had the number one scoring defense, but they also had the number one rated offense. Texas clocked in with the number four offense, etc.

The running joke with Alabama during the 00's and early teens was you could literally slot anyone in as quarterback and it wouldn't matter. And those quarterbacks' tenure in the NFL proved that point. The entire Big10 spent decades proudly running "3 yards and a cloud of dust" offenses. All of that has ended. It's great to have a great defense but you have to have a great offense. No team can go all the way as defense first anymore. Cal seems to have finally gotten that memo.

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I think there is some precision that is needed. I think the other thing we are seeing throughout college (and pro) football is that the offensive LINE is critical. You can have great QBs and WR but ultimately it is still a brutal game that is won (or lost) in the trenches. That isn't to say you can run counters all day like the redskins of riggens era and win - but it is to say that if your mobile QB is running for his life each and every play or you can't pick up 3 and 1 by playing smashmouth football you are not going to win enough to get to the CFBP

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Case in point the Super Bowl.... Eagles O-Line stellar!!