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.
The Most Competitive Position Groups entering Fall Camp - Outside Linebackers
We go deep on five areas of the roster where the battle for playing time will be fierce. Our second analysis focuses on the Outside Linebacker room, where the Bears lost their top three players from 2025.
Exclusive Spring Practice Report - Day One
A spectacular morning greeted Tosh Lupoi's charges as they took to Memorial for the first practice of the Spring.A new staff and a lot of new faces on the roster meant this was a far more interesting first day of Spring ball than you normally get to see.The staff changes mean that almost everything has changed in terms of how the practices are run. There's a big emphasis on utilizing every blade of the artificial surface, which means that the O and D installs were being done at the same time by four different groups of 11. That carried over to a lot of O vs D drills where two 7v7s were going on simultaneously, two pass rush drills were happening at the same time, etc. This is a more modest but noticeable change from the last few years.There were a lot of recruits in attendance, something I can't remember seeing at an early morning Spring practice, and more than the usual number of donors on the sidelines as well.More dramatic was how vocal the players were throughout practice. Constant chatter, particularly in drills and 11v11 work. The defense in particular, was engaged in non-stop verbal discourse. This is clearly something the staff wants to emphasize. It was noticeable on Offense as well, with the players being louder and more demonstrative in their communication.The players were in shells today (uppers), and while it wasn't a full-contact practice, it was physical with the run plays featuring live blocking and shedding blocks, and the 7v7 and press coverage drills being, shall we say, very hands-on? A big difference from previous Springs was their was far less time spent in positional groups and far more time utilized for competitive O v D drills or full 11 drills (11 vs 0) for the O and D. Tosh has said repeatedly that he wants everything to be a competition and that was on full display today. It was also a LONG practice - 2 1/2 hours. Longer than I can ever remember a Spring session.You can see the difference in having more staff members. More hands-on teaching, focus on technique rather than where to line up, etc. The team's install seemed very smooth, not a lot of confusion on either side of the ball. Tosh is a much more demonstrative, active participant in practice than was Coach Wilcox and his intensity and energy were clearly channeled by his staff to the players.As for the roster, almost everyone was out there healthy and ready to roll. BJ Canady was the one injured suprise and he didn't look too far away from returning. Mini will sit out the Spring, Tounkara did practice but not as a full participant and Crosby and Burrell will full tilt.The team looks noticeably longer - taller, with a lot of long levered players. It also appears demonstrably more athletic. A lot of guys who move with alacrity, change directions well and can run. The OL looks BIG, the DL less so - NGs Jericho Johnson and Stanley McKenzie are the only two true big boys in that unit, not a lot of jumbo-sized frames there. Fletcher, Harris, and Lopa look out of place in the secondary with their height. RB Mohammed is a BIG person, and his running mate, Carter Vargas is jacked up and bigger than I had expected him to be. ILB Kamar Mothudi is huge and OLB Justin Beadles is very well put togetherSome players are gaining weight fast. True Freshman TE Taimane Purcell has easily added 10lbs since December and John Tofi's now up to 240lbs (He was 205 as a Freshman a year ago). Frederick Williams, the potential starting LT looks noticeably bigger and WR Ian Strong is built. Quick hits on individual players:Freshman RB Victor Santino has some serious juice. He's quick and fast. A bit thin but he reminds me of the Jet with his explosion, and he may well have more lateral agility than Thomas. Chase Hendricks and Ian Strong were as advertised. Both were uncoverable in 7v7 (where the D plays man to man). Hendricks isn't big but he's smooth. Strong has great size and can run by people.JKS is clearly the team's leader. Led warm ups and his voice could be heard throughout practice extolling players to get in the right place, etcI was impressed with CB Ricky Fletcher and returning corner Khamani Hudson. Both looked sticky in coverage with a confident feistiness. Mark Hamper made a great one handed catch for a TD in 7v7 over Michael Hurst Jr. He looks healthy and ready to rollAdam Mohammed didn't get a lot of live 11v11 reps but he jumps out with his size and running style. He runs with a wide base and can make guys miss in space despite his size and he's got some quickness. He'll be hard to beat out for RB1Newcomer Jimothy Lewis ran with the 1's at RT today and was very, very good in pass rush drills with no one able to beat him. He's a big kid.Solomon Williams isn't huge but he's explosive and is an energizer bunny out there. Reminded me of Cade Uluave (same #) with his athleticism and enthusiasm. He had a nice sack/hurry in 11v11Emmanuel Okoye might be the teams's most impressive physical specimen. He was very effective in the pass rush drills as he's LONG and very twitchy laterally. He and Williams are the two edges that have a real chance to be difference makers getting after the QBJosiah Wagoner had a really good day, breaking up multiple passes in 7v7. He's really quick and fluid in defending the short area crossers, curls and slants. Perhaps the most improved player from last years younger group was Legend Journey. He made a lot of plays and was the third most effective pass rusher behind Okoye and WIlliams. RB Ashton Emory isn't huge but he's got good size and he runs low to the ground with authority. I think he and Vargas will both get carries behind Mohammed. I couldn't see everything and it's only one practice. Spring can have a lot of false positives so be patient as more practices unfold
Post Portal Additions and Subtractions - (DL and Edges)
We look at the position groups, continuing with the Defensive Line and Edges breaking down the departures, the additions and an unofficial view of the depth charts
