Cal dipped into Tennessee for their latest commitment in 3-star TE Ben Marshall - he details his decision in the link above

Auerbach's article looking at the next steps, just dropped:
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And I gotta tell, you it has me more discouraged than I've been in a while -- Knowlton feels like he has a hand to play, using the UCLA/Regents issue + Stanford rivalry/pairing, to make sure we aren't left out here. So why aren't we in these leaks????

Fresh off the press ...

NILwise, is there something akin brewing for Cal?
https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzano-kicking-off-the-pac-12-in?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Hey guys!

Gonna go ahead and throw this up a little early, get some good stuff going for you guys sooner rather than later. As always, hit me with your questions and we'll get this sucker rollin for you come Monday.

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From yours truly:

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Rankings are most difficult (1) to easiest (12).

9. Cal
Home games (seven): UC Davis, UNLV, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA (Friday)
Road games (five): Notre Dame, Washington State, Colorado, USC, Oregon State
Pac-12 misses: Utah and ASU
Notable nugget: The Bears face Notre Dame for the first time since 1967 and have not scored more than eight points against the Irish in any of the four previous meetings.
Comment: Combine two non-conference cupcakes with a favorable lineup of conference home games and a critical cross-division miss (Utah), and this schedule should support a postseason push.

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Hearing Marshall is close to making a decision and is trending towards Cal currently. Took an official visit with the Bears back in June.

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Jesse got this in to me a couple hours ago. I got mild heat stroke (not really, but a major headache) going to USC's practice in the Coliseum, so I laid down when I got home and fell asleep for a bit. Apologies on the delay. Aggregate toll of camp already mounting!

And we're off and running with Jesse's first installment of our pre-camp leadup series:

A look across the conference at the projected starters by star ranking:

How do Bears look for over 6 wins

In case anyone missed any or wants to refer back to any of Jesse's camp previews ...

QBs
RBs
WRs/TEs
OL
DL/OLBs
ILBs
DBs

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Cal offers Gardena-Serra defensive end Frederick Williams III today while on his unofficial visit. Colorado, Washington, Boston College and UNLV are his other offers. He's already used an official visit on a trip to Boston College but he has four others remaining. I watched him during the spring and he definitely has Power 5-level talent just hasn't quite received a ton of attention for whatever reason. He plays at the same school as Rodrick Pleasant so there's that connection, too. He's not Cam Brandt, but he is certainly someone I think could help and be a solid addition for Cal in the 2023 class.

Also, just a really good kid with a good head on his shoulders and it never hurts to have those on your team.

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The delay here is on me. Jesse got his report in a few hours ago, and I dozed off in my chair before grabbing it. First Sunday of camp and I'm already nodding off like an old-timer on the front porch. I'll look at the tape and get it cleaned up.

As for Jesse's report, LOADED with highlights and notes from today.

From Jesse ...

The Sunday Sirmon(s):

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An interesting stat Tom Fornelli posted this morning:

Last year Cal faced 9+ men in the box the 9th most of any team in the country. That makes sense as teams were not scared of Garbers or our receivers. But Cal was the second best performing team in the country in yards per play against that front (over 5 ypp, only Utah was better).

To me, that looks like good coaching. Despite our pitiful points per game, our yards per play average jumped big time from the Baldwin era to Musgrave. Stats like these plus the addition of what we all hope will be a better passing attack with Plummer that loosens up defenses makes me excited to see what we look like this year.

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I caught up with new Cal commit Ryan McCulloch today after he announced his decision to pick the Bears. He was on campus last weekend, and his conversations with Vic So'oto and Justin Wilcox convinced him that he was indeed a priority for the staff so he made the move to commit. He feels like Cal was the best pick for him because of what it offers him both with academics and football. That is ultimately what made the difference in his recruitment.

““I’m not gonna lie, at one point I was like, ‘Do they still like me? Do they feel the same way as they did?' But, then after they invited me up to the barbecue they had last weekend and talking to coach [Vic] So’oto and the head coach [Justin Wilcox], I think I really did understand how they feel. I was really thorough with the process as far as doing my research on everything. I took a lot of visits, and I really did pay attention to the culture and the education factors. Once I knew they really wanted to have me, I felt like I’d be wasting an opportunity. I felt there was no way I could walk away from an offer from Cal, so I committed.”

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