Fall Camp Day 1 Report

BERKELEY, CA -Under perfect 70-degree temps and blue sky, the Bears' quest for the Pac-12 title officially kicked off with today's fall camp opener at Memorial Stadium.

“The energy as was great and there was a bounce in their step,” said Wilcox. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover before the season.

“Improvement every day with coaches and players alike (is the goal). There are a couple of positions that are contested, as usual, but things will work themselves out.

“The guys came in from summer conditioning in great shape but there’s nothing like putting helmets and pads on. It’s a different kind of conditioning you can’t simulate.”

At last week’s Pac-12 Media Day, head coach Justin Wilcox noted that if the season were today, redshirt junior Purdue portal transfer QB Jack Plummer would get the starting nod. If anything, today’s QB performances only further highlighted the strength of his grip on the position so far.

“I would say his comfort level and how vocal he is and his leadership he provides being brand new and learning the playbook (is impressive),” noted Wilcox. “You saw it some in the spring and in the summer, his demeanor and how he leads the team -both those guys (Plummer and Milner), it’s just a natural progression.”

With it being the very beginning of camp, there was more of a focus on positional drills today rather than more competitive 7x7 and 11x11 action but even with the more limited number of live reps, Plummer’s accuracy and ability to complete balls at all levels stood out.

Primary starting QB competitor Kai Millner was not at his best, tossing an interception as well as a couple of errant passes as he works to round into game-ready sharpness. Ditto for presumable #3 QB Zach Johnson, who had an INT of his own. New arrivals 6-5/215 Fernando Mendoza and 6-6/230 frosh Louisville transfer Tyler Jensen both also got plenty of turns, displaying strong arms, as well.

The usual suspects from spring ball hauled in several nice receptions on the session, including presumed starters Jeremiah Hunter, Mavin Anderson and J Michael Sturdivant as well as receivers Tommy Christakos, Justin Baker and Mason Starling, as well as tight ends Kaleki Latu and Jermaine Terry. Being a shorts and jersey practice, the defense only factored in essentially for pass coverage and running backs were only used for passes out of the backfield.

Several players who missed some time during spring ball, including linebackers Jackson Sirmon, Keleb Elarms-Orr, Blake Antzoulatos and Patrick Hisatake were back in action as well as likely safety starter Craig Woodson opposite 1^st team preseason all-conference safety Daniel Scott, back for his sixth and final season. Wilcox announced that defensive linemen Derek Wilkins and Stanley McKenzie are expected to miss the season with injury and return in January and redshirt soph offensive guard Bastian Swinney and Mo Iosefa will be out in the shorter term but are expected back during camp. All-in-all however, the roster is about as healthy as one could hope to start fall camp.

The program hosted a football alumni bbq event in the plaza following practice, bringing back several previous players for the event in a nice nod to the program’s past.

Wilcox noted that the stadium will have new hi-def scoreboards that are bigger than their predecessors and “state of the art.”

Stay tuned for more from fall camp as well as our continued series on Fall Camp positional previews where we’ll next cover the defense as well as post-practice video interviews as available.

Related:

News and Notes as Fall Football Camp Opens

Fall Camp Preview: Quarterbacks

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