Monday Practice Report: WR Kanawai Noa is healthy for Ducks

After a long weekend with no game scheduled, Cal went back to work on Monday as a ranked team for the first time since 2015. The No. 24 Bears face No. 19 Oregon Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. 

Head coach Justin Wilcox, while obviously proud of the distinction, did not make let himself or the team get too full of themselves. 

"It means we've won our first three games, which is a good thing. But we're much more concerned with the post season rankings than the in-season rankings."

Some other thoughts from WIlcox, linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk and tight end Ian Bunting.

Justin Wilcox:

• On whether wide receiver Kanawai Noa, who missed the Idaho State game was full go in practice: "Yup."
• On what makes Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert special: "Justin's really a talented guy, he's big and he throws the ball really, really well. He can run. There are not a lot of guys like that."
• How does Cal put pressure on him: "We have to change the picture. How many people you're rushing, where they're rushing from, what kind of fronts you're giving them, what kind of coverages you're giving them. You can't play one defense against them the whole game. They are very talented, a good scheme, well coached."
• On what the tight ends as a group need to improve on: "It's kind of individual, consistency catching the ball. Getting better at the point of attack in our run game. And then when we split them out, the perimeter blocking, create some numbers in the perimeter passing game. Just like everybody else they have things individually and as a group they can get better at."
• On how the offensive line is doing: "They are still working. Nobody on our team has arrived. We haven't arrived as a team. No player, no position group, no coach. We are all works in progress. They're no different. There are things that improve on. They are a real conscientious group, they really want to get it right, They work hard at it. We need to cut it loose sometimes and not overthink things. That's easier said than done. You've just got to go out and play the game and not try and be perfect all the time."
• On whether there will be a distracting "buzz" around this game: conference opener, two ranked teams. "There will be more noise, and more things to talk about. You control what you can control,  We need to be focused during practice. Off the field, keep it lean and pour yourself into what can help us be at our best and not spend time on things that don't help."

Jordan Kunaszyk:

• On how the players are handling the outside pressure: "I think we're kind of tuning the outside noise out. We had a great practice, we're focused. Oregon is a great team and they are going to come in here hungry. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter who we play week in and week out. It's all about ourselves. I think that we're focused and we're ready to take that next step and play a real good team and show ourselves we're ready for that jump, ready to become that team we know we can be. We just really focus on ourselves, execute the game plan. Simplify our lives and get ready to play the best game we've played yet."
• On how this week's practices will be different: "Last week a lot of the time we just focused on ourselves, going back to fundamentals and trying to fine-tune our defense and ourselves, And then later in the week we got into Oregon, the whole time we were watching film trying to study and break them down."
• On Herbert: "He's phenomenal man. I was watching him in some of the early games this year. He played San Jose State and some of the throws he made were crazy. He's the real deal. A humble guy, great guy.  I met him and media day and he is going to have a successful career playing football. I am really excited for the challenge, having the Oregon team come here and having our team go out there and do what we do."
• On how to put pressure on Herbert. "I just think we need to execute our game plan. Our coaches are going to put in a phenomenal game plan like they always do. And then we just need to go out there and do what they coach us do to. ...As long as we do that we'll be pretty good."
• On how the outside linebackers have done since Cameron Goode went down: "They've done a great job. When you have a great player like Cam, one of our top defensive players, go down, it's tough. We've always said we have the mentality of the next guy up. And think that we have embraced that. We know how valuable Cam is to our team. But I know he wouldn't want us to mourn his injury. He wants us to go out there and win games. I think the guys have stepped up and done a great job so far."

Ian Bunting:

• On what it was like to finally get really involved in the passing game against Idaho State: "It felt great. A lot of hard work goes into what we do. Cool to see it come to fruition."
• On is the offense "finding itself: "Absolutely. I think that we're definitely picking it up. We're all on the same page. We've got a little energy going into the offense now. And I think it's really going into it."
• On how the quarterbacks are doing: "i think they're definitely coming into their own as quarterbacks. They both know what their strong suit is and they're confident that they can go out and do it."
• On how much more comfortable he is in Berkeley: "A lot more comfortable. I've got a few weeks under my belt now. So it is a lot more comfortable, everything. My biorhythm, a little routine. It's coming naturally."