Cal Football

Wednesday Practice Report: Fine-Tuning for Oregon State

By David Bush

October 16, 2019

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The Bears on Wednesday held their last heavy-duty practice prior to Saturday’s home game against Oregon State.

Wednesday’s are usually devoted to practicing specific game situations. “It was a similar case today, we had a bunch of third downs and red zones, during competitive periods,” head coach Justin Wilcox said following the session. “We did some scout work. We spaced the workout a little bit differently this week (coming off a bye week), but we got the same amount of work done.”

When asked about the injury situation, specifically the six listed as “week to week” he said the situation was “the same as Monday.” In other words, we won’t know until Saturday.

Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said that he used the bye week to give some of his lesser-used players some meaningful practice reps, not only to improve but perhaps earn some playing time. He mentioned freshman inside linebacker Orin Patu as someone who made good use of last week.”I think Orin Patu may be in the mix this week as a pass rusher,” DeRuyter said. “He has really made some strides in the last couple of weeks.”.

Quarterback Devon Modster used the bye week to further familiarize himself with the Cal offense. “I think he did a good job,” Wilcox said. “He got a lot of reps in. The more he does that, he’ll get comfortable and get in rhythm with the receivers. And I expect him to improve….Mentally I think he’s in a good place with the playbook. There’s nothing that’s off-limits, so to speak. Each quarterback has certain things he likes to do better, but I think he did a nice job this week.”

Modster said the bye week was a chance to rejuvenate. “I’m feeling good,” he said. “A chance to rest our bodies, a lot of mental reps. So I think everyone’s feeling good and ready to get back on the field.”

While defensive backfield coach Gerald Alexander missed practice on Tuesday for the birth of his fourth child -- he and wife Krystina welcomed a daughter -- Wilcox was in charge of the DBs. He said he had a blast.

“It was great,” he said. “They’re a fun group to be around, extremely coachable, eager to learn. Go over corrections and game-plans and scripts. That’s why we all do this in the first place. ….None of us started coaching, or at least I didn’t, to stand here (in front of the media). No offense to you guys, but that’s why you do it, you go in there and you’re working with the players.”

Wilcox has some familiarity with Oregon State defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar because the two were on the Wisconsin coaching staff together in 2016. He was asked about Tibesar’s defense. “It’s multiple, in a lot of ways it looks like ours structurally,” Wilcox said. “We have a lot of similarities that way. Tim is a very good coach, very detailed. They’ll have wrinkles, they’ll game plan you first and second down for your normal down and distance. On third down, they are going to find ways to attack protections and get after you that way. He does a really good job.”