Bears on the Mic For Their First ACC Football Media Days
CHARLOTTE, NC - In their inaugural season in the ACC, the Bears sent head coach Justin Wilcox, running back Jaydn Ott, quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza and Chandler Rogers and safety Craig Woodson to represent the program at this week's ACC Football Media Days.
Wilcox was first on the mic.
“It's great to be here,” Wilcox said of joining the ACC. “We're incredibly excited. I can speak for the coaches and the players. Not only the team, but our students, our alumni. We're going to visit some new venues, new teams coming in. Couldn't be more excited to be a part of the ACC this year.
The Bears are a somewhat unknown commodity to many ACC fans. Wilcox was asked what they should know about the program.
“Well, we've got a rich tradition," Wilcox said. “Reaches back a long, long time. Some great players and great teams throughout our history. It's a proud university. We take a lot of pride in the way the guys pursue their education, what they do after football, but also the product we put on the field.
“We’ve got some great representatives with us here, smart guys, tough guys. They love playing football. We're looking forward to competing at a very high level against the great competition in the ACC.
“Again, couldn't be more honored to be a part of the conference moving forward.”
The Bears will be logging the most travel miles of any team in the conference this season and making that adjustment has required a great deal of planning and thought in how to best go about the time and travel demands.
“We spent a lot of time on the logistics,” Wilcox noted. “Our administration has been incredibly supportive. Looking from 10,000 feet, we leave a day earlier. We make sure we got a big plane, the biggest one that Delta makes. The big lie-down suites. There's going to be a good number of players who are really, really comfortable.
“The coaches and administrators, we'll sit in the back. We'll make sure the guys are well-fed, Gatorade and water.
“In terms of our week, we have it all planned out. Leaving on Thursday, once we get back, what we need to do to make sure their bodies are taken care of.”
Late last season, the Bears were floundering with a 3-6 record after several close and winnable games went the other way but the program rallied to win their final three regular season games to see their first bowl game action since 2019. They hope to use it as a springboard for success in their initial ACC season this year.
“I think it kind of speaks to the guys that we have on the team,Wilcox said. “We had come off a really bad loss (to Oregon). For them to come together and finish the regular season like we did was really impressive.
“We got a lot of those guys back, most of 'em. Really proud of them. I think it shows the character they're made of. This is a new year, a new team. We got a lot of new faces. I think those things are important because you can learn from your past experiences. But we got a lot to do moving forward.
“They've had a great summer. We're ready to start fall camp next week. What we do from here on out is most important.”
Wilcox talked about the team’s preparation heading into their first season in the ACC.
“There's obviously great football in the conference,” Wilcox noted. “ACC from top to bottom, you look at the competitiveness. I believe last year it was the smallest margin of victory of any conference in the country. From top to bottom, the coaching and the players, quality of play, we know it's going to be really, really high.
“For us, it's really how good can we get from now until we play our first game and throughout the season. We need to be focused on playing better and better football.
“We have a ton of respect for the teams on our schedule and looking forward to competing against them.”
In 2023, the Bears faced three first round draft picks in conference play. The ACC also has it’s share of strong QBs. Wilcox was asked to compare the two conference’s QB talent.
“It's hard to compare teams and players,” Wilcox said. “We did play some really talented teams last year. We're going to play talented teams this year.
“The quarterback play in the league is very, very strong. Returning talent, then transfers. We also feel very strong about our quarterback room. We're looking forward to that challenge.
“I think throughout college football you're seeing rosters getting better and better and better with the movement that's happening in college football. We feel the same about our team.
“To compare one league to the other, this quarterback to that quarterback, I don't really like doing that. I just know we're going to face some really good teams and really good players. I also think highly of our roster and quarterback room.”
With helmet audio and other technological advances - some specific to the ACC - Wilcox was asked how that changes his coaching approach.
“I think it's great,” Wilcox said. “We actually used the headset communication in our bowl game last year. We'll work on it all throughout fall camp. We're going to work the tablets in fall camp. You have to be efficient. When you talk about coach-to-player communication, that can be a very beneficial thing.
“I'll open it up to more and more players, being able to hear. For right now, you have one on each side of the ball. I think the coaches and the players during the game being as efficient as possible with how we talk to them, that's something we're going to be emphasizing and work on as coaches to make sure when we're talking to our quarterbacks or inside linebacker, safety, we're not coaching them on what happened last play. You give them a nugget and the play call, then we're moving forward.
“Once in a while, coaches, we can get a little too involved. I don't know that giving them too much information helps them. We want to be lean and mean on the information we give them so they can go out and apply it the next play.
“When it comes to the tablets, being very efficient on the sideline, what you are looking at, making sure you're identifying the plays from the press box that you need to talk about on the sideline before you get to that point.
“I think it's all about efficiency. We're going to be practicing that throughout fall camp.”
Next, Wilcox was asked about the promotion of OL coach Mike Bloesch to offensive coordinator and his expected impact.
“He's done that before,” Wilcox noted. “Mike has a history of calling plays, running the offense. He had a lot to do with our transformation last year in terms of the success of the run game, and at the offensive line position. We're looking to take another step there.
“From year to year, you're always going to have wrinkles and changes because your roster changes. We’ve got a great offensive staff. Really excited about Mike, he being the play-caller. We got've really good cohesion on that side of the ball.
“Will it look a little different? Yeah. I think that's common from year to year. There's been really no disruption in terms of language and teaching. We're looking forward to getting him to the first game.”
Wilcox was asked about players he’d like to highlight or developing players who might have an impact this season.
“There's some guys we want to highlight right here. We have four of them sitting in front of you.
“That's the beautiful thing about college football: from year to year there's going to be guys that maybe it's because of the physical development or their experience, a year older, the game has slowed down for them.
“We have some ideas on who that might be, but you never really know until you get to game time. That's when you truly see it come out.
“There were guys last year that you could look at on offense and defense. You could talk about Trond Grizzell and Fernando, on defense Cade Uluave, a Defensive Freshman of the Year last year. A year ago would we have known that was going to happen? We were hoping, but you're never quite sure. You haven't seen enough.
“Guys mature at different rates. I'm excited to see who that's going to be this year. I think there's a lot of good candidates. Our net talent has improved significantly. I'm looking forward to seeing some of those position groups fight it out during fall camp to see who is going to get the reps.”
The Bears open their road season with consecutive road games at Auburn and Florida State. He was asked if he ever pictured accumulating so many travel miles, especially so early in the season.
“Well, I guess if you would have asked me two or three years ago, I probably wouldn't have thought of that.
“I'll tell you this, we're glad to be doing it. We're excited to play, to be in the ACC.
“As far as the schedule goes, yeah, it is a bit different. Is there more miles? Yeah. But we're going to be comfortable. We're going to leave early, we've got a big plane, we've got Gatorade and water. Air travel is amazing. They'll be more comfortable than they are sitting right now.
“The schedule is what it is. We're excited to go play these teams. What's most important is that we prepare the best that we possibly can so we can play good football. But the travel will not be an excuse to not play well.
The Bears return one of the nation’s top running backs in junior Jadyn Ott. As the Bears’ running game goes, so goes their offense.
“It starts there,” Wilcox commented. “If you want to have a great offense, it's really hard to do it being one-dimensional. To be able to run the football, obviously we have an exceptionally talented back in Jaydn. That O-line has come a long way.
“Being able to incorporate that passing game, the RPO game is everything. You’ve got to score, put up points, be able to run the football.
“We're excited about taking another step. As you mentioned, we had some really good games running the football. What we need to do now is got to be more consistent. That consistency in performance week in and week out of moving the football, running the football, putting points up, doing whatever is necessary. That's the goal of the offense and the guys sitting up in front of you.”
Next up was redshirt soph QB Fernando Mendoza.
Fiirst of all I want to thank everyone from the ACC for having myself, Chandler, Craig, Coach Wilcox and Jaydn here. We all appreciate it. Thank you for your support.
“Getting into that question, as you said, the last three regular-season games we had, we were on a three-game win streak especially after a brutal loss against Oregon.
“That speaks to everyone in the locker room. I think the locker room culture doesn't get talked enough about in college football. We have a strong locker room culture here at Cal. We all came together as players and said, We're going to do this thing. Three games left, we need three more to make a bowl game, we're going to do it.
“We put our heads to it. It was pretty unlikely to beat a ranked Washington State, a rivalry game against Stanford, and a previously ranked UCLA.
“Coming together as a team, not quitting on each other, putting our best foot forward, our preparation and effort in practice, our resiliency, really launched us forward into a bowl game, and even more momentum this year.”
Mendoza was asked about his mental adjustment coming into the season with seven starts under his belt and about his level of optimism for his team this season.
“There's a ton of optimism with this team,” Mendoza said. “Last year, I was third string, didn't have much playing experience. This year I believe seven games under my belt.
“But the goal is the same throughout fall camp, to be a better football player. The more I can improve my talents, my chemistry with my teammates, whether it's talking to Coach Wilcox, Coach Bloesch, Coach Gilbert, my teammates, I'm going to do that.
“I know all my teammates and myself included, we're going to prepare our best we can for week one, UC Davis.
“Having more experience this season, especially with the transfer portal era, everybody on the entire team, offense and defense, we've done a great job with team chemistry.
“Locker room culture, it's huge, especially at Cal. I think that it's going to be something that carries our optimistic faith from last year and spring it into this season with a new conference.”
Mendoza was asked about the rivalry Cal and Stanford will carry over into the ACC.
“First off, talking about the Stanford and California rivalry, I'm from Miami, Florida. I'm from the East Coast. I was an ACC kid growing up. When Cal was my only scholarship offer, I was honored and blessed and so thankful that Coach Wilcox took a chance on me.
“First year, I was a signal caller. Now it doesn't really matter because we have the helmet. I was actually the fake signal caller. I was doing little whips and sprinklers and stuff. I looked like a fool. We played Stanford at home. That was our sold-out game that year. It was crazy. After the game everyone stormed the field, alumni came up to me shaking and hugging me while crying. Thank you so much. I'm like, I'm the fake signal caller, man. I would love to think...
“Being a scout team quarterback that year, I helped the team. At that moment it really showed me how much that rivalry meant. That's something we look forward to continuing. As long as I've been here, Jaydn has been here, I know Craig has had his fair share of big-game victories, it's something we look forward to sharing with our older and new teammates that we got through the transfer portal and new ACC fans.”
After the 2023 season, QBs Sam Jackson and Ben Finley transferred out of the program after Mendoza took the reigns. The Bears added experience QB Chandler Rogers to push Mendoza for the starting position this season.
“Chandler is a sixth-year quarterback, a lot of football under his belt,” Mendoza noted. “Quarterback competition and competition in general, whether you might be uncomfortable with it, you're comfortable with it, it always makes you be a better player. As I referenced before, my goal is to be the best player I can be at the NFL camp. Chandler is helping me do that because he has a ton of experience, probably over thousands of college football game reps. That's something that's invaluable. That's something that I've learned from playing seven games last season, from my first game to my seventh game, I saw how you can grow so much as a player physically and mentally. That's something I'm excited we have on our offense.
“Especially as an aspiring leader on the team, when you're able to welcome in competition, there's nobody else on the team that can be, Oh, I don't want to compete. No matter who you are, if you're Jaydn, All-American running back, in a competition battle at another position, there's going to be competition at Cal. I think that's a great culture that Coach Wilcox embraces.”
Rogers was next on the mic. He was asked about his impressions of the program coming in for spring ball and working with the team.
“Coming into the spring, I definitely noticed that everybody is very hardworking,” Rogers noted. “This is a very family environment here. My first day here, everybody welcomed me with open arms. I was a brother from day one.
“The next thing I would say definitely going through spring, very, very talented on both sides of the football. Especially our defense, they're very aggressive. That's the reason why they led the nation in turnovers last year.”
Rogers was asked what brought him to Cal in portal and what he sees as his role this season with the Bears.
“To answer your first question, what brought me to Cal, first and foremost, I had an established relationship with this current staff from Coach Wilcox, Coach Bloesch, to specifically I had an opportunity to come here last year but things didn't quite work out,” Rogers said. “Entering the portal again, it was a mutual interest. Like I say, what's nice comes twice. I really believe in this opportunity. I know they have a lot of returning production coming back. Going to be in the backfield with Jaydn Ott. Why not?
“To answer the second question, I didn't come here to sit. As well as Fernando, he's here to play as well. The goal is definitely to help this team win games.”
Rogers was asked about the difference between his three prior programs and what’s he’s experienced so far at Cal.
“The biggest difference is obviously the resources and the money involved that goes into the recovery and the nutrition as well as just the football stuff. We have the sleep pods here, that really helps with recovery as well.
“Just being at ULM, for example, we weren't provided meal plans. There was no way for us to eat. In Texas, we had meal plans. There's just a lot more money invested here, the people, alumni, and boosters really care about us. They really give us money to help this program be great.”
Junior running back Jadyn Ott was up after the QBs. Following his season where he finished second in the nation in yards per game, Ott was asked his strategy to maximize his yardage.
“Take my linemen out to eat,” Ott said with a smile. “During practice, I take care of those boys. We split up our groups during conditioning. We have the bigs, they'll run before the skills. I like to come out there early, make sure I have the water bottle in hand. Whenever they're tired, I make sure I'm there.
The talented RB was asked about the response to his humorous tweet leading up to their Independence Bowl game from Cal fans after he hinted he’d be hitting the portal.
“Oh, man, it wasn't even my idea,” Ott said. “That was Max's idea, our video guy back there.
“A lot of people were worried. But I'm a Cal dude.”
Ott was asked his thoughts on potentially breaking the Cal career rushing record of 3,367 held by Russell White and doing it in a new conference.
“That's an awesome feeling,” Ott said. “Being able to play some new competition, the ACC has a lot of rich history. These are some teams that I've watched growing up. I also have some buddies and family. My cousin D.J., he's playing at Florida State. We'll see him again this year.
“I'm excited, man. As far as the records or whatever, I don't even know. The only record I know is the one that mentioned earlier, a thousand or so yards away from breaking the Cal record.
“It's exciting, for sure.”
Last on the mic was safety Craig Woodson. He was asked about his expectations facing ACC defenses after playing against so many top offenses last year in the Pac-12.
“I really haven't had the chance to actually scout the offenses in the ACC, not yet,” Woodson said. “But I'm excited to play these guys.
“I have a lot of experience playing great quarterbacks, like playing against Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, all those guys last year. Already know, like, what I'm looking forward to when it comes to those game days.
“Also, a lot of talk about people being bigger in the ACC. Man, I'm ready to play that tough football, so... I'm down for whatever.”
The Bears led the nation in interceptions last season but also gave up far too many yards in the process. After bringing in several talented portal and JC defensive back transfers, the veteran safety was asked about his expectations for the defensive backfield this year.
“I just expect us to make a lot of plays on the ball,” Woodson noted. “Do it again. We led the nation in takeaways, but we got a lot more to show this year. Going to be a lot more aggressive on defense this year, a lot of pressure. But also having the guys in the back end that are going to be able to handle those receivers we're going to be seeing this year. I'm ready for the challenge.
Woodson was also asked to describe the Cal and Stanford rivalry.
“With both teams, when it comes to our schedule coming out each year, we see Stanford on the schedule, we’re ready to go, man,” Woodson said with a smile. “When it comes to that game, the preparation, the intensity of it is just crazy. Everybody is dialed in. Everybody is going to sleep early. Everybody is staying extra for film, doing extra after practice because we have to dominate those guys across the bay.
“For everybody who doesn't really know about the rivalry, I would say just watch the game. Tune in this year and you going to see what it's all about.”
Woodson wrapped up by talking about the defensive backfield’s chemistry.
“We're just a bunch of guys who like to compete, a bunch of guys who like to push each other every day,” Woodson noted. “This off-season workouts, conditioning, the weight room, we're competing and pushing each other to be better.
“When it comes to being on the field, we have a lot of chemistry. We hang out outside of football. We're all really close. I think we just know what to expect with each other. We know we got each other's back. That translates to being on the field and making plays.”
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