That's a whole lot of nothing, other than the obvious. Wilcox has no answers for fixing the disaster that is the Cal football team. And yet, Knowlton thinks he's doing a great job!
Photo by © Kelley L Cox USA Today
Cal Football
Wilcox Press Conference: Injury update and some thoughts
Head coach Justin Wilcox had a Zoom press conference on Tuesday, he offered an update on injuries and discussed some areas where they Bears desperately need to improve.
The most distressing news is that nose guard Stanley McKenzie, who was injured ten days ago against Washington and did not play in the loss to Washington State on Saturday, would not be back this season.
He also said that linebacker Kuony Deng, who has missed three games, will be out, “for the foreseeable future.” Deng, the senior who is one of Bears' key defenders, was hurt against TCU on Sept, 11.
The other injury updates were more encouraging.
Running back DeCarlos Brooks will be week to week. Wide receiver Nikko Regmigio, who had to leave the WSU game, “is feeling better. He’s day to day.”
Offensive tackle Will Craig, “got nicked up earlier in the game. Tried to continue to go and couldn’t quite do that. It will ge a day-by-day assessment for Will. He was out there getting some exercise yesterday.”
Linebacker Evan Tattersall was injured last week, but was given clearance to play. However he never saw the field.
The pass rush against Washington State was virtually non-existant. WSU had 42 pass attempts, but the Bears managed but one sack.
Wilcox said the Bears are doing pretty much all they can. He said better effort is needed from both players and coaches.
“We’ll put the guys that we think can best help us win on the field we’re not hiding anybody, or holding anybody back from the personnel,” Wilcox said. “The pass rush, there are times when we are going to bring three rushers, four rushers, five rushers, even six rushers. And we did that during the game at different moments. We need to be better at pass rush. The other teams have schemes, too. They have protections and there is only so many times when you are going to get free runners with pressure. Most times when you affect the quarterback you are winning the one-on-one in some way, shape or form. We need to do a better job in some of those one-on-one situations in affecting the quarterback. Getting him off this spot, sacking him, getting him on the ground. We didn’t do a good enough job of that.
“I don’t know that we’ve done a great job.. There have been spurts during the year when we’ve done better than others. But as a whole that’s an area we should certainly improve upon. Again, it’s the coaches providing instruction and the players being accountable to doing that on Saturday.”
And the reverse is true. Cal has had trouble protecting Chase Garbers, and that was especially true against Washington State.
“I felt like we took a step backwards,” Wilcox said of the offensive line. “We didn’t protect real well. We didn’t block the run game real well. Across the board we didn’t block real well.”
For the third time this year, there was an issue with the snap on a placement try. This was a low snap on a PAT that holder Jamieson Sheahan could not handle.
When asked if there might be personnel changes, Wilcox took a long time to give a non-answer.
“Specialists have a unique job in football. It is a repetitive skill different than some of the position players because it is one thing they are asked to do over and over again,” he said. “ We’ve had some guys who have been really good at it, and there are times in people’s careers when they are just a little bit off. And we’ve got to help them in every way possible. Whether it’s our meetings, or the drill work, or putting them at ease so they can trust their technique, their training and their ability to get that job done again.
“We are going to work with all the specialists, based on what they need as individuals. It is a different skill than some of the position players because it is over and over again. Sometimes you get a little bit off. You can try too hard.”
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Veteran DBs came into the year overrated.