Football Spring Notebook
BERKELEY – Cal's weekend off was certainly earned with the work the Golden Bears put in Friday afternoon at California Memorial Stadium as the fourth week of the team's 2018 spring practices came to a close. There were eight live full-tackle periods during the second half of the workout in full pads after one during a 1-on-1 period earlier in the workout.
"We had some really good competition today," defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said after Friday's workout. "We probably had the most extensive live number of reps since I've been here. It's really good, in particular for our young guys, but it's good for everybody – having to make a tackle in space, having to finish a play is critical."
With the completion of the fourth week of workouts, the Cal Spring Football Game that brings to a culmination 15 spring practices is now on the horizon next Saturday, April 28 (11 am) at California Memorial Stadium.
"We've got four practices next week that are going to be critical for us to take that next step," DeRuyter said.
Below are a few notes from Friday's workout …
Several members of DeRuyter's defense made big plays but none were bigger than Camryn Bynum's interception of a Ross Bowers pass in the end zone off a Derron Brown deflection to thwart the offense on the final drive of the day during a 2-minute drill
The team's other interceptions were recorded by Chigozie Anusiem against Brandon McIlwain and Quentin Tartabull after Malik Psalms deflected a Chase Garbers' pass
Rusty Becker also had a huge play when he stripped McIlwain of the ball five yards behind the line of scrimmage and ran for another 15 yards to earn a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery with return yards all on the same snap
Jordan Kunaszyk and Malik Psalms recorded sacks during 11-on-11 work while Evan Weaver had one tackle for loss, and Alex Funches and Lone Toailoa picked up 0.5 TFL each
The offense had plenty of highlights Friday as well including the deployment of an impressive running game that scored four touchdowns on a 19-yard run by McIlwain, three-yard carries from Derrick Clark and Chase Garbers, and a memorable one-yard plunge into the end zone by Malik McMorris
Malik McMorris also had a three-yard touchdown catch while Jeremiah Hawkins had the other touchdown reception during 11-on-11 work on a 44-yard connection with Chase Forrest that was the longest play of the day
Derrick Clark led the team's ground game with 10 carries for 70 yards and his touchdown, while Hawkins was the leading receiver with his 74 yards on his two catches
Cal continued to rep all four of the quarterbacks with Ross Bowers (11-21, 128 yards) seeing the most action
Officials were on hand and flagged the Bears' offense and defense a combined six times for 30 yards
A few notes from earlier in the week included …
A memorable play Monday by Lone Toailoa when he made one of the defense's combined five turnovers (four interceptions, one fumble) by batting down a ball and then picking it off while simultaneously fighting off a blocker that he had been engaged with
Ashtyn Davis, Jaylinn Hawkins and Bryce Turner had Monday's other pics with Hawkins also forcing a fumble
Alex Netherda rushing eight times for 94 yards to lead the run game on Monday while adding one catch for nine yards and then scoring the offense's lone touchdown during 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 work on Wednesday on an 18-yarder from Chase Garbers
Another successful professional roundtable session after the team's Monday workout to allow current football student-athletes to network with some of the top professionals in the their field, including numerous UC Berkeley alumni.