Check in on the depth chart battles post the halfway mark of Fall camp
This follows the series of articles we did prior to the start of Fall Camp on the most competitive position groupsTHE OFFENSIVE LINE:The group appears set though they mixed and matched a lot over the first 8 practices. The surprises here are in the two deeps:From left to right, the 2nd team OL appears to be: Kahlee Tafai, Mykeal Rabess, Ashton Rivera. Ben Howard and Mike Klisiewicz The one wild car is Jacob Arop who has been practicing for the past week and has a high celling. He's a tackle and could push Kahlee Tafai into the top IOL backup. Howard and Klisiewicz have been nice surprises. Lots of kudos from the staff and observers (such as Troy Auzenne) about the true Freshman class, in particular Daniel McMorris THE OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS:Solomon Williams and Jayden Wayne have seemingly cemented their starting roles. Injuries to Justin Beadles and Joshua Pierce have muddled things behind them with Odera Okaka standing out having a nice camp and Emmanuel Okoye getting in some good pass rush reps. Recently, Cal has moved Jonathan McKinley around getting him reps both inside and out and I wouldn't be shocked to see him get some snaps vs UCLA on the outside. Serigne Tounkara is almost 100% back and is practicing so he could find his way onto the depth chart as well.I suspect Pierce will be the next player back healthyTHE INSIDE LINEBACKERS:This one is hard to evaluate as a lot of players having get reps with the first team this camp. I suspect four players will see significant snaps in the opener vs. UCLA. The surprise here is Mckinley, who started the scrimmage and looked solid. He's so big and athletic and seems to play with a maturity and aggressiveness beyond the normal Freshman. Perhaps the most consistent player here has been AJ Tuitele. Despite his not being as big, he's aggressive and physical and his pass coverage skills are special. Tristan Jernigan has also played well and he'd be my odds on favorite to start alongside Tuitele. Aaron Hampton will be somewhere in the rotation though he hasn't stood out as much as others and Kamar Mothudi has been in and out of practices with a minor injury. THE SECONDARY:Even less seems settled here than at ILB. Ricky Fletcher will start at one CB position and right now Kingston Lopa and Isaiah Crosby seem set to start at Safety. The NB and other CB position seem open with Quimari Shemwell and Cameron Sidney having the edge in the slot and a three way battle between Marquis Groves-Killebrew . Daniel Harris on the outside. This room is deep as Niles Davis, Aiden Manutai, Michael Hurst Jr and Khamani Hudson have all played well and will provide depth across the secondary. My sense is that if Groves can get fully healthy (he's been banged up), he and Shemwell will start (on the outside and at NB respectively) I expect to see some rotation at Safety and the NB/OCB positions vs UCLA
First Scrimmage of 2026 Fall Camp Report
Getting going on a cloudy day where the sun is just starting to take a peak. Looks like it will be partly cloudy with a chance of footballs for the scrimmage.Asking attendees not to take video recordings for obvious reasons. Pretty well attended with a large contingent of both Caliber and Grid Club donors. BIs own Mike Pawlawski, fellow Cal HOFer Troy Auzzene and a handful of other former player were here today as well. Ricky Fletcher is sitting this one out but seems to be moving pretty well. I'd guess another week or so and he should be back ready to roll. Isaiah Crosby also out today but looks fine (likely precautionary). A third potential secondary starter, Marquis Groves-Killebrew won't play either. Nate Burrell being held out though there's optimism he'll be back for UCLA. NBs Jasiah Wagoner also sitting out, looks like a couple of weeks, Cameron Sidney sat out in what appeared to be cautionary. Joshua Pierce and Justin Beadles will also skip the proceedings impacting the defense. DayDay Aupiu has something that looks a bit more significant. In short, the defense was short handed.Offensively, Ian Strong was in a non contact gold jersey (like the QBs). Ashten Emory sitting out as well. I'm torn between two headline summaries of the days proceedings:- Dynamic, exciting football from a talented roster, this team looks ready to win 11+ games OR- Sloppy, mistake filled session harbingers doom for the 2026 BearsA close call . . .The positives:JKS and the 1st team offense were highly productive. A lot of chunk plays through the air, a strong running attack, a diverse set of weapons at WR and TE and very solid pass protectionThe projected OL starters were together save for the very puzzling move of Tyson Ruffins to the 2nd team at RG. Staff tells me they will continue to mix things up to help evaluate players, in this case that being RS Freshman Ben Howard, who acquitted himself quite well todayJaron threw the ball really well. He missed one sure fire TD to Chase Hendricks but credit the defense for getting very good pressure on Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele. Otherwise, he was near perfect, with a throw away and a couple of drops the only other incompletions. JKS made a great pre snap blitz read and got the ball out quickly to Adam Mohammed on a swing play who rumbled for nearly 50 yards before Daniel Harris tracked him down.JKS hit a crosser to King on the same drive before letting the run game finish things offMohammed showed off his power breaking two tackles on a nice 8 yard run and then scored the TD untouched after going off script on another inside gap run, only to bounce it outside where he outran everyoneFreshman Jonathan McKinley started with the 1's and played really well. Several big hits and he showed off his versatility by playing at OLB and garnering a sack. He's huge and fast and clearly the staff likes what they have in himAJ Tuitele was another standout at ILB, he also started with the 1's and flashed elite speed running down EJ Caminong All the QBs played well including EJ Caminong who was outstanding (like he was last Fall) with consistently good pre snap reads, getting the ball out quickly and accurate. He doesn't have a great arm but he can move an offenseJericho Johnson had deep penetration on the first snap of the scrimmage and played stoutly throughout the day. The DL and OLBs despite missing a lot of bodies, seemed to get better against the run as the afternoon wore on. Some impressive blitz packages and probably 4-5 sacks on the day with only one of those coming against the 1st team OL (which was a coverage sack)TE room looks elite. Nice catches and blocking from Mini, Thomas and Purcell. Mini caught a great TD from Caminong who made a great read and throw between two defendersSome big hits out there on D. Tristan Dunn, Tristan Jernigan, Kingston Lopa, Michael Hurst Jr and Jonathan McKinley all laid some wood todayJKS had several big throws, including a 50 yarder to Jordan King during the 2 minute drill after getting great protection. An absolute laser that hit him in stride 45 yards down the field. His vision and accuracy were very special today. Punter Angus Davies was booming punts - High and long. No chance for returnsLots of competitive fire and the amount of player verbal communication is at another levelCarter Vargas looked great. He had two runs that really stood out, one where he broke a McKinley tackle on a play that looked it would be for no gain, only to see him get 5 yards. Another 15 yarder where he broke some ankles and showed off great burst. League had a couple of solid runs and catches as did Victor Santino Emmanuel Okoye flashed with a great run stuff as he held the edge and a great pass rush where he forced the earlier mentioned incompletion on what would have been a TD throw to Hendricks by JKSHendricks and King had stand out days at WR. Got open and caught everythingQuaron Adams and Niles Davis flashed their speed on KO returns and Adams had a great swing pass and long TD run after the catch. He's a blurTrue Freshman Jaxon Pyatt and Nemyah Telona both made big plays, Pyatt with a TFL on a screen and Telona with a sackOdera Okaka had a really nice scrimmage. Chased down a scrambling JKS before he could run for a first down and later had a sack.Trevor Rogers had a mixed day production wise but boy did he get behind the D consistentlyNo one appeared to get hurt!!The Sloppiness:The first 20 Offensive snaps included four false starts on the OL. After that they were perfect, but not a great startThere were a couple of PI calls and an offsides on the Defense as wellThe PK was not great. Three missed FG attempts and only one of the KOs got to the end zone. I still think Chase Meyer wins the job but he needs to be more consistentTough to assess the defense with so many players out. Pass rush was inconsistent and not as effective from 1st team as would be ideal. Run Defense was mixed, and struggled earlyTackling was not bad for a first scrimmage but work to be done there before UCLAToo many drops from the WRs - Grayes, Perry and Rogers all had bad ones and Rogers needs to be stronger on contested opportunities. As good as the QBs were today and they were good, I'd love to see the ball get out quicker with more anticipatory throws. One example was Brousseau waiting too long to get the ball to Rogers on a corner route where he was open. Vargas fumbled without contact. I'm not sure he wasn't down but that stopped an almost sure fire scoring drive from the 1st teamOther notes:Mohammed and Vargas were the first KO returners, Hendricks was the first Punt returner; Adams, League, Davis, and Perry all got looks as returners as wellPlay calling from Sommerville felt really smart. There was an elegant effortlessness to the offense. Cal's D looks like it will be more varied and aggressive. A good mix of man and zone.The scrimmage was well run and I suspect they got 15%+ more snaps in than any scrimmage I've seen the last 5 fall campsThe staff is excited about all the film they have and how much value that will provide them going into next weekI think we'll see the mixing and matching of the depth chart start to settle down as a real depth chart will start to emerge by the middle of next week.
13 days ago by
Jim McGill
After taking their first day off of Fall Camp, the Bears were back at it today with another perfect weather day in the high 60s.The ACC Huddle Road Trip crew was there and Jaron put on a show for them with a really sharp practice, despite not having some of his usual targets with Strong, Hamper and Boscia held out and running bleachers. Hopefully nothing serious to keep them out much more. It wasn't the best day for the backups. Jackson Brousseau and QB3 EJ Caminong have had their moments but need to display more consistency and throw less INTs to be more viable backups.RS frosh WR Meyer Swinney was one of the main recipients of the extra playing time availability and probably had the most catches of practice. He's a long, sure-handed receiver who gives a deep unit even more quality depth. Chase Hendricks continues to look like a potentially elite target. Cooper Perry, Trevor Rogers, Kai Meza and Quaron Adams all had nice grabs along with TE Dorian Thomas.RB Carter Vargas looked elite out there, running with burst and elusiveness and will be a big weapon in the passing game. They've been running Adam Mohammed up the middle a lot till today but he was able to pick up some bigger gains outside the tackle today and in the passing game. RB3 Ashten Emory continues to play well and he's a nice passing target out of the backfield, too. RB4 Anthony League has shown much more quickness and burst this year vs last and he can shine if he gets his chance. The OL continued to play 1st teamers Fred Williams and Tyson Ruffins with 2nd teamers Ashton Rivera, Ben Howard and Mike Klisiewicz at C, RG and RT and 2nd teamers Kahlee Tafai and Mykeal Rabess at LT and LG (each played the reverse positions mostly prior to today) with starters Bastian Swinney (C), Sioape Vatikani (RG) and Jimothy Lewis (RT).On defense, edge Solomon Williams continues to impress and ILB Tristan Jernigan had some good reps. At DB, corner Jae'on Young had his best practice and looks to push Marquis Groves-Killebrew to start opposite Ricky Fletcher. Likely safety starter Kingston Lopa was held out as the team helped the Oregon transfer grieve the loss of his father by taking a knee and praying for him as a team after practice.Tomorrow will have the first media availability of the fall with WR coach Ike Hilliard and TE coach Steve Haunga on the mic.@JaronKeawe puts on a display in peactice in today's Fall Camp day five for the ACC Road Trip crew https://t.co/laLTliLBFa pic.twitter.com/fd9Qe2No20— Jim McGill (@BearInsider_com) August 10, 2026
dialed.#GoBears pic.twitter.com/cVmO1PGRwt— Cal Football (@CalFootball) August 11, 2026
18 days ago by
Jim McGill
Bears back in action with the start of fall camp Wednesday morning
Fletcher Ready to Continue Cal's DB Legacy
Ole Miss portal transfer cornerback Ricky Fletcher talks about his transition to Cal, working with the new coaching staff and expectations for this season
