Showcase Brings Spring Football To A Close
The California football team held its annual Cal Football Spring Showcase on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at California Memorial Stadium to close out its 2024 spring practice sessions.
A 60-play scrimmage over two 11-on-11 team periods highlighted an afternoon that also included tackling and fourth-and-one competition periods, a red zone knockout drill, and three special teams periods.
"We tried to create some different competitive situations," Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox said.
The Bears scored six touchdowns during team periods with quarterback Belay Brummel throwing for a pair of touchdowns and running for another with Nate Rutchena and Marquez Dortsch on the end of his 16 and 4-yard scoring tosses. Fernando Mendoza also had an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tobias Merriweather, while Dean-Taylor Chapman and Jaivian Thomas picked up 2-yard and 1-yard scoring runs.
Mendoza and Trond Grizzell had the biggest play of the day when they connected on a 60-yard pass on the first play of the opening team period.
Mendoza completed 7-of-10 passes for 92 yards with one touchdown, while Chandler Rogers was 4-of-10 for 29 yards with an interception. Brady Weingart was 3-of-4 for 37 yards with an interception, while Brummel was 2-of-3 for 23 yards with his two TD throws.
Cole Boscia had a game-high four receptions for 20 yards to lead 12 receivers with at least one catch.
Byron Cardwell posted 11 carries and 61 yards on the ground to pace nine different Golden Bears who carried the ball.
Aaron Hampton led the defense with seven tackles and 1.0 tackle for loss (-3 yards). Akili Calhoun (-8 yards), BJ Jones (-8 yards), Murphy Glasgow (-7 yards), Stanley Saole-McKenzie (-5 yards) each had a single sack.
Cam Sidney and Mayze Bryant each had an interception.
Off the field activities included the launch of the Cal Football Summer Reading Challenge hosted by Jaydn Ott and Jack Endries, fan field goal and passing competition exhibitions and numerous in-stadium and Pac-12 Network interviews.
2024 California Football
Cal will be in its first season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024. The campaign begins Aug. 31 with a nonconference home game against UC Davis, while the Golden Bears' inaugural ACC conference game is scheduled for Sept. 21 at Florida State. Cal will host four home ACC contests in its first campaign as members of the league with Miami (Oct. 5), North Carolina State (Oct. 19), Syracuse (Nov. 16) and Stanford (Nov. 23) visiting California Memorial Stadium. In addition to the season-opener against UC Davis and four ACC games, the Bears welcome San Diego State (Sept. 14) and Oregon State (Oct. 26) to Berkeley.
Cal begins a five-game road schedule Sept. 7 by traveling to Auburn in the return contest of a home-and-home series with the perennial SEC powerhouse and will follow the Florida State trip with ACC road tilts at Pittsburgh (Oct. 12), Wake Forest (Nov. 8) and SMU (Nov. 30).
The ACC Championship Game is slated for Dec. 7 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
All Cal games are on Saturdays other than a Friday contest at Wake Forest, while the Bears have byes in Weeks 5 and 10. Kickoff times and television networks for all games will be announced at later dates.
Cal features a national honors candidate in junior running back Jaydn Ott, who rushed for 1,315 yards and 12 touchdowns on 246 carries last season while leading the Pac-12 and finishing ninth nationally with an average of 109.6 rushing yards per contest. Ott earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors and was an honorable mention All-American pick of Phil Steele in 2023. In his first two seasons at Cal, he has rushed for 2,212 yards and 20 touchdowns on 416 carries over 24 games and 22 starts. Ott will begin his 2024 junior campaign within 1,155 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns of Russell White's all-time school records of 3,367 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns on the ground.
All six players from Cal's 2023 Independence Bowl squad that were honored on the All-Pac-12 Team last season return in 2024, with Ott joined by second-team punter Lachlan Wilson, honorable mention choices in outside linebacker David Reese and defensive back Craig Woodson, and a pair of freshman honorees in Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year inside linebacker Cade Uluave and Freshman Offensive Player of the Year honorable mention selection quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Uluave and tight end Jack Endries were also 2023 Freshman All-American picks with Uluave a three-time first-teamer (College Football Network, FWAA, The Athletic) while Endries earned first-team recognition from College Football News and second-team honors from The Athletic, in addition to being an honorable mention choice of the College Football Network.
Cal returns a total of 16 players who made at least six starts in 2023.
The returnees will be joined by a 2024 recruiting class that includes a transfer portal group that currently ranks No. 8 nationally according to On3Sports after reaching as high as No. 6. The recruiting class currently totals 30 scholarship players, including 18 who joined the Bears as mid-year enrollees in January.
Cal has also made coaching changes on the offensive side of the ball in 2024, including the promotion of Mike Bloesch to offensive coordinator/offensive line coach just before the 2023 Independence Bowl after he served as offensive line coach/run game coordinator during the regular season. Bloesch's 2023 offensive line provided room for Ott to run and was credited with much of the team's improvement on the ground last season with the Bears' 172.8 rushing yards per game average the program's highest since 2012.
In addition, Cal has added Sterlin Gilbert as passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach and former Cal standout offensive lineman Mike Saffell will coach the tight ends.
2024 California Football Schedule
Date – Opponent
Aug. 31 – UC Davis
Sept. 7 – at Auburn
Sept. 14 – San Diego State
Sept. 21 – at Florida State*
Oct. 5 – Miami*
Oct. 12 – at Pittsburgh*
Oct. 19 – North Carolina State*
Oct. 26 – Oregon State
Nov. 8 – at Wake Forest*
Nov. 16 – Syracuse*
Nov. 23 – Stanford*
Nov. 30 – at SMU*
Dec. 7 – ACC Football Championship Game+
Home Games In Bold At California Memorial Stadium; *ACC Game; +Bank Of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC; All Games On Saturdays Other Than Friday At Wake Forest; Kickoff Times And Broadcast Television Networks To Be Announced At Later Dates
2024 Cal Football Season Tickets
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