The defense continues to shine during spring ball as the Bears head toward the halfway point. Friday's practice, which will be the last until April 5, will serve as the second scrimmage day for the team. Justin Wilcox has his players focused on finishing this segment of the spring strong and he reiterated that after Wednesday's work at Memorial Stadium.
Here's a rundown of some notable takeaways after watching the team get back to work Wednesday.
• The energy was a bit of an issue Monday, but that wasn't the case Wednesday. The players seemed to be back and engaged as they near the end of this portion of spring practice. There weren't many miscues throughout the day and most of the team period were played with good intensity.
• I took far fewer notes today than I have in the other days as the two sides were a bit more even than they have been in recent practices. The defense continues to remain ahead of the offense in most areas, but the offense has been pushing along and is looking a bit more refined than earlier in the spring. There were three team segments on the day and each had some highlight plays on both sides of the ball.
Junior defensive back Isaiah Young was the star of the day during the team periods. After nearly having an interception early in practice, he was able to get one in the second team period when he snagged a pass away from Fernando Mendoza on a ball pushed down the field. Mendoza was definitely frustrated by the play as it was a pass that was nowhere near the receiver and would have taken a brilliant throw to complete. It turned into an easy pick for Young. He had a second interception on a 1v1 scenario to end practice and ultimately Wilcox had him break down the team afterward.
• Wednesday was a return to early-spring form for quarterback Sam Jackson. He still has been limited on his deep throws, but his running ability came alive again today, and it led to an impressive rushing score of about 45 yards for the TCU transfer. A lot of his work in the passing game during Wednesday's practice came in the rollout game. That was sometimes by design and sometimes not as the pass rush tended to get home often throughout the day. Jackson opened up the first team period with a pass to Monroe Young for about 25 yards that really sparked a nice showing for him when there was time to throw, of course.
• Young remains one of the top performers in spring so far and he has become a favorite target for Jackson. The veteran Cal receiver looks to be taking the next step in his development and seems to be poised to be a key part of the offense in a variety of ways for the Bears as they build the new system under Jake Spavital.
• As spring continues to play out it has become increasingly clear that the strength on offense is going to be running the ball regardless of how much progress Jackson makes. He along with Jaydn Ott and Byron Cardwell has a chance to be potent against any team heading into the fall. Cardwell, the transfer from Oregon, had the other big run on the day with a 55-yard score up the middle on a play that he showed great patience with. Cardwell waited for the hole to open up before making his move up the field and eventually broke away for the run.
• Defensively, the focus on making an impact at the line of scrimmage continues to shine. Everyone from the defensive line to the secondary has been making plays in the run game while also making life difficult on the quarterbacks in the passing game. Today was probably the most uncomfortable the quarterbacks have been in the pocket and there weren't many instances where they were able to hang in the backfield for long to make plays.
Craig Woodson and Nate Rutchena teamed up for a sack against Jackson early in the first team period while newcomer David Reese and Ieremia Ieremia were able to converge on Jackson for another sack in the second team period. Quarterbacks aren't allowed to be tackled, but both players were there and the play was called dead in both instances.
• Linebacker Blake Antzoulatos and Isaiah Young were the two defensive players that managed to bat down passes on the day while Mayze Bryant had a pass breakup on a play against Jaiven Plummer in the red zone. Another big play on defense came from defensive back Raymond Woodie III as he forced a fumble against Ott early in the second team period.
• Offensively, Mendoza had the big passing connection of the day as he hit Plummer down the field for close to a 50-yard play with Bryant in coverage during the second team period. Michael Luckhurst was used more than in any other practice, and he had a strong performance with a 44-yard field goal capping an solid day for the Cal kicker.
Media is not allowed to record any of the team periods, but you can see some of the one-on-one battles from today's practice in the clips below.
POST-PRACTICE INTERVIEWS
