Spring Practice Day 5 -- Musgrave Talks About QB Competiton
After Cal’s fifth spring practice Wednesday, marking the one-third point in the 15 sessions, offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave was asked about the competition at quarterback, specifically the battle to be number two behind Chase Garbers.
Musgrave (above) said there was no clear leader yet, or if there was he was not about to disclose it.
One contender took himself out of the competition. Sophomore Jaden Casey announced Tuesday night that he was transferring.
“All of them are doing good things, they really are,” Musgrave said during a Zoom media session. “Yesterday, Jaden Casey went into the transfer portal, so he wasn’t out there today. We hope that he finds a good fit and can get a lot of good college football experience. And we wish him the best. But the other three guys got a lot of plays today.”
The “other three guys” are sophomore Zach Johnson, redshirt sophomore Spencer Brasch and redshirt junior Robby Rowell.
Musgrave gave brief descriptions of each.
Johnson: “Zach is real sharp. He can move, he’s got good speed. I don’t know if he’s as fast as Chase, but he’s close ...He can use his legs. He throws the ball, he throws it with anticipation early and the ball arrives when it’s supposed to on routes. He is doing a nice job thus far”
Brasch: “Spencer is a little bit taller (6-4), I call Spencer a flame-thrower. He can really throw the football, he can rope it across the field, down the field. He’s got good speed, too. He had a couple of good runs Monday in practice, where he went down the sidelines and created explosive runs with his legs. A good athlete and can really unleash the football hard and fast. ...I like the way Spencer’s mind works. He is fun to coach.”
Rowell: “Robby does a nice job, He had a terrific morning, threw a couple of touchdown passes in our red area period today. Had a good run, (He is) not as fleet afoot as the other three guys, but he can still move and is still a threat. When he gets his opportunities he always makes the most of them.”
Musgrave was asked about his young running backs. “The youngsters were great last year with Damien Moore being a youngster,” Musgrave said. “Chris Street has had some good sessions thus far (in the spring). DeCarlos Brooks from Chandler (Ariz.), when he touches the ball good things happen. It’s a good young stable.”
And Chris Brown continues to stand out among the veterans. “Chris had some solid things this morning,” Musgrave said. “We are throwing the ball more to Chris also. He has really reliable hands, So he caught some good throws today. In the third and fourth down period, critical situations, he made good catches. Got his pads going in the right direction up the field. He made good conversions on third and fourth down.”
Musgrave stressed that the Bears had to keep things simple last year, not only because of lack of practice time, but also because so many inexperienced players, particularly on the offensive line, were pressed into duty. He said the Bears hope to add some razzle-dazzle.
“We are ready to expand, we are ready to expand the run game now that we have the time required to make everybody feel comfortable in those schemes,” he said. “There will be some gap schemes when we pull guys, guards, tackles, centers. And there will be zone schemes as well.
“And we’ll try to throw in some trickeration if that’s a word (evidently it is) and get some gimmicks going to. We want to be difficult to defend and this is the time of year to practice trick plays, not during the season when they are one-week wonders. Now is the time to work on the exotics so we get plenty of turns at them when we dial them up in the fall.”
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