Monday Spring Practice Report: Bears Take the Field After Short Offseason

The Cal football was back on the practice field Monday less than two months after the conclusion of the 2018 season. The first “spring” practice of the new year was held in wintry conditions, with chilly temperatures and a light rain.

That didn’t bother Justin Wilcox.

“It was great,” Wilcox said after the 90-minute workout. “As soon as the season, ends you start counting down days until you can get back out on the field. For us it’s good to have early spring ball for a number of reasons.”

One player who was particularly eager was outside linebacker Cameron Goode, who was seeing his first action since he was injured in the season-opening game last year against North Carolina. During the winter, there was some doubt about how soon he would be able to be a full participant, but he was back on the field.

“He has gained some weight,” Wilcox said. :”He’s at 233 pounds (225 last year). He is full-go but he hasn’t played in a long time, since the first game of the year. We are going to watch his reps, but he’s full go.”

Another player who had some injury issues is wide receiver Ricky Walker, who turned in one of the better plays in full team drills Monday. He cradled a sideline pass from Chase Garbers just before stepping out of bounds. He moved from defensive back to wide receiver last spring.

“We are excited about Ricky’s spring because he’s been healthy now for a considerable amount of time,” Wilcox said. “That had been something that kind of held him back. This spring will be big for Ricky. He’s got some tools and now we’ve just go to out and kind of refine those things get into a groove more than he has in the past.”

One of the bigger tasks this year is replacing veteran center Addison Ooms. Matthew Cindric and Tanner Prenovost took most of the reps during the team drills. Veteran lineman Michael Saffell is also a candidate, but he is not yet a full participant in spring drills.

“Obviously Mike can play some center,” said tackle Jake Curhan. “He took some reps at center. Matt Cindric is getting a lot of those reps. Some of the young guys are taking reps and getting better at it.

:”The thing about playing offensive line, the more you play, the more game reps you get the  better at any position you get at seeing what’s going on on the other side of the ball and anticipating what’s going to happen.”