Wilcox Staying Up to Date on Players' Progress

This week was scheduled to be the break in Cal spring football practices. Pro Day was scheduled for Friday, March 20, with regular sessions resuming April 1.

However, March 11, the fourth of 15 scheduled sessions was the last one held. Officially the Bears suspended practices only through March 30. But because the entire spring sports schedule has been canceled and no end in sight for the isolation decrees in sight,  no one expects the spring football season to resume at all.

In addition to the obvious issue of missing practice, coach Justin Wilcox and his staff face the logistical challenge of guiding their players through this period of mandatory isolation. They haven’t been idle.

"There is no way to completely simulate our players being on campus, but we are certainly communicating with them on a regular basis,” Wilcox said in an email to Bear Insider. “Although we certainly want to continue helping them with their football development and fitness, the primary focuses of those check-ins are academics and their general health and well-being.”

“We recognize that these are difficult times for so many people and their families, and we want to show our understanding of that in the way we interact with our student-athletes."

Hands-on academic support has been a major factor in the Cal football program for decades. Even though in-person assistance has been virtually eliminated, the program carries on.

"Our student-athletes do still have extensive access to academic support remotely through many technological means including video conferencing,” Wilcox said. “Academics are always very important to us, and our student-athletes' accountability to academics hasn't changed even though the setting has. They remain responsible for all classwork, tutoring, study groups, etc. As always, both our academic support staff and coaches are closely monitoring our student-athletes' academic progress."

In addition to maintaining their studies, the players have to take care of their bodies. Keeping fit in a time of gym closures can be challenging.

"There are many ways to maintain a certain level of fitness,” Wilcox said. “And with the guidance of our strength and conditioning staff, our players are doing what they can."

One of the strengths of the 2019 team was the fact it was so close-knit. Players, especially the offensive linemen, talked about how much time they spent together off the field. Group meals, parties, outings, and even study sessions helped bring them together and that, in turn, boosted on-field performance. 

"There is no way to fully replace or replicate the time spent together on or off the field,” Wilcox said. “But fortunately the technological advances in our society, especially in regards to communications, still allow us to communicate and interact at a relatively high level even when isolated.

“I know that coach (Angus) McClure has been quite innovative with our offensive linemen. One of his activities has been to use a game-based online educational tool called Kahoot! to quiz our guys on a bunch of things."

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