Small list this weekend after the big one last week for the spring game ...

Patrick McMorris, the SDSU transfer DB, is taking his official visit.

And there's one unofficial visit:

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Abajian is a serious OL target for them.

I'd expect some more transfer additions before the end of the month, but I don't have any leads just yet.

@Matt Moreno @Ryan Young there have been several requests for a rundown of potential targets still in play (transfers + JUCO). Will there be any info regarding this topic?

Are Onyiah and Leilani the only remaining Cal players on these posters hanging on the outside of Haas?

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BERKELEY – Amorrow Morgan, an up-and-coming star in the coaching ranks who helped lead Loyola Chicago to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021-22, has joined the California men’s basketball program as an assistant coach, head coach Mark Madsen announced Thursday.

A well-respected leader with 10 years of collegiate coaching experience, Morgan arrives in Bear Territory following two seasons spent at Loyola Chicago (2021-23), where he helped the Ramblers win 35 total games and capture the 2021-22 Missouri Valley Conference title in addition to its NCAA Tournament berth. Morgan’s previous stints include South Alabama and Nicholls State, among others.

“Amorrow has a deep knowledge of the game and has elevated every program he’s been a part of,” Madsen said. “He has strong relationships across the country and his passion for leading young men in both life and basketball is going to boost our program’s culture immediately. I’m elated to welcome Amorrow and his wife, Michelle, to the Cal family.”

Morgan was instrumental in the development of 2022 MVC Defensive Player of the Year and All-MVC first-team selection Lucas Williamson, as well as five other all-conference honorees in his two seasons with the Ramblers. In three seasons (2018-21) on staff at South Alabama – the latter two in which he held the title of associate head coach – Morgan aided the Jaguars in winning 54 games, including a 20-win season in 2019-20.

Prior to his time at South Alabama, Morgan was an assistant coach at Nicholls State, where he helped the Colonels to a share of the 2017-18 Southland Conference title and their most wins (21) since 1995. He played a key role in Roddy Peters earning the Southland Conference’s Newcomer of the Year award. Morgan’s coaching career started at the University of Illinois-Springfield in 2013-14 before he moved on to Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, where he helped guide the Saints to a 25-6 record, the Red River Conference regular-season crown and a trip to the NAIA round of 16. Before heading to Nicholls State, Morgan enjoyed a two-year term as an assistant at Henderson State.

“I’m extremely fired up and thankful to join Coach Madsen and the Cal family,” Morgan said. “Coach Madsen has won wherever he’s been; he’s a proven winner as a player and no different as a head coach. His energy is contagious and he knows how to bring the best out of everyone in his program. I’m excited to work with and learn from him daily. Cal basketball has a rich and growing tradition, and I’m ready to help our student-athletes and this program achieve at the highest level both on and off the court. Go Bears!”

Morgan is a 2012 graduate of Idaho State, where he earned a degree in sport management and was a two-time All-Big Sky guard. He was one of just 19 players in Idaho State history to earn multiple all-conference honors and was a three-year team captain before moving onto a three-year professional playing career in Europe, which included a season as the top scorer for the SC Itzehoe Eagles in Germany. He also has a master’s degree in public administration from Illinois-Springfield.

Morgan is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and is married to the former Michelle Bailey.

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Ballarmine quarterback Nate Escalada committed to Cal today as a PWO. He had a number of smaller programs interested including options in the Ivy League but he'll stay close to home at come aboard with the Bears. A dual-sport athlete (baseball) who also plays safety.

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so now players will just form their own “club” to solicit donations it looks like


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Justin Wilcox’s father and former 49er legend. Condolences to the Wilcox family.

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Cal is the latest offer for one of the hottest transfer players in the country, offensive guard Emmanuel Pregnon. The Bears are offer No. 21 for the 6-foot-6 Wyoming transfer since he entered the portal Saturday. Since doing so, schools such as Miami, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Penn State, Ole Miss and LSU have jumped in with offers. So far seven Pac-12 schools have offered the Denver native including Colorado, UCLA and Oregon. There are some NIL heavyweights on the list so it will not be easy to land him, but it’s an easy offer for the Bears to make.

Deepest condolences to Justin wilcox and his family.

Yikes this is horrid. Hope he recovers as best he can .


https://www.espn.com/college-footba...th-football-coach-buddy-teevens-leg-amputated

thought about adding P12 title and NCAA titles as options, but I think anybody most fans would consider a season that results with NCAA tourney bid a success... or am I setting the bar too low?

I'm fired up. I'm way more excited about Mad Dog than Pasternak or Abdur-Rahim... part of this is my Lakers fandom I'm sure, but dude made a career by being an effort guy and he's a dude who seems confident in who he is and has a plan. Go Bears!

Cal spring ball is now over after Saturday's showcase and I wrote about a few things we now know about the Bears after 15 practices with the current roster. There will be changes for sure, but based on what I saw over the last month there will be plenty of intriguing things to watch once training camp arrives.

Here's my updated photo gallery from yesterday and clips from the showcase as I put a bow on our first batch of spring ball coverage.


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Cal opened up its final week of spring practice Monday and it will be the first week with four practices meaning the players will be a bit more tested than they have been. Justin Wilcox stressed that he wants to see more "snap" and intensity the rest of the week as the Bears now move into crunch time with the spring schedule. There are truly only two more "work days" for the team left this spring since Friday's practice will be much more of a walk-through day than anything else.

There were some bright moments during Monday's practice and some signs of growth as the team heads into the final days of spring ball.

• The running back unit remains a bit thin with Byron Cardwell still sidelined with a right leg injury. However, the return of Jaydn Ott has come with plenty of big plays. The star Cal running back missed some time for undisclosed reasons but since he has been back he's looked better than ever. Monday was his best day overall and it started early. On the first play of the first team period he broke off a 26-yard run to the right and was virtually untouched as he showcased his explosiveness in the open field. In the second team period he followed up a nice 10-yard run from quarterback Sam Jackson V with a 66-yard touchdown run that again showcased his ability to get downhill and slice through the defense without much issue.

• The ground game continues to remain the strength of the offense up to this point, and what few running backs the team currently has available were able to have success once again today. The offense scored on the first two drives of the first team period, and the second touchdown came on an 8-yard rush for Ashton Stredick who continues to look like a player who could end up contributing in certain situations for the Bears this year to spell Ott and Cardwell.

• Cal's offense has started to build some momentum over the last couple practices, and there have been some sharper looking plays on that side of the ball. Jackson took fewer chances in Monday's practice but was still able to have success throwing the ball. In all the team scored three touchdowns during the opening team period and Jackson's group was part of two of them. He hit a wide-open Jeremiah Hunter for the second touchdown for the first unit on an 11-yard throw in the corner of the end zone on the left side of the field. He has looked most comfortable working to that side of the field so far this spring, and it was a nice play for the Bears quarterback.

Fernando Mendoza was part of two scoring drives Monday, and he played a big part in the last one of the day late in practice. He first found Trond Grizzell for 22 yards over the middle of the field with Grizzell showing some good concentration as Isaiah Young made a nice play on the ball. Mendoza, who has shown a knack for making some improvised plays this spring, was forced to scramble a bit and ultimately found J.T. Byrne with nifty shovel pass that the big transfer tight end took for an 7-yard score. Mendoza also found Kenden Robinson Jr. for a 7-yard touchdown in the 7-on-7 period early in practice.

• The defense continued to make some key stops and some of its best work came on later downs, which is a good sign. There weren't as many "wow" type of plays as they had earlier in the spring, but the first unit performed well throughout the practice outside of a couple of those big explosive runs from Ott. Nohl Williams continues to look like a star in the secondary, and he was impressive throughout the entire practice from the 1-on-1 portion through the team periods. He came up with a nice pass breakup working against Monroe Young to open the second team period, and he came through with a couple of wins during the early 1-on-1 period that you can watch below.

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• A lot of the usual suspects were impressive on defense as Myles Jernigan, David Reese and Kaleb Elarms-Orr all had solid days. Jernigan was able to consistently get pressure on Jackson throughout the day and forced a couple of throws out of bounds because of his ability to get in the backfield. He teamed up with Reese in one of those instances. Sergio Allen and Moso'oipala Tuitele had the two sacks on the day with Tuitele getting to Mendoza in the second team period forcing a turnover on downs while Allen did the same against Jackson early in the final team period on a fourth-down play. Ricky Correia had a big tackle for loss against Ott late in the practice while Muelu Iosefa and Nate Rutchena teamed up for a stop of Ott on fourth down as well late in practice.

• The first team offensive line was really impressive through the early part of practice with Brayden Rohme and Brian Driscoll both having successful days during the one-one-one and blitz pick-up portions of practice. Driscoll earned a big win over Jackson Sirmon in the BPU period while Rohme did a good job slowing down the speed of defensive backs Nohl Williams and Miles Williams.

• He likely isn't going to get a chance to do a whole lot this Saturday, but transfer receiver Brian Hightower is working himself into more parts of practice here in the final week. He was finally able to get on the field for the 1-one-1 and 7-on-7 periods of practice. He caught his first touchdown of the spring Monday on a 10-yard play with a pass from Mendoza during the 7-on-7 period. Getting his speed up should be a priority for the Illinois transfer this offseason as he continues to get healthy.

Unfortunately, my two interview requests (Burl Toler III and Jeremiah Hunter) were selected to be used at the media banner since it was a light media day, so that means no bonus interviews today for you all. However, let me know if there's anyone else you want to hear from before the week is out and I can do my best to make those happen.

You can watch the full media sessions with Toler and Hunter below:

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The Bears have now officially announced the hiring of Matt Scherbenske as assistant coach on Mark Madsen's staff. He worked at Cal under Mike Montgomery from 2011-14 as a grad assistant and video coordinator and was most recently in charge of recruiting at Texas Tech.

"Matt was instrumental in the roster-building success at Texas Tech the past two seasons and is a workhorse on the recruiting trails," Madsen said. "He knows what success at Cal looks like with his previous experience on Mike Montgomery's staff and he'll make an immediate high-level impact on our program and our student-athletes. I'm excited to have Matt wearing the Blue and Gold once again."

He went from Cal to Central Arkansas where he was an assistant and eventually associate head coach. He's got Kentucky roots and Under Armour connections as a former coach for the KC Run GMC squad based out of Kansas, which has had plenty of top tier players come through its program.

"I'm elated and thankful to return to Cal and help Coach Madsen lead this program back to its winning ways," Scherbenske said. "I first came to Berkeley more than 10 years ago and saw firsthand what it takes to make this program great. I'm excited to work alongside Coach Madsen and lead Cal men's basketball into a new era."

It's a very impressive visitor list this weekend for the Bears, including one official visit -- Houston OL transfer Cam'Ron Johnson (more on him in the link):


2024 unofficial visitors:

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CB Niko Clark, Chandler, Arizona

2025 unofficial visitors:

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The spring game production was awesome today. They really stepped their game up and you could feel the energy! Yet there was absolutely no dialog on here 🤔...Is Cal football dead to everyone!?!

Here's this weekend's visitor list for the Bears that will include tomorrow's spring showcase. Many of the visitors are already on campus and were at practice today including Akili Smith Jr., Tyler Knape, Caleb Mithcell Irving and Jayden "Duke" Scott. It was my first time seeing Mitchell Irving in person and he is a must-get type of guy in my opinion. He looks like he could suit up right now and play. Really impressive. There are also a bunch of commits/signees expected to be in attendance Saturday and there were already a few present at today's practice including Frederick Williams III.

Commits

2023 RB Jaivian Thomas, McClymonds
2023 DL Zurich Ashford
2023 DL Tiu Afalava
2023 OL Frederick Williams III
2023 DL RJ Stephens
2023 LS David Bird

2024

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2025

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Hearing some buzz about Vandy assistant Adam Mazarei. Don't have anything definite to tell you, but keep his name on your radar.

Got a bunch of interviews for you from today's spring showcase including Justin Wilcox, Sam Jackson V, Fernando Mendoza, Jeremiah Hunter, Trond Grizzell, Matthew Littlejohn and Craig Woodson plus I grabbed Myles Jernigan for a one-on-one interview as well. You can watch all those below:

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The day has arrived. The end of spring practice is today for the Bears and it will end with Cal's Spring Showcase. The day will mostly be a scrimmage but will still feel a bit like Practice No. 15 more than a true spring game. Still, there should be plenty to see and I'll try and keep you guys as updated as I can. For full transparency, I'll be focused on shooting game clips since it will be the first and only time I'll be able to record team periods before the season. I'll also be snapping some photos and doing as much as I can from the field on my phone.

The game is being televised by Pac-12 Network, so feel free to talk among yourselves if you are watching.

I will have full coverage of the day afterward for anyone who isn't able to make it out to Memorial Stadium or watch it live.

Beautiful day in Berkeley and it should be a fun one!

Ryan has been putting together this feature story on Sam Jackson V diving a bit into his past and the path that brought him here to Berkeley to lead the Cal offense. It's a good read and worth your time as it gives some more insight into the player currently in line to be the starting quarterback for the Bears this fall.

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I'm going to write a story on this with more comments from Spav, but he said today that Cal will be adding another scholarship quarterback this spring once the portal window opens again and he can evaluate the options. He is of the mindset of adding the best available player at the position, but based on what he said today finding a mobile quarterback with game experience is the priority. It sounds like experience is going to trump anything else when evaluating potential QB options. You can hear a portion of his comments in the clip above.

Cal has nearly reached the end of spring ball with only Saturday’s spring showcase remaining on the schedule. The Bears hit the field once more Friday for a shorter practice that featured just one team period. The day was mostly used as prep for the showcase to make sure the players and coaches are all on the same page ahead of tomorrow afternoon.

There were still enough live plays to get some more evaluations done, and here are some of the top takeaways and observations from Friday’s practice.

• As I mentioned in another thread, Jake Spavital plans on adding another scholarship quarterback to the roster before the start of training camp and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get some added depth to that group. So far, Sam Jackson V has not shown quite enough to be given the job straight away as of now, and Friday was another mixed bag for the TCU transfer.

He opened the practice strong with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Hunter in the 7-on-7 period early in practice. It was a great throw and Hunter was able to catch the ball in stride to beat the defense. There’s obviously no pass rush coming in 7-on-7, so Jackson had ample time to throw the ball but it was still an impressive play. Jackson two more really impressive plays during the live team period Friday including a 23-yard touchdown pass to Mavin Anderson over the middle on a beautiful pass. He also found tight end J.T. Byrne for a 22-yard connection on what was probably Jackson’s best play of the day. He scrambled to buy a bunch of time before hitting Byrne with a cross-body pass that was right on target.

The big issue for Jackson during Friday’s practice was making plays in some more high-pressure situations. The team worked a true 2-minute drill Friday and Jackson had a number of issues. The drive began at the -34 yard line and he wasn’t able to guide the first-team offense beyond midfield. He was forced to scramble on the two final plays of the drive but in one instance he tried a little too hard to make something happen wasting crucial seconds on the clock.

That play was one Spavital called out after practice as being something Jackson needs to improve on by the time the season arrives.

• Fernando Mendoza continued to make some impressive plays throughout Friday’s practice. Like Jackson, he was able to put the ball in the end zone during the 7-on-7 period with a 50-yard completion to Trond Grizzell with Mayze Bryant in coverage on the play. Mendoza also had nice completions to Jordan King for about 15 yards as well as a 15-yard toss to Chris Rogers on a throw that took some precision in traffic.

Mendoza was able to lead his group to a field goal in the 2-minute drill with a big play coming to Rogers on a 25-yard completion over the middle to push the second-team offense into plus territory.

• Defensively, Dejuan Butler came up with a pass breakup in the 7-on-7 period as did Kaleb Higgins working against Elijah Mojarro. Inside linebackers Sergio Allen and Kaleb Elarms-Orr each had strong plays during the latter part of practice with Allen being part of a scramble play in the 2-minute drill that ended with a tackle for loss against Jackson with 8.5 seconds left. KEO played well in coverage to keep Mojarro from catching a pass in the 2-minute drill to force a field goal.

David Reese came up with the tackle for loss that ended the drive for the first-team offense during the 2-minute period late in practice.

Myles Jernigan was in a boot on his right foot today pushing Myles Williams into the starting unit opposite Reese at outside linebacker.

• At this point, it doesn’t sound like Jaydn Ott will get much work during Saturday’s showcase and Spavital said he could be held out altogether as the staff tries to preserve some health at the running back position. Byron Cardwell remains out and was using a crutch but otherwise looks to be moving better after suffering a right knee injury earlier in the spring. Andy Alfieri and Aidan Lee would be the ones to step into those roles Saturday behind Ashton Stredick.

• 2025 QB Akili Smith Jr., 2024 running back Duke Scott and 2024 defensive lineman Caleb Mitchell Irving were a few of the recruits I noticed were allowed to watch practice from the field on Friday. You can see Smith in this photo below.



Video interviews

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Practice clips

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According to a BI post, Cal Athletics is going to forgo next season any mandatory donation to the men's basketball excellence fund; that is the good news. The bad news is that the price for courtside seats, not an inconsiderable amount, will more than double. Overall a net gain for donors like mysellf who want to redirect their donations from such excellence fund to Cal Legends NIL.