Last night
Muggy evening that cooled quickly. A much tighter control was put on attendance than the scrimmage the week prior as the team gets closer to game preparation.The defense held out Uluave and Keanaaina, and limited McCulloch and there are still a couple of DL nursing themselves back to health. Otherwise, the team as a whole is as sound as I've seen.The defense had the better night early with the offense coming on late, including after Sebastadog exited. It took a bit for the OL to get going opening running lanes and giving the QBs time. The air was not conducive to kicking and both the punters and the placekickers saw their distances impacted. Abram Murray looks cemented as the KO specialist as depsite the less than ideal conditions his kicks were in the back half of the end zone consistently. Chase Meyer missed a 35 yarder, made a 44 yarder and missed a 49 yarder. His first miss was barely off and I suspect he's the PK from 40 yards and in with Murray with the long distance specialist. Kern and Honore still seem to be battling for punting duties. Kern has the bigger leg but Honore may be the more consistent. DeJesus, Adams and Crosby were doing the bulk of the return work.Offensive players who flashed: Kendrick Raphael played very well, breaking off several long runs, catching the ball well and handling blitz pickup. He's pushing to be the starter at RB. Mark Hamper made several catches including a few tough ones where he got hit hard after catching the ball. Mason Mini had a nice long TD catch and several other catches along with some plus blocking. Jordan King caught a nice ball and then with some YAC work scored a long TD. EJ Caminong put on a clinic of getting the ball out on time and in rhythm and making accurate throws running with the 3s as their QB.Brown had a very nice scrimmage. He hit Mini on the long TD and showed off his scrambling and running ability. No bad mistakes either. Jaron threw a bad interception and struggled early before coming back to lead two long drives. He showed some good grit and toughness overcoming things and made at least two "wow" throws. He and Brown continue to hold the ball too long.Defensive players who flashed: The OLB room as a whole. Really nice pass rush and run support from the top five players here. Ryan McCulloch only played a handful of snaps but was very effective. Jayden Wayne. Serigne Tounkara, Chris Victor and TJ Bush all made plays. The former three as pass rushers and Bush as a run stuffer. Zae Smith had the scrimmages first sack with an inside move that was lethally quick. Brent Austin continued to impress in coverage and Harrison Taggart popped a few timesThe OL continues to show off heated position battles and that group finished strong, paving the way for some longer runs and giving the QBs more time. I think only two of the positions look settled with Braden Miller and Tyson Ruffins secured in their spots. Moko vs. Vatikani, Morow vs Bell and Harley vs Robinson may have been determined by film review of last night and are too close to call for a live observer.My guess is that Harsin and Anae will want a cohesive five to start taking all the snaps with the 1's from Monday on. The QB battle is tight as well. Parsing snaps this week will not be easy. At WR, it feels like DeJesus, Grizzell and King are the top three followed by Grayes and Hamper. Dazmin James made a nice catch last night and Jayden Dixon-Veal flashed last night as did Jaiven Plummer. Plummer and King can serve as jumbo sized receivers in the slot who can block or catch the ball given their size at 215 and 220 respectively. It appears Mini has won the job at TE with Landon Morris the primary split out TE option.Defensively, Bollers and Keanaaina are set as is McCulloch. The other starting OLB is too close to call. I'd be surprised if Taggart isn't your starter alongside Uluave. Austin, Masses, and Crosby feel locked in at the two outside CB slots and Safety. Battle to play alongside them feels open. Jasiah Wagoner played well last night but Cam Sydney will be hard to push out given his experience and consistency. Dru Polidore and Aiden Manutai look the most likely to play alongside CrosbyIs Cal's pass rush as good as it looked early last night? Will the OL gel in the next two weeks? Who will start at QB? Can the team stay healthy? Lots of questions that won't be answered until Oregon State.Last night was my last observation before Corvallis as I'll be traveling overseas.
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Greg Richardson
Practice #3 - Shoulder Pads (Thump)Interesting to witness two full practices with a split squad. You can see the benefit in terms of the # of reps for players going way up and the coach to player ratio being better.Good to see some BI folks out there including Paws and ARBear.Observations:This might be the healthiest team in America. Only Burrell and incoming Freshman OL Ben Howard weren't participating. The best in my 30 year experience of attending camp.This is a big team, lots of huge bodies and S&C has clearly had an impact. Go back and look at weights on the roster as they've been updating them. For example, some of the younger DBs have added a lot of muscle and there were more than a handful of guys who popped with their obvious gains including Cade Uluave, Legend Journey, Trond Grizzell, Ryan McCulloch and Nick Morrow who all looked markedly larger and more muscularEarly in Fall Camp, there's not a ton of 11v11, I'd expect to see that shift next week as the go to combined practices starting Tuesday and there's an emphasis switch from technique, installation and assignment to more playingSome quick hits on the Summer newcomers:Brandon High - He's built, a solid rock at 220 and very quick. Not a lot of wiggle but good burstKendrick Raphael - Bigger than I had imagined and a very muscular 200. Quick feet, looks natural as a pass catcher, not quite the explosion of High and Johnson. More wiggle and lateral agility than Brandon and LJLJ Johnson - Bowling ball build, powerful lower body. Quicker than I had thought. Runs with power, catching the ball may be a development area for himThe above three look, practice and play like grown men and you can see the difference relative to Wiley and League in terms of physical development and practice demeanorTyson Ford - Big man, huge frame, moves well.Jordan Sanford - He can run, looks like a hybrid safety/CB typeQuimari Shemwell - Thin but with a lot of twitch and juice. I can imagine him playing a lot this year. Chris Victor - Mature frame and looks the part of an OLB, had a really good 1v1 pass rush rep TJ Bush - Big person, very thick lower body. Played opposite McCulloch. Justin Hasenhuetl - He moves well and plays with a feisty edge. He popped at LT. Needs to add some weight, not quite sure he's 6'5+Harrison Taggart - Played with an old school neck roll. Looked like Bobby Bouchette out thereAnthony League - Had one nice run, looks naturally strong and a tackle breaker. Not super explosiveMark Hamper - He's strongly built, moves wellQuaron Adams - Twitchy and clearly can run. Can he consistently catch the ball?Jayden Dixon-Veal - Thin, twitchy player, made a few nice catches. Along with Adams, struggled fielding puntsLandon Morris - Broad shoulders and thinner legs. Fluid athlete. Looks like a jumbo WRBrent Austin - He played but didn't see him much as he was on the Student side boundary the entire practiceDaveion Harley - Not tall but solidly built, ran with the 2s today. Chase Murray - Didn't hit all his FGs in drills but he did in 11v11. Consistent strike, not a huge legAbram Murray - Big leg, slightly less consistent than Murray. He can hit from 55 and likely is the KO specialistZae Smith - Not tall, but long, long arms and he's a thick. Arms like a blacksmith. Quick get off and stout at the point of attack. Quarterback play: Not a ton to review here given the more constrained 11v11 they ran today. Both Brown and JKS had their moments. I liked Brown's decision making. Smart throwaways, a nice ball fake keeper and a really good read on a passing play where he tucked and run. Fast! JKS release and arm continue to impress. Had some show off moments in accuracy passing drills. Defense was ahead of the offense though I might give a slight nod to the OL vs DL on running plays. The secondary had a good day with a couple of nice pass break ups and a huge hit by Crosby on Grizzell and a deep seam routeA couple of way too early and perhaps obvious takes: The competition at NB and the Safety opposite Crosby are going to be fierce. Ditto on the OL, It feels like there's a top 9 or 10 emerging but the pecking order is far from obvious. WR appears to have more of a hierarchy but there are a lot of guys out there vying for snaps. Will be interesting to see who emerges as the #1 outside WRGuys who popped: Cade Uluave, Derek Wilkins, Luke Ferelli, Shemwell. Masses, Crosby, Manutai, Morrow, Robinson, DeJesus, Morris, Mini, High, Johnson (Note that I couldn't see everything and basically didn't see the WR/DB matchups on one side of the field during 11v11
2024 Roster vs. 2025 Roster - The Offense
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Cal Football Spring Portal Additions Arrive on Campus
Big group of 19 late signing period additions start their Cal careers this week
