Cal Football Spring Practice Day 1

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 1^st 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 3^rd team reps followed by 2^nd 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 2^nd team and 3^rd 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.