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Cal Football Spring Practice Day 1

March 12, 2025
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MEMORIAL STADIUM - The first day of spring practice took place under gloomy skies with wind and some drizzle but the weather did nothing to dull the spirits of a Bears football squad eager to get out of the weight room and onto the field.

The day featured two new QBs taking a lot of the snaps, with Ohio State redshirt junior Devin Brown‍ starting off the first team session taking 1st team reps and completing his first pass on a short connection to WR Tobias Merriweather after senior running back Jaydn Ott kicked things off on the first play with a nice run up the middle. Ott followed up his first run with an even better second run, with several quick cuts and good burst as he bounced the run outside. Brown also hit WR Kyion Grayes on a nice 15-yard completion.

Wilcox confirmed that Ott is 100% coming off last season’s injury and added, “He looks great.  He looks fit and strong. I think again, that off season weight program has been noticeable.”

Early in the session, OLB Ryan McCulloch had what would’ve been a sack with live action but with no contact allowed, Brown completed the pass for 10 to WR Trond Grizzell, who’s now sporting the #7. Brown also had the completion of the day, hitting WR Jacob De Jesus‍ for a 50-yard completion over cornerback Dru Polidore.

De Jesus shined today, also adding a quick reception where he juked several defenders for a nice gain and pulling in an impressive 30-yard grab when interfered with on a nice pass from frosh QB Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele‍, who started off taking 3rd team reps followed by 2nd team reps.

“He was as impressive as anybody in the winter conditioning,” Wilcox exclaimed. “Jacob does everything at one speed. That was from day one, when he got here, and then it was through every winter conditioning drill. It was very hard to beat in any competition that we had that showed up today. He's a veteran college football player. He guy that's going to help us, but his demeanor and an attitude and his competitiveness, he's just very special that way. I don't know if he was the most but there was nobody more competitive than him during that winter conditioning period. He's not the tallest receiver out there. He might be the most competitive."

Sagapolutele shined in much of the practice, also completing a perfectly place pass to redshirt frosh WR Trevor Rogers down the sideline along with a 25-yard completion to RS frosh WR transfer Dazmin James‍ as well as a 15-yarder to James‍, a 20-yarder to Endries and a 15-yard pass to frosh WR Meyer Swinney‍. Swinney also hauled in a 10-yard pass from Brown and a long TD from RS frosh QB EJ Caminong.

RS frosh QB EJ Caminong took 2nd team and 3rd team reps, looking a little rusty early but coming on strong later in the session. Caminong highlights included a nice 30-yard completion to WR Jordan King, a 10-yard completion to James as well as the long TD to Swinney.

Running back Jaivian Thomas has a couple nice runs, including a quick-hitter up the middle that likely would’ve gone for big yards. Running back Jamaal Wiley also had a nice run up the middle.

There was also a bit of trickeration during the session, with TE Jack Endries hauling in a nice 20-yard reception from a player not to be named to keep the play off future opponent’s radars.

The DBs were fairly solid, with nickel back Isaiah Crosby pulling in the only INT of the day, picking off a deep sideline ball from Brown that might not have been played as well as possible by Grizzell. Dayday Aupiu, Masses and Tristan Dunn also had pass breakups.

Wilcox noted that only two players would definitely miss all of spring practice.

"We're not into the Tour de France stuff around here," Wilcox said with a smile, referencing injured players on stationary bikes. "Unfortunately in the past, we've had a lot of guys, even in spring football, that were on the bicycle training for the Tour de France. But right now, there's really only two - Nick Morrow and Aiden Newbill out for spring."

The offensive line featured a starting lineup of Frederick Williams at LT, Jordan Moko‍ at LG, Tyson Ruffins‍ at center, Sioape Vakikani at RG and Braden Miller at RT.

The Bears will next be in action Friday morning at 9:30 in Memorial. Practices are open to the public through session 7.

Discussion from...

Cal Football Spring Practice Day 1

5,065 Views | 16 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by 95bears
ferCALgm2
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Is DeJesus 22? 22 stood out from short video!
MoragaBear
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Staff
Yup. He had a great practice and Wilcox said he's been really impressive since arriving
HungryCalBear
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Thank you for the report. What about Dominic Ingrassia? Did he get into the rotation?
BearForceOne
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Let's give all these guys (players and coaches) a big Go Bears for all the hard work they put in behind the scenes. I think a lot of us don't realize the amount of hard work and dedication they put in. I have a ton of respect for all the guys who do this for their love of the game.
MoragaBear
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Staff
HungryCalBear said:

Thank you for the report. What about Dominic Ingrassia? Did he get into the rotation?

No, he took part in the drills but didn't do any of the 7 on 7 or 11 on 11.
falseintellect
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Very excited. I think when Ron gets a real head coach in here next season JKS is going to be big time.
Bearly Clad
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BR I understand because their daily updates are on the insider board but some of these other outlets that have reporters at every practice and in the post-practice media scrum and they still have little-to-no content
91Cal
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Well, Calfootball on instagram/X has been very actively posting multiple clips per day during spring practice so there is that.
GCGBear
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Completely agree. Are they still doing the interviews after each practice (usu. a coach and 2 players)? I assumed not since no one is posting them or reporting on them. Coverage has gotten worse so I am not sure how we are all supposed to he all in.
6956bear
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GCGBear said:

Completely agree. Are they still doing the interviews after each practice (usu. a coach and 2 players)? I assumed not since no one is posting them or reporting on them. Coverage has gotten worse so I am not sure how we are all supposed to he all in.
Cal has not been providing coaches after the practices. BI and other fan sites have been running down some players and coaches for interviews. So there is not much to report on. Other than the action itself. And now the next 7 practices will be closed to all media. So good luck on getting any info.

This idea to close practices when you are trying to engage fans is silly. Not many folks can actually attend and BI and others are the eyes to the program during the Spring.
HearstMining
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91Cal said:

Well, Calfootball on instagram/X has been very actively posting multiple clips per day during spring practice so there is that.
Ah, ok. Fair enough. I don't use either social media site, but lots of people do. So, I withdraw my complaint.
91Cal
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HearstMining said:

91Cal said:

Well, Calfootball on instagram/X has been very actively posting multiple clips per day during spring practice so there is that.
Ah, ok. Fair enough. I don't use either social media site, but lots of people do. So, I withdraw my complaint.
All good! I don't really know how to build the buzz other than to win games. That is pretty much the only thing that will get all media more engaged.
calumnus
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91Cal said:

HearstMining said:

91Cal said:

Well, Calfootball on instagram/X has been very actively posting multiple clips per day during spring practice so there is that.
Ah, ok. Fair enough. I don't use either social media site, but lots of people do. So, I withdraw my complaint.
All good! I don't really know how to build the buzz other than to win games. That is pretty much the only thing that will get all media more engaged.


The Cal AD should be putting up stories and videos on Calbears.com, trying to build excitement and ticket sales around our returning RBs and potentially great QBs.
95bears
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calumnus said:

91Cal said:

HearstMining said:

91Cal said:

Well, Calfootball on instagram/X has been very actively posting multiple clips per day during spring practice so there is that.
Ah, ok. Fair enough. I don't use either social media site, but lots of people do. So, I withdraw my complaint.
All good! I don't really know how to build the buzz other than to win games. That is pretty much the only thing that will get all media more engaged.


The Cal AD should be putting up stories and videos on Calbears.com, trying to build excitement and ticket sales around our returning RBs and potentially great QBs.
That is one of the funniest jokes I have heard in ages. You want the Cal AD to market something?

You do know that fans had to pay for billboards around the Bay Area to promote Gameday, right? And they worked outside the AD, and that irritated them?
91Cal
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95bears said:

calumnus said:

91Cal said:

HearstMining said:

91Cal said:

Well, Calfootball on instagram/X has been very actively posting multiple clips per day during spring practice so there is that.
Ah, ok. Fair enough. I don't use either social media site, but lots of people do. So, I withdraw my complaint.
All good! I don't really know how to build the buzz other than to win games. That is pretty much the only thing that will get all media more engaged.


The Cal AD should be putting up stories and videos on Calbears.com, trying to build excitement and ticket sales around our returning RBs and potentially great QBs.
That is one of the funniest jokes I have heard in ages. You want the Cal AD to market something?

You do know that fans had to pay for billboards around the Bay Area to promote Gameday, right? And they worked outside the AD, and that irritated them?

Great reel here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/cal_football/3597848867523714531?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
95bears
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91Cal said:

95bears said:

calumnus said:

91Cal said:

HearstMining said:

91Cal said:

Well, Calfootball on instagram/X has been very actively posting multiple clips per day during spring practice so there is that.
Ah, ok. Fair enough. I don't use either social media site, but lots of people do. So, I withdraw my complaint.
All good! I don't really know how to build the buzz other than to win games. That is pretty much the only thing that will get all media more engaged.


The Cal AD should be putting up stories and videos on Calbears.com, trying to build excitement and ticket sales around our returning RBs and potentially great QBs.
That is one of the funniest jokes I have heard in ages. You want the Cal AD to market something?

You do know that fans had to pay for billboards around the Bay Area to promote Gameday, right? And they worked outside the AD, and that irritated them?

Great reel here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/cal_football/3597848867523714531?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
I think a lot of the things coming from Cal Football actually come from Marshall and the staff inside. I could be wrong but early on before his promotions Marshall was the social post creator and also I think cut the recruiting videos (and maybe still does both). He and others have mad chops producing content. No doubt the AD marketing team is doing something, but it's unclear what that is to me and general awareness of Cal football in the Bay Area is low.

Meanwhile, Stanford is marketing free tickets and game day events to high schoolers in Cal's backyard (EC, Lamorinda, Danville, etc.).
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