Monday Practice Report: After Unscheduled "Bye" Week, Bears Start Preparing for Colorado

      After the Big Game was postponed Saturday, the Bears had an extra weekend off to rest and get healthy. On Monday they held a regular practice to begin preparations for Saturday’s home game against Colorado. Although this is no longer the final home game, Senior Day will be held as originally scheduled. After practice, head coach Justin Wilcox and season captains Jordan Kunaszyk and Patrick Laird met with the media.

Some highlights:

Justin Wilcox

• On how the team was informed of the Big Game postponement: “We met on Friday. The announcement was made about postponing the game, which we fully support and understand. Everybody was disappointed because you want to play, but we also understand what is best for everybody. Postponing the game was the right thing to do. Our problems are small compared to what some people are going through with all the smoke and the people that are dealing with the wildfires.

• On how the time off was managed: “We treated it like a bye weekend. We had a good workout Friday indoors and then Saturday and Sunday we were off. They had a chance to rest their minds and bodies. And then come out today and get back going again,”

• On how they determined how much to practice Monday, given the smoke: “We monitor it hourly and then our sports medicine staff and the university and Pac-12 are all talking and we’re kept up to date on what we can do. We were given the green light to come out and do our practice like a normal Monday, which is an hour and change.”

• On shifting from Stanford preparation to Colorado: “The way it worked out is the way it worked out. Our focus on Friday afternoon shifted to Colorado. And so we are giving them our attention, and that’s where it belongs. Our guys did a great job today coming into meetings. We’ve got a ton of respect for their players and schemes. It’s going to be a battle. They’re playing for a bowl game and they’re going to come in here with their best stuff.”

• On practice schedule the rest of the week: “We have contingency plans. The forecast and the people we’ve been talking to were optimisitic about what the week holds, but there are contingency plans. If we can do something else for practice or how much we practice, but we’re moving full speed ahead unless they tell us otherwise.”

• On Senior Day being held as scheduled: “We talked to the seniors about this and we will treat this like a Senior Day because of the travel arrangements and things like that for the families. We will treat this like a Senior Day and everybody’s family will be here. We’ll be excited for them.

• On senior quarterback Chase Forrest, a fifth year senior who never started a game but didn’t transfer: “He hit a fork in the road in terms of his playing career here at Cal. He battlied. He was very much in the quarterback mix. It didn’t go his way. And to watch him handle it like he has has just been unbelievable. The coaches have such a tremendous amount of respect for guys like that. Never once did he walk into a meeting with his head down, feeling sorry for himself, feeling like he got the short end of the stick when it would have been easy to do that. He’s never done that. I think the way he’s conducted himself, I mean he’s a leader on our team. He’s a guy I look to and we look to as a team for his input and his feelings on things because he’s got the best interests of the team at heart. Everybody respects him as a person and as a player because of how he’s handled his last two years.”

• On the week off’s impact on the injured wide receivers: “It helps. Jordan (Duncan), Vic (Wharton) -we’ll see. Kanawai (Noa) we’ll see.  Moe Ways should be good to go. Time helps some of those things. We’re hoping to get them all back. Whether or not that happens will be determined probably later in the week.”

Jordan Kunaszyk

• On how they handled the postponement: “I think as a team we handled it really well. Obviously we were disappointed, we prepared all week to play, but at the end of the day we’re thankful that the medical staff did what was in the best interests for ourselves and everybody really. I am really glad it got postponed rather than canceled. I kept hearing the word canceled. It got me worried. Once I found out it was postponed that calmed me down a little bit. I’m glad that it will get played December 1st. As soon as we were told that the game was going to be postponed the focus immediately shifted to Colorado.”

• On how he learned about it: “We were preparing for practice and then we had a meeting at one o’clock Friday and coach Wilcox broke the news. That was kind of that. We had a lift to keep our conditioning up and get like a little Friday movement. ... We had a little lift and little cardio and we had the weekend to kind of relax and kick back.

• On prep for Colorado: “We treat them like any opponent….They’re a really good team. They move the ball really well, do some good things on offense. They have some playmakers. We just have to execute our game plan and play hard. They have a lot of that they’re playing for.
• Does they’re coaching change have an impact: “Not at all, we prepare for everybody the same. They have a lot they’re playing for, they’re playing for their sixth win.They’re probably playing for their coach. I’m not really sure how they feel about that situation. I can imagine it’s hard and emotional. But really it’s just about us preparing for them. I don’t think much is going to change from the offensive perspective.”
• On Senior Day: It’s just  going to be awesome, to come out here and celebrate the seniors and have our familiies here to walk us out of the tunnel. I’m sure it’ll be a little emotional. It’s an exciting time, I’m looking forward to it. I’m just cherishing the last couple games here at Memorial Stadium and all the memories I’ve had playing here.”

Patrick Laird

• On how they handled the postponement: “I think our team overall has handled it really well. Obviously there is that emotional preparation for something like that. For me there was a little bit of a letdown. But you’ve got have perspective on the whole situation. You think about the people affected by the fires. I think I heard this morning there are 1,000 people missing. You’ve got to have some perspective. That’s how I look at it. I was disappointed but at the end of the day we’re playing football, I’m in college. It’s going to be OK, So now it’s next game up. We’ve got Colorado this weekend.

• On Colorado’s game against Utah: “Watched it on film. They’re a sollid team. They have a lot of good players, and they are no one we should look past. The message for the team so far is focus on the team this Saturday, it’s Colorado and they’ve got a lot of good players. Let’s focus on things we can control, let’s focus on ourselves and focus on what they’ve put on tape. Hopefully we can get a win this Saturday.”
• On having a Saturday off in November: :It is nice, I’m 23 now, I’m one of the older guys. No, my body recovers fine. But of course, you don’t have a Saturday of four hours where you’re warming up, cooling down, warming up, getting hit, You don’t have one of those late in the season you feel a lot better on Monday.
• On Senior Day: “We are going to celebrate senior day this Saturday, it’s going to be awesome; My brother, I don’t think he’s ever seen me play. He lives on the East Coast. I don’t think he’s come to any of my games. He is going to fly in. That will be a special moment. I went to every one of his high school games. It will be nice for him to come and see me play. It will be fun for my family. And a lot of the guys are having their families come out for maybe the first time this season. I think it will be a special moment. I’m one of six kids so to have all five of my siblings there and my parents. I think that will be cool. For me I’ll probably just be focused on the game. And I’ll be able to look back on it and kind of realize how cool a moment it’s going to be.