My column and takeaway from everything we heard yesterday ...

Heard a rumor this morning he’s already got a huge Power 5 transfer inbound. Thinking season tickets could end up being a requirement this year.

@beeasyed pointed this one out to me

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not sure if Wilcox savvy 5* recruiting/closing, but hey good to see a local stud visiting

So far saw Ben Coleman and Longhetto have.

Cal returned to the field Wednesday for its first practice since late last month. The Bears have been on spring break, so it was a good opportunity to see how the team responded to some time off. It was a solid all-around practice but Justin Wilcox stressed the need for more energy and fewer errors when the team gets back together Friday for the second practice of the week. There were certainly some bright moments on both sides of the ball, and here's a quick rundown of some things that stood out to me watching the action at Memorial Stadium earlier today.

• There was definitely a sluggish element to the start of practice, but things picked up when the team went to the 1v1 portion of the day. There were some good battles and that helped pick up the intensity around the field. Among the standouts during the one-one-one portion along the defensive line were Ricky Correia and Ethan Saunders who both had a couple wins during that period. Saunders probably had the best win among that grouping in a battle with Everett Johnson as he used his strength to get to the quarterback. On the other side, the starting offensive unit as a whole had a lot of success with each player picking up a win among that group. I thought T.J. Session had a particularly good performance in that period with wins over Myles Jernigan Moso'oipala Tuitele.

• The offensive and defensive first units seem to be pretty well settled at this stage although there will be more changes when everyone is back and healthy in the fall, but the groups stayed the same through the break showing that the staff has some confidence in the decisions it made through the first half of spring practice. Defensively, several newcomers have started to solidify their roles from the looks of it with David Reese, Sergio Allen, Nohl Williams and Matthew Littlejohn all playing a role for the first unit on that side of the ball. Allen lined up next to Jackson Sirmon with Reese coming off the edge opposite Myles Jernigan. Littlejohn has bounced around positions a bit but seems to be in line to be the nickel with the first group should things continue to hold.

• Overall, the defense continues to get hands on the ball to disrupt passes but there were far fewer "big" plays than in previous practices leading up to the break. Littlejohn had a big pass breakup on a throw from Sam Jackson V intended for Mavin Anderson on a fourth down play. Jackson tried to squeeze the ball into a tight window and Littlejohn swooped in to tip it away nearly leading to an interception for Raymond Woodie III. Littlejohn made a similar play to begin the final team period late in practice, and this time it did lead to an interception as Craig Woodson came up with the ball on a pass from Jackson looking for Monroe Young. Isaiah Young (vs. Elijah Mojarro), Kaylin Moore (vs. Trond Grizzell) and Nohl Williams (vs. Mavin Anderson) all came up with pass breakups in today's practice.

• As much as there were miscues on offense, it was one of the more productive days for the Bears on that side of the ball when it came to getting in the end zone. There were a ton of touchdowns for the offense in today's practice and it started early. The first team period featured four touchdowns for the offense and only two drives ended without a score. Fernando Mendoza found Grizzell for the first TD of the day on a 31-yard pass on second down. Jackson came back with a 31-yard touchdown throw to Anderson for 31 yards just a couple plays later, also on second down with Lu-Magia Hearns III in coverage on the play. Mendoza hit Grant Daley on the next drive for a 29-yard score with Isaiah Young in coverage on the play. Mendoza finished the opening team period with a touchdown on a swing pass to Kenden Robinson Jr. that he took into the end zone from about 25 yards out. Mendoza tacked on a rushing score in the final team period.

Jackson's best work came on the ground Wednesday as he had a pair of rushing touchdowns in the final team period and a big run on fourth down in the second team period that was called dead after about 15 yards but could have turned into a big gain if not for the whistle. Despite all the work in the running game, Jackson probably had the best individual throw on the day with a 20-yard connection to Jeremiah Hunter on a scramble play that ended with a rocketed ball to the left side of the field.

• At the receiver position, Jaiven Plummer had the best all-around day with some nice plays in the one-one-one portion of practice that he followed up with even more impressive plays in the team periods. He had the best catch of the day on a throw from Mendoza that went about 25 yards on a ball he had to go up and get. Plummer went up and snagged the ball with one hand away from Mayze Bryant in coverage. Tight end Jack Endries also had an impressive grab in the one-on-one portion of practice working against Craig Woodson.

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Practice clips and interviews

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Does is resume today or friday?

Cal has offered class of 23 Washington commit QB E J Caminong. Texas A & M offered him as well. He's behind Penix for this year and would be competing with Austin Mack, highly ranked QB from Folsom High. Mack was class of 24 but changed to class of 23.
Caminong was a 3 star prospect from the state of Washington. 6-2 195 lbs. Spav on the hunt.

I've transcribed EVERYTHING for those that didn't watch the videos, that don't have time to watch the videos, or that just want to use this as a reference point to come back to when relevant.

Having gotten up at 5 a.m. yesterday to drive up to Berkeley, I admittedly didn't last long into evening last night, and had to navigate travel as well. But I wanted to transcribe all of this for the aforementioned reasons, and I'll be writing several pieces off it the rest of this evening.

This will have to post in several parts due to the length, so here goes ...

Matt flew back to LA for a few days during the end of Cal spring break to help cover the big Under Armour camp yesterday. His return flight isn't until tomorrow so I'm driving up to Berkeley this morning for the Madsen presser at 1 and will be on the coverage. Should be really interesting to hear his vision and ask the relevant questions.

So far P12 looking baaaaad. Arizona and $C are out.

Smaller list this weekend, but a big one at the top!

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According to multiple sources offensive lineman Ben Coleman, of Arizona State, suffered an injury that will keep him out at least half the season.

Incredible performance by Cal! Started in 4th place after first rotation. Absolutely killed it the last three rotations.

Bring on the NCAA Finals!!! Go Bears!!!
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I get that there is a lot of attention to the basketball coach situation, and spring football practices, but no mention at all, much less love, for our men’s swimming and diving championship team?

Great job, back to back NCAA champs!

There's two clear names at the top of the list, so I didn't do a full-fledged hot board, but here are some names that have been floating around with the Cal job opening up. As the process becomes more concrete I can adjust but here's some names to think about as it stands right now.

The transfer portal opens next week for basketball players, so the process might have to move quickly for be forced to be left out in the dark as players start to figure out where they're going next season. It feels like it will be a faster process but at this point it's just too difficult to say.

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Cal's current recruiting class is small but Rodney Brown is the most notable member of that group. So far, he has a very positive outlook on the hiring of Mark Madsen. Brown already signed with the Bears back in the fall and was clear that he chose the school for much more than just basketball. At this point he has not yet had an opportunity to speak with Madsen, and assuming he is still wanted and that his scholarship will be honored, Brown has no plans of asking out of his National Letter of Intent.

"I will not do any looking around," he said to me is a text message. "I am excited to play for Coach Madsen! Go Bears!!"

Dennis Gates has just come out in full support of Madsen:

"Congrats to @Madsen_mark as he enters into this next chapter @UCBerkeley! Yes he is a @Stanford grad! So what! He is a great leader, person & coach. If you want @CalMBBall to WIN show him & the players unwavering support! I do! Best of luck! I can’t wait to hear him say Go Bears!".

Cal is officially through the first half of spring ball after holding its eighth practice Friday. The Bears closed the first half with their second scrimmage, and the level of intensity was raised once again as the team heads into what will be a nearly two-week break. The team won't return to the field until April 5, so there will be some time left to recover plus time for the staff to make some evaluations about the first half of the spring.

Here's a rundown of what I noticed while watching the second scrimmage at Memorial Stadium.

• The defense remains supreme so far this spring, and that was once again clear Friday. There might have been more batted/knocked down passes and pass breakups today than in any other practice, and it wasn't limited to just one group over the other. Justin Wilcox noted that the offense was able to get some explosive plays, which the defense has been focused on limiting this spring, but there weren't nearly many as there have been and overall the defense controlled the scrimmage. Touchdowns were tough to come by for the offense. Wilcox was pleased with the limited mistakes the groups had on both sides of the ball as it was only the second time the team has had officials. It was relatively clean although a couple of they mistakes that did happen ended up eliminating some big plays, particularly for the offense.

• Nohl Williams, Julian Womack and Mayze Bryant tied each other for the team lead with two pass breakups apiece. Meanwhile, Isaiah Young, Cam Sidney and Craig Woodson also came through with pass breakups in the scrimmage. Overall, the secondary had the best day across the board and finished the first half of spring on a high note. In addition to all the pass breakups, the group also accounted for a defensive touchdown as Matthew Littlejohn scooped up a fumble (by quarterback Sam Jackson V) and took it 77 yards for a touchdown during the first team period.

• The defensive front also had some impressive plays throughout the day as it made life difficult, once again, for the quarterbacks. Ethan Saunders started off the scrimmage with a sack of Jackson — in part due to great coverage down the field — in addition to sacks for Ieremia Ieremia and outside linebacker David Reese, which came in the final team segment late in practice. Reese, Kaleb Elarms-Orr, Myles Jernigan and Nate Rutchena are all guys I had down for tackles for loss in the scrimmage. Rutchena's play came against Jackson on fourth down.

• It wasn't all bad on offense as there were some highlight plays for that group, the issue was that the negative plays tended to outshine the positive ones. Jackson's fumble is one that stands out and he was not pleased with how he performed in today's practice. It had been a while since the newcomer at QB had an issue with the snap or handoff, but it was back again today as the mishap came on an exchange with Jaydn Ott leading to the touchdown by Littlejohn. It was just a straight botched exchange without much pressure in the way. Outside of that instance, Jackson did a good job protecting the ball and he was under plenty of pressure throughout the scrimmage. Fernando Mendoza had his own issues at time during his stretch taking the snaps. The big negative one came late in the scrimmage as he was intercepted by McKyle So'oto looking for Andy Alfieri.

• Some bright spots for the quarterback group included a 65-yard touchdown connection with Mendoza and Chris Rogers, a 71-yard connection with Trond Grizzell and a 35-yard pass from Jackson to Mavin Anderson on a crossing route early in the second team segment. Jackson's best work came on the run as he was effective making throws outside the pocket. A couple key completions for Jackson came late in the second segment as he hit Anderson and Monroe Young in succession for about 16 yards each.

• Special teams wise it was a bit of a mixed bag. The Bears worked special teams for longer than they have in other practices, and that came with some miscues. The punt return drills had a number of botched or bobbled balls that drew some criticism from the coaches. Michael Luckhurst was good from 44 yards out early in practice to get the offense on the board but he later missed from 35 yards out going wide left during the second team segment.

Post-practice interviews

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“While there were signs of promise during his first season at the helm (2019-20), Mark Fox's time in Berkeley seems likely to come to an end after this season. He was 15-43 in the Pac-12 in his first three seasons, 35-58 overall -- and the Bears are headed for their worst season under him this season. They entered the week at 3-24 overall, 2-14 in the Pac-12. Two names buzzing for this job over the past couple of weeks are UC Santa Barbara's Joe Pasternack and San Jose State's Tim Miles.”

have a basketball coach yet or no?????

Now that Miami of Ohio, SDSU, and FAU are all in the Final Four, is NIL really that important for college basketball? Undoubtedly it helps but I seriously doubt that these three programs have much NIL to bring to the table. They probably aren’t top transfer destinations out of the pipeline either. And yet here they are. So why can’t we come up with a winning and successful BB program when we assuredly will have more resources than the likes of these programs and be a better destination? Football may be a different story, but basketball is more about coaching, style of play, having an eye for talent, and, well, luck than football ever will be. Hence I think we can turn it around quickly if whoever our new coach is knows what they are doing. A big if of course.

Ryan/Matt I noticed on the roster that Nyles Gaddy is listed at LB. He is a transfer from Jackson State, is he expected in the Fall? Also just wondering aloud if anyone has seen Justin Richard Baker or Aidan Lee at all this Spring. No mention of either but lots of mentions of Chris Rogers, Trond Grizzel and Jordan King who are all walkons.

Golden Bears boosters, some of whom have made seven-figure donations to the Cal athletic program, have lobbied Chancellor Carol T. Christ for months to fire Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill, arguing their failure to effectively address McKeever’s behavior caused swimmers to be endangered and damaged the university’s reputation.

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